MA/UX

< Back

Dora Alvarez


My home is your home

While looking at most diverse zones in London, I realised that one of the places where cultural exchange happens the most is at home. People from all over the world come to live in London and share a household among family and friends, and some others rent and live with people from other cultures, either friend, classmates or strangers. This project explores the nuances of living with flatmates, which means not only sharing a physical space (house or a flat), but the merge of different languages, habits, perspectives, cultures, ways of thinking and doing things. The primary research question focuses on how design can enhance the interaction among flat/house sharers. Within the complexity of the interactions among flatmates and through ethnographic research methods, different types of problems were found in the households, however, one common finding was the way sharers, either friends or strangers, communicate their discomfort or annoyance towards their flatmates. The same way “protective frames” work for negative emotions (Fokkinga & Desmet, 2012), I propose the use of humour and silliness to express the everyday problems between sharers. It is important to mention that the designs proposed do not attempt to solve the issues, rather they aim to facilitate the approaching of conversations between flatmates, the use of humour as a valve of scape to decrease some tension and open a channel of communication for people sharing their homes.
While looking at most diverse zones in London, I realised that one of the places where cultural exchange happens the most is at home. People from all over the world come to live in London and share a household among family and friends, and some others rent and live with people from other cultures, either friend, classmates or strangers. This project explores the nuances of living with flatmates, which means not only sharing a physical space (house or a flat), but the merge of different languages, habits, perspectives, cultures, ways of thinking and doing things. The primary research question focuses on how design can enhance the interaction among flat/house sharers. Within the complexity of the interactions among flatmates and through ethnographic research methods, different types of problems were found in the households, however, one common finding was the way sharers, either friends or strangers, communicate their discomfort or annoyance towards their flatmates. The same way “protective frames” work for negative emotions (Fokkinga & Desmet, 2012), I propose the use of humour and silliness to express the everyday problems between sharers. It is important to mention that the designs proposed do not attempt to solve the issues, rather they aim to facilitate the approaching of conversations between flatmates, the use of humour as a valve of scape to decrease some tension and open a channel of communication for people sharing their homes.

MA User Experience Design

  • Projects
  • Students
  • Competencies
  • About