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Aaltodoc is the institutional repository of Aalto University.

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Otakaari 1 grandhall. Photo: Esa Kapila
 

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Recent Submissions

Designing for Public Speaking Anxiety: An Experience Design Inquiry into Conceptual E-Textile Interventions
(2025) Simmons, Kenneth
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Bachelor's thesis
This thesis explores how electronic textiles (e-textiles) can be designed to support individuals experiencing public speaking anxiety (PSA), using the framework of experience design (XD). PSA is a prevalent yet under-addressed form of acute stress, particularly resistant to cognitive interventions during real-time performance. Although wearable technologies have gained attention as tools for emotional regulation, research rarely investigates their potential as embodied, emotionally responsive companions—particularly in the form of e-textiles. To date, no studies have focused on applying e-textile systems specifically to PSA contexts. The study adopts a qualitative research approach, drawing on eight expert interviews across the domains of e-textile design and cognitive psychology. Using Braun and Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis (RTA), the data were examined to identify principles and challenges for intervention design. Key findings suggest that effective support does not aim to eliminate anxiety but to co-regulate it through discreet sensory cues such as warmth, vibration, and tactility. Simplicity, emotional subtlety, and body-aware design languages were identified as essential for fostering trust and long-term engagement. This thesis reframes PSA not as a problem to be corrected but as a state to be companioned. It positions e-textiles as wearable affective artefacts that prioritise emotional resonance over technical performance. While exploratory in scope, the findings offer concrete directions for future research in multisensory prototyping, user-led evaluation, and the development of shared design frameworks for PSA-oriented interventions.
Graphic Objects in the Helsinki Urban Aesthetics: Exploration of Tensions Between Formal and Organic Graphic Objects
(2025) Korchagina, Polina
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Bachelor's thesis
Living in the city people are constantly surrounded by visual stimuli that convey messages and help to shape understanding of the world around them. These visual stimuli are graphic objects (GOs). Some are formal (intentionally designed by authorities), while others are organic (emerging spontaneously from citizens, artists, or businesses). Whether planned or not, they all exist in the same space, they overlap, interact, and even clash in meaning. Together, they form the urban visual texture that influences how we perceive, navigate and emotionally connect to a city. This thesis investigates how formal and organic GOs interact to shape Helsinki’s urban aesthetic identity, and how designers consider urban context when creating them. To achieve these objectives, a comprehensive literature review and qualitative research approach were employed. The literature review outlines key theoretical frameworks related to GOs, urban identity, and everyday aesthetics. This is followed by seven semi-structured with experts in graphic design, placemaking, and urban research within the Helsinki context. These interviews provided insight into the key GOs that define Helsinki’s urban aesthetic, understand the roles of stakeholders, examine the tensions that emerge from the interaction between GOs, and explore how designers respond to the broader urban context in their practice. The research identifies key categories of GOs: formal, organic and temporary, and demonstrates how their coexistence generates both aesthetic richness and visual tension in the Helsinki urban environment. Study reveals the fragmented ownership of Helsinki's visual urban environment, where no single entity holds authority over the city's complete visual experience. The study also reveals that while designers demonstrate context sensitivity and strategically choose to adapt to or challenge the visual texture, they are often constrained by systemic challenges triggered by stakeholders. Overall, the study demonstrates that Helsinki’s visual identity is not the product of a single vision, but a collective and contested process, shaped through ongoing interaction between planned strategies and spontaneous interventions. The thesis contributes to the growing discourse on urban visuality by highlighting the importance of context-sensitive design, interdisciplinary collaboration, and adaptive urban governance. This thesis contributes to a deeper understanding of urban aesthetics and formation of the urban visual texture as a collective process that requires more inclusive, flexible, and context-sensitive design practices.
The Creative Clockwork: Development and Interconnections of International Contemporary Artists in Helsinki Metropolitan Area
(2025) Artemenko, Aleksandra
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Bachelor's thesis
Contemporary Finnish culture assigns great value to accessibility, diversity, collaboration, and the expression of identity through the visual arts. This value is demonstrated through the vast presence of artist associations, academic institutions, and urban workshops. Despite the opportunities, the international artists tend to face many challenges in the foreign and often unpredictable environment. Consequently, the main aim of the research is to define networking opportunities and inform of surrounding obstacles for international contemporary artists residing in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. The study is primarily conducted through the qualitative interviews centered around the lived experiences of international artists. In order to obtain the maximum amount of diverse situations and perspectives, the research involved experts from various backgrounds and communities ranging from academic to career-focused and independent. The findings introduce the reader to various means of self-actualization as an international contemporary artist and the consequences of being involved in an artist community. The study outcomes present mental, physical, and developmental benefits of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area network and compare them to those of other Finnish areas and to the places outside the country. Additionally, the thesis presents both positive aspects and potential risks of treating art-making as a source of profit and how environmental factors such as political climate may affect the artist’s income. Finally, the context of Aalto University and what it provides is taken largely into consideration due to its position as the leading Finnish university in the field of art and design. The outcome is a set of both theoretical and practical methods of navigation for international contemporary artists that also includes an insight into several active organizations. Although the thesis is unable to predict the future development of the Finnish artist communities, it additionally strives to inform of the international artist’s current anxieties and expectations.
Hands-On Learning: Challenges, Opportunities, and Key Considerations in the Design of a Robotic Hand for Informal Education
(2025) Otala, Tiina
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Bachelor's thesis
Educational robotics (ER), the use of robotics as a teaching tool, has wide-reaching benefits for students, including increased engagement and motivation, enhanced understanding of abstract concepts, and the development of higher-order thinking. However, due to the many factors involved in ER design, descriptions of the design process are lacking and have been stifled by a dependence on commercial, black box kits. ER practitioners have called for a renewal of the instructional design (ID) of ER by increasing educator involvement and integrating the maker movement. This thesis examines the under-researched intersection of ER, ID, and maker culture through qualitative research about the design of a DIY robotic hand. The methodology of this thesis included a literature review and a thematic analysis of eight semi-structured interviews. The interviews were of educators who were acquainted with robotics and had teaching experience in informal settings. The data collected from the interviews was thematically analysed and organized into the outcome: a set of design recommendations and a description of challenges and opportunities faced in the implementation of a DIY robotic hand in informal education. The challenges described ER as a resource-intensive activity that faces barriers from negative perceptions of robotics as intimidatingly complex and limited in function and appearance. The opportunities outlined domains for future research and development, including niche educational applications, new methods of guidance and documentation, and the potential to express values about robotics through design. Design recommendations for the curriculum included customizing the breadth, depth, and relevance of the content according to the learner’s needs and interests. Recommendations for the robot design included prioritizing qualities such as approachability, clarity, modularity, relatability, tangibility, and simplicity. Considerations for instructional processes involved the availability of inspirational working demos and the freedom to learn through failure. Overall, the findings establish a starting point for designers, educators, organizers, and policymakers to explore the instructional design of DIY robotic hands in informal settings. A cascading benefactor of such research could be the students and the more effective, efficient, and relevant education they could receive.
The Future of Touch in VR: A Designer’s perspective into the use and development of haptic technology
(2025) Bui, Jenni
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Bachelor's thesis
Global and remote work is becoming more common and more social interactions are migrating online. There is potential for new, nuanced ways for social interaction in Virtual Reality. In Virtual Reality digital social interaction has the potential to become multimodal, communicating through multiple channels of feedback: visual, audio and touch feedback. Each channel of feedback refers to the different senses humans use for communication. Research has indicated that sense of touch has a significant role in strengthening interpersonal relations and enhancing the feeling of physical and emotional closeness. Additionally, research has also been done with haptic feedback and technology to simulate physical touch. However, there is a lack of research on the practical implementation and commercial use of haptics in Virtual Reality applications. Furthermore, the existing academic research and development on Virtual Reality and the use of haptic feedback has been predominantly experimental and technology focused. Therefore, the focus of this thesis is to map out the current implementations of haptic technologies in Virtual Reality, its development and how designers can utilise haptics now and in the future. For this research, both researchers and designers with different degrees of knowledge and skills in haptics and Virtual Reality were interviewed. These interviews were used as primary data for thematic analysis. The thesis highlights the lack of research regarding practical implementation of haptics commercially and reveals a variety of accessibility issues for both users, developers and designers working with haptics. The findings also include insights into the developing design process and tools for haptic feedback, with discussion and suggestions on designing haptics for social in-teractions, and possible alternative directions for Virtual Reality.