InfoWear: Clothing as Visual Communication Medium

This research projects seeks to explore the potential for clothing to act as a socio-political medium that interrogates the emerging nature of personalized media environments. Social media platforms, governed by online algorithms, have altered the context in which we currently receive information (Steeg & Galstyan, 2012; Romero et al., 2010). This new and private media environment is often personalized to a degree that it can have an impact on our decision-making (Erkan & Evans, 2016; Liu et al., 2015). Using a “research through design” (Frayling, 1993) approach, the project proposes a system that allows participants to act as ‘publishers’ by bringing the content of their private media streams into public view, by incorporating them onto clothing. The resulting garments exist not only in a fashion context, but also act as a platform for civic engagement.