Three Words Describing the Experience

1. Pressure

2. Routine

3. Malleable

Pressure Points - How toothpaste is held when Squeezed.

Person 5: Observations.

After observing my final person I have decided on two main sensory experiences I want to put across through my diary. The feeling of the ridges and the areas in which each person applies pressure to the tube.

When making my diary I plan to include the images of each person, the sensory experiences they didn't notice, hand print of there grasp and pressure, then allow the reader to experience the feeling of the ridges and the way to tube has indents when pressure is applied. 

Person 5: Robert Kani

After completing the task once I asked Rob to retell me what he noticed for each of the 5 senses. His answers were:

Touch: Rob noticed the smoothness of the plastic tube against his hand and how it was rather flexible and molded into his hand. He also noticed the contrast between the hard plastic lid and the soft plastic tube. 

Hear: Like Hayden, Rob heard the sound of the lid opening and closing. He described the opening as a pop noise and closing as a click noise.

Smell: Rob smelt the very faint mint smell of the toothpaste when he opened the lid of the toothpaste tube and began squeezing it out.


After having him repeat the experience when thinking about his senses in detail, Rob noticed:

Touch: The second time round, Rob noticed the indents in the tube from the previous users. He also took more notice in the lid and realized the lid had ridges around it. He said he also felt the release of the lid against his other fingers as he opened it using his thumb.

Hear: There were no differences for hearing as Rob heard the sound of the lid opening and closing to begin with.

Smell: There was no difference in this sensory experience as Rob noticed the smell of the toothpaste the first time he completed the task.

Person 4: Observations

Once again the ridges around the lid were not noticed. I found this very interesting. She also noticed the indents left from the previous user this time around. I find it quite cool how everyone has noticed much more the second time around. Its really helps me to show what this assignment is about. From here I think I may focus on getting the sensory experience across of the indents left by previous users, hows it moulds to your hand and how pressure is needed to squeeze the toothpaste out from the tube.

Person 4: Nicky Hoffman

After completing the task once I asked Nicky to retell me what he noticed for each of the 5 senses. His answers were:

Touch: Nicky noticed the tube felt cold in her hand and also how smooth the plastic is that the tube is made out of. She also took notice in the difference between the soft, smooth plastic and the hard plastic lid.

Hear: She did not notice any sound when completing this task the first time around.

Smell: Nicky did notice the smell of the mint flavoring when squeezing the toothpaste out from the tube.


After completing the task for a second time while thinking about the senses Nicky noticed the following:

Touch: When repeating the task for a second time, Nicky noticed the ridges around the lid which she took no notice in the first time. She also noticed the indents left in the tube from previous users. 

Hear: She noticed that the lid made a noise when popping open and clicking shut which she did not take any notice in previously. She said when she listened closely she could also hear the sound of the toothpaste being squeezed from the tube.

Smell: No difference as the noticed the smell of the mint flavoring to begin with.

Person 3: Observations

Just like the other two, there were things the Will did not notice the first time, but noticed the second time when squeezing the toothpaste from the tube. So far they have all noticed things differently but it still shows that to each person there are certain sensory experiences that they do not take notice in when completing this particular task. However, Will was the first person to notice the ridges around the top of the lid. 

Person 3: Will Duncan

After completing the task once I asked Will to retell me what he noticed for each of the 5 senses. His answers were:

Touch: Will noticed the smoothness of the plastic against his palm and also how it was quite cold against his palm when he first picked up the tube. Will is the first person to notice the ridges around the lid in the first time. He also noticed the difference in the hard plastic lid and the soft flexible tube.

Hear: Just like Chey, Will didn't notice any sounds while completely this task the first time.

Smell: Will also didn't smell anything while completely the task. 


After completing the task for a second time while thinking about the senses Will noticed the following:

Touch: When first picking up the tube, Will noticed the indents that had been left by the previous users. He also picked up on how the tube molded to his hand when pressure was applied.

Hear: Will managed to hear the sound of the lid opening when taking more notice of his senses. He described it as a pop noise when the lid was opened. However he did not notice any sound when closing the lid. I found that interesting.

Smell: The second time round, Will did notice a very faint smell of the mint flavoring when he opened the lid of the toothpaste.

Person 2: Observations

I found it very interesting that Chey didn't notice the sound of the lid opening and closing as that is a big thing I personally take notice in when squeezing toothpaste from the tube. It is also interesting that once again the ridges around the lid went unnoticed. But I have noticed that Hayds and Chey both hold the tube and squeeze it in completely different ways. The lid leaving a small indent in her thumb is something I'm glad she picked up the second time round as that has also happened to me on different occasions. 

Person 2: Cheyenne Rogers

After completing the task once I asked Chey to retell me what he noticed for each of the 5 senses. Her answers were:

Touch: The first thing Chey recalled was how cold the tube was in her hand when she first picked it up. She noticed that she could feel the indents that had been left on the tube from the previous users. Chey also noticed how smooth the plastic is that the tube is made out of and how it contrasts against the hard plastic lid when changing between holding the tube and opening the lid.


Hear: Chey did not take notice in hearing anything when completing the task this time. 

Smell: Just like Hayden, Chey could smell the mint flavor of the toothpaste once she had opened the lid.



After completing it a second time thinking about all five senses while doing se, Chey noticed and retold the following:

Touch: Just like Hayds Chey noticed the ridges around the lid the second time around. I find it very interesting that they have both missed this when completely the task first time round. She also noticed how the lid left a small indent on her thumb when opening the lid as it was closed tightly which meant she used quite a bit of pressure to open the tube. 

Hear: When listening closely the second time around, Chey noticed a very faint sound of the lid opening and closing. She described it as a click noise. She said she could also hear a very quiet noise of the toothpaste coming out of the tube.

Person 1: Observations

The main sensory experiences in which Hayden did not notice the first time he completed the task but noticed the second, were to do with touch. The ridges around the lid and the contrast between the two different plastics. This shows that because it is such a daily, common task we complete so often, there are many small sensory experiences that often go unnoticed because we don't necessarily think about what we are doing as it just comes naturally to us. It will be interesting to see whether the others notice different things about the experience.

Person 1: Hayden Taylor

After completing the task once I asked Hayds to retell me what he noticed for each of the 5 senses. His answers were:

Touch: The main thing Hayden took notice in when touching the toothpaste tube was the smooth, flexible plastic the tube is made out of. He mentioned the way the tube molds to your fingers as you pick it up and squeeze the tube.

Hear: He heard a slight clicking noise when opening and closing the lid of the toothpaste. 

Smell: Hayds could smell the mint flavor of the toothpaste once the lid had been opened.



I then had Hayden repeat the activity thinking more about his sense and then once again had him retell the experience to see if there was anything he missed. He said:

Touch: This time around Hayden noticed much more when thinking about his senses while completely the task. For touch he noticed the ridges around the lid which he took no notice in the first time. The contrast between the hard plastic of the lid and the soft plastic of the tube itself. He also noticed how the lid took quite a bit of pressure against his thumb to open.

Hear: There were no hearing differences the second time as he had already noticed the sound of the lid opening and closing when completing it the first time round.

Smell: He noticed nothing else to do with smell the second time.

New Plan

My original plan was to have my 5 people answer questions after completing the activity twice. I have changed from that original idea to something more simple. I am still going to have each person complete squeezing toothpaste twice but I will have the person complete it once and retell the experience. I will then have them repeat the task thinking and focusing on their 5 senses during the activity. From here I will get them to retell the experience and see what they missed or noticed differently when concentrating on there senses.

I am also going to look at how each person holds the tube of toothpaste in their hand and the different ways they each apply pressure when squeezing the tube. I am going to do this my wrapping a tube of toothpaste in paper and painting there hands, then get them to each pick up the tube of toothpaste and squeeze it. This will leave a painted hand print on the paper wrapped around the tube.

How I am going to approach the Diary

For my diary I will obviously being observing 5 people. My plan is to either video or take photos of my 5 people squeezing toothpaste out twice. 

I feel I would get the best results if I got them to do it then ask them a simple few questions like:
What did you notice most for each sense etc.
Then have them do it a second time and ask similar questions and see what the differences are when actually thinking about there senses during the activity.

I am also only going to focus on three of the 5 senses:
- Touch.
- Smell.
- Hear.

Chosen Sensory Ethnography

For my chosen activity to create my diary from I am going to go with Squeezing toothpaste from the tube because it is a task that everybody completes twice a day yet don't take that much notice of what they are actually doing or the sensory experiences that go with it.

I would have liked to go with the coke bottle but you get the chance to open a bottle for the first time once and that would have ended up being quite expensive especially if I wanted to view everybody doing it a couple of times.

Sensory Ethnography Presentation

Main Points from each Activity

Squeezing toothpaste:
- The cold plastic of the tube.
- Ridges around the lid.
- Pressure used to open the lid.
- Sound of lid popping open.
- Squeezing the tube.
- Lid closing click. - Main point for me. Sense of security. Hear.




Opening window:
- Cold metal handles.
- Twisting of stiff handles. - Main point. Tension. Touch.
- Pushing window open. - Main point. Tension. Touch.
- Breeze in the face. 
- City Sounds. Trees Rustling.




Opening a Coca Cola Bottle:
- Cold plastic. Moisture.
- Detail on the bottle.
- Ridges on the lid.
- Twisting off the lid. 
- Sound of seal breaking. Release of air. - Main Point. Release. Hear.
- Air pressure on hand.
- Bubbles popping.


From these main points I will write my 100 word analysis for each ethnography. Having one focus sense for each. 

Project One Presentation Plan

I am having trouble deciding on how I am going to show my three chosen activities. Using only 100 words does make it a bit difficult and I have decided that I will use two images for each instead of a video. From what Ive heard, people have been quite abstract about how they have shown their sensory ethnographics so I am going to think of things I can compare my activities too that have a similar feeling.