Week 5 - Sweet, sweet oxytocin
Our external partner’s comment on the link between synchronised movement and the release of oxytocin in the brain piqued my interest. Since this is already known to occur (Berceanu et al, 2020), I became curious about designing ways to amplify it. I explored sensory triggers for oxytocin that might fit the context of the Tube. From that, I developed these design parameters:
It should be usable on the Tube, regardless of crowding levels.
As the Tube is noisy and people often wear headphones, vibrations are a more suitable alternative to sound.
Scent is often underutilised in design in my opinion, and in this instance is useful because it’s linked with memory formation and emotions (Herz, 2016; Walsh, 2020).
Soft textures have also been linked with calming effects and oxytocin (Portnova et al, 2020)
Rather than creating a single device combining these elements, I envisioned a line of products, allowing for personalisation.
↑ idea for a line of products that amplify oxytocin (generated by ChatGPT).
↑ I contemplated a kit to throw a “Tube Party”.
↑ I considered my earlier idea of Tube installation, thinking of ways to make it interactive.
At this stage, the group split further and I continued independently.
While researching, I came across an article regarding Generation Z Londoners’ rejection of dating apps in favour of real life meetings (Lawrence, 2025). This insight resonated strongly with my concept, the cards could help “train” these muscles, encouraging observations and re-immersion in the environment.
Inspired by tactile children’s books and, revisiting an earlier exercise Izzy and I conducted using people’s scraps, I came up with a gamified self-reflection deck of cards encouraging interoception. The cards, the size of an Oyster card, each have a prompt on them intended to enhance sensory awareness - looking, smelling, touching and more. The design borrows from mindfulness and anxiety-relief exercises, which are also linked to oxytocin release (Aygün et al, 2024).
I made several low fidelity prototypes and distributed them to participants to test unsupervised over the weekend. Although one was a fellow MAUX student, the others were not.
I had to remind them to use the cards, which caused me to contemplate over the appropriate medium this outcome should be presented as, considering they’re not as top-of-mind as mobile phones are, as we saw in Week 3.
Working alone during the evolution of this idea meant I lacked input from other perspectives. I reflected on Tanizaki’s “In Praise of Shadows” (1977), which highlights how aesthetic appreciation varies across cultures. My Western viewpoint might have limited my ability to expand the cards, perhaps overlooking more tactile or sensory opportunities to elevate them even further using non-Western practices.
↑ Looking at people’s scraps as a form of physical data, Izzy and I thought we could use that to create the physical ticket keepsake (from Week 4). This avenue wasn’t fully explored, but elements of it that’s linked to junk journaling was used as inspiration.
↑ I was inspired by sensory kids books that invite touch and play using various materials.
↑ Prototypes given to participants to test over the weekend.
↑ In this digital ideation I show my intention to make every card a different materiality and function, covering all senses.
References:
Aygün, O., Mohr, E., Duff, C., Matthew, S., & Schoenberg, P. (2024). Oxytocin Modulation in Mindfulness-Based Pain Management for Chronic Pain. Life, 14(2), 253. https://doi.org/10.3390/life14020253
Berceanu, A.I, Boldasu, R., Carcea, I., Froemke, R. C., Nedelcea, C., Papasteri, C.C., Pistol, C.A.D., Poalelungi, C., Podina, I.R, Sofonea, A., Tomescu, M.I., Vasilescu, R.I. (2020) ‘Social feedback during sensorimotor synchronization changes salivary oxytocin and behavioral states’. Frontiers in Psychology, 11 doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.531046.
Herz, R.S. (2016). The role of odor-evoked memory in psychological and physiological health. Brain sciences, 6(3), p.22.
Lawerence, I. (2025) Is London’s dating scene actually broken? We asked experts why it feels so hard to find love right now. Available at: https://www.timeout.com/london/news/is-londons-dating-scene-actually-broken-we-asked-the-experts-why-it-feels-so-hard-to-find-love-right-now-021425 (Accessed 10 June, 2025).
Portnova, G.V., Proskurnina, E.V., Sokolva, S.V., Skorokhodov, I.V., Varlamov, A.A. (2020) ‘Perceived pleasantness of gentle touch in healthy individuals is related to salivary oxytocin response and EEG markers of arousal’. Experimental Brain Research. 238(10). DOI: 10.1007/s00221-020-05891-y.
Tanizaki, J. (1977) In Praise of Shadows. Leete’s Island Books.
Walsh, C. (2020) What the Nose Knows. Available at: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/02/how-scent-emotion-and-memory-are-intertwined-and-exploited/ (Accessed 10 June, 2025).