Sensory Attunement

Sensory Attunement is a playful method that uses sensory interviews and material exploration to uncover play characteristics. Through guided conversations and hands-on interaction with materials, participants explore embodied knowledge that can inspire the development of new play concepts.

Prepare a collection of 30–50 material swatches that vary in texture, flexibility, weight and surface. 

Arrange participants in groups of three and assign the roles of interviewee, interviewer and note taker. Each participant selects one material swatch. During three rounds of 10 minutes, the interviewee explores the material through touch, sight, sound and movement without naming or technically describing it. The interviewer asks open sensory questions about memories, emotions, play qualities and bodily experiences, while the note taker records metaphors, surprising observations and playful interpretations. 

Rotate roles after each round until everyone has experienced all three roles. Finish by discussing recurring play characteristics within each group before sharing insights across all groups.

The method helps participants explore play through sensory and embodied experiences that are often difficult to express in words. By working hands-on with materials, participants bring tacit and emotional knowledge to the forefront and identify play characteristics such as mood, rhythm, affordance, resistance and invitation. These qualities support new ways of understanding play and can inspire the development of new play concepts.

The method has been developed and applied in PhD courses within play design research. Through structured sensory interviews, participants explored how materials evoke memories, emotions and bodily experiences that are difficult to capture through conventional language alone. The conversations helped identify recurring play characteristics that were later used as inspiration for developing play design concepts.