This five-level hierarchy structures the project’s narrative, breaking down the process from the core message to areas for improvement.
WHAT IS THE MESSAGE?
Transforming sweat from a personal discomfort into a material for exploration, challenging its stigma and revealing its hidden value.
This project investigates sweat not as a problem to hide but as a fascinating and underexplored resource. Through hands-on experimentation, I explore its composition, functions, and physical properties, pushing the boundaries of how we perceive and utilize this bodily fluid.
CONTEXT OF RESEARCH
Sweat is often dismissed as a nuisance, yet it plays a vital role in human physiology and culture. Despite its significance, it is rarely explored as a material for design and innovation. My research dives into human sensing, biomaterials, and chemical reactions to uncover new applications for sweat.
By blending scientific insights with personal experience, I challenge misconceptions, such as the idea that sweat smells on its own or that it removes toxins, and reframe it as something valuable. Inspired by projects like Alice Potts' crystallization work and biochemical research on bodily fluids, I experiment with methods to visualize, collect, and transform sweat into something tangible.
PROJECT & PROCESS
This pictorial serves as both a research document and an experimental space. It is structured as an engaging, visually dynamic publication that takes the reader through my journey, from learning about sweat to testing its physical properties and applications.
The design is inspired by science books for children, incorporating interactive elements such as:
Infographics & myth-busting sections: Simplified, eye-catching visuals that break down complex information.
Personal data & reflections: Sharing my hyperhidrosis experience and sweat collection attempts to highlight the personal side of the research.
Experimentation logs: Documenting trials with pH-reactive materials, sweat crystallization, and biomaterial testing.
Tactile and interactive elements: pH test strips, chemical formulas, and real calculations to immerse the reader in the experimental process.
This structure keeps the pictorial playful, open-ended, and informative, allowing others to engage with the subject while questioning their own perceptions of sweat.
KEY FINDINGS
Insights from my research and experiments:
Sweat varies across the body and activities. Through sweat mapping and pH testing, I identified different sweat compositions based on location and exertion type.
Collection methods are challenging. Absorbent materials trap sweat but yield little liquid, while plastic surfaces allow for better extraction. The sauna proved the most efficient setting for collection.
pH-reactive materials show strong potential. Agar provided high reactivity but lacked stability, while alginate was structurally better but degraded when exposed to liquid. A hybrid material could offer the best properties of both.
Sweat crystallization is difficult. Unlike seawater, sweat contains low salt concentrations, making crystal formation challenging. Concentration methods must be optimized before attempting supersaturation techniques.
Narrative impacts perception. Sharing my sweat experiments changed how people around me viewed sweat, shifting it from something shameful to something intriguing and valuable.
SPACE FOR IMPROVEMENT
The pictorial could be enhanced by incorporating more hands-on and interactive elements, such as embedded pH test strips, real crystallization attempts, and annotated experiment logs to make the documentation more immersive.
Future iterations could explore layered storytelling by integrating textures, foldouts, or translucent pages that reveal different perspectives on sweat, scientific, personal, and experimental, encouraging deeper engagement through physical interaction.
By maintaining an open-ended and playful format, the publication will continue to challenge sweat’s stigma, allowing readers to discover, question, and interpret the research in their own way.
HOW DOES IT ALL CONNECT?
This project is not just about experimenting with sweat, it’s about transforming how we see it. By embracing sweat as a material, I challenge personal and societal biases while uncovering new possibilities for design, science, and human-centered innovation.
The pictorial reflects this mindset, presenting sweat as both a scientific curiosity and a deeply personal exploration. Its hybrid structure, blending research, hands-on experimentation, and open-ended discovery, makes it a tool for conversation, reflection, and future exploration.
