Sustainability Roadmap
Sweat as signal: a research-driven design pathway
Design vision
To challenge and reframe the cultural stigma around sweat by turning it into a material, narrative, and design driver: one that exposes embodied data and encourages self-knowledge and body pride through garments.
Professional (desired) identity
I see myself as a research-oriented product designer, creating emotional and systemic connections between material experimentation and human experience. I want to produce artifacts that translate intimate phenomena into communicative tools and speculative products with cultural impact.
Roadmap
1. Short-term (Now – MDEFest)
Finalize the narrative t-shirt as a systemic artifact, documenting sweat through pH-reactive biomaterials and crystallization.
Run performative experiments that generate sweat cartographies as data-mapping strategies.
Build clear documentation (photos, videos, reactions) to support future research output (papers, talks, exhibitions).
Skills: textile chemistry, biofabrication, visual storytelling, exhibition design. Actors: peers, mentors, audience at MDEFest. Knowledge: sweat biology, chromogenic materials, performative design.
2. Mid-term (6–12 months)
Submit the project to design research residencies or experimental material labs (e.g., La Escocesa, Medialab Prado).
Develop a comparative study on emotional perceptions of sweat using different garment strategies (data → speculative design outcomes).
Write a research article or visual essay about the social stigma of sweat, bio-data embodiment, and design.
Skills: academic writing, ethnographic analysis, participatory prototyping. Actors: body researchers, bioartists, performance designers. Knowledge: STS (science & tech studies), sociology of hygiene, wearables.
3. Long-term (1–3 years)
Expand the research into a PhD project or design fellowship exploring sweat as body data, stigma, and communication.
Develop a product line of adaptive garments that respond to sweat for emotional awareness, well-being, or neurodiversity support.
Skills: grant writing, interdisciplinary collaboration, soft tech integration. Actors: research centers, academic supervisors, ethical fashion studios. Knowledge: health tech, emotional design, biosensors, sustainable fashion tech.
Strategy alignment
Research-based: Experimentation and critical inquiry guide the process; the project generates new knowledge on embodiment and material perception.
Product-based: Outcomes are physical garments/prototypes that serve as tools, not just statements. These can scale into applications.
Community-based (emergent): Performative elements open participation, and data from diverse wearers create a collective body archive.
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