– A Visual Exploration of Reflexology

My mother likes watching healthcare shows. She also loves to share with me, even though she has to call me from China. Most of these shows are about teaching people general knowledge, like the ingredients of a healthy diet or special recipes to relieve back stress or headache. She likes to talk about new information she learned from these shows, although sometimes I am not totally listening.

But the conversation makes me think a lot about traditional healthcare. For example, I was introduced to reflexology in the first grade in primate school. In school in China, we have a special reflexology for the eyes. This eye reflexology treatment has been used as the standard exercise for all students in China since 1963, with familiar music playing over loud speakers. It is like a massage for eyes, and there are four moves in the treatment, for four different reflex zones.

Reflexology, or zone therapy, is an alternative medicine involving the physical act of applying pressure to the feet, hands, or face with specific thumb, finger, and hand techniques. The hands are open doors to the bodies systems. Each section of the hand correlates to a specific organ. Stimulating nerves on specific areas of the hand can increase blood flow and eliminate toxins in the corresponding organs and systems of the body. Although reflexologists cannot claim to cure a sickness or disease, the practice is known to be beneficial for relaxation and stress relief for improving circulation and relieving pain, and for stimulation the immune and nervous systems.

Eastern cultures have been using reflexology treatment for thousands of years. Shiatsu is Japanese for "finger pressure". It is a type of alternative medicine consisting of finger and palm pressure, stretches, and other massage techniques. There is no scientific evidence for any medical efficacy of shiatsu, but some shiatsu practitioners promote it as a way to help people relax and cope with issues such as stress, muscle pain, nausea, anxiety, and depression.

On the other hand, western healthcare, relies heavily on prescription drugs, psychotherapy, and surgical procedures to “heal” the sick, many westerns are seeking alternatives. Reflexology is one of the most used alternative therapies in Denmark. A national survey from 2005 showed that 21.4% of the Danish population had used reflexology at some point in life and 6.1% had used reflexology within the previous year. A study from Norway showed that 5.6% of the Norwegian population in 2007 had used reflexology within the last 12 months.

I am a graduate student in graphic design at Maryland Institute College of Art. “How can I design something for reflexology? ” I found inspiration in Paola Antonelli’s TED talk, “ Treats Design as Art ”. In her presentation, Paola introduces many design examples, but one example resonated with me the most: a school of design in Jerusalem that tries to find a better way to design gas masks for people. So a teenager can sip a Coke and toddler can held by parent. Paola then discussed the relationship between design and science. “ I’m trying to find not the metaphors but, rather, the points in common – the common gripes, the common issues, the common preoccupations – and I think that it will enable us to go a little further in this idea of design as an instruction, as a direction rather than a prescription of form.”

I based my thesis project on reflexology. I created an interactive way for audiences to feel the relationship of reflex zones on their hands with organs in their body. I designed a device which is spread over by six Force Sensitive Resistors, each of which corresponds to the location of the reflex zone on the left palm. Each of the reflex zones is related to organ of the body. For those who may don’t know, force sensitive resistor is a round sensor with 0.5" diameter, sensing area. This sensor will vary its resistance depending on how much pressure is being applied to the sensing area. Pressing and holding a particular sensor will trigger a visual presentation on screen reflecting the activity and accumulating effect on the respective organ. These visual presentations mimic the organ’s activity. The rhythm of all visual presentations interacts with sensors to detect the level of force when the finger touches and presses each of the each reflex zones on the palm.

My thesis project showing at Meyerhoff Gallery at Maryland Institute College of Art from March to April. Interactive design enables audiences to gain knowledge through participation, which is both efficient and exciting. My thesis work explorer one way that design and science can be intertwined, just as Paola Antonelli said.

During the show time, I got a lot valuable feedback from the audience. One of the girl talked to me when I was shooting the video for exhibition. She told me she was a massage therapist before she come to MICA became an art student. She used to work at a healthcare institution and very familiar with the reflexology and body meridians. She felt so excited to see all these come to the interactive design, and more and more people get to understand reflexology and willing to give it a try. Also, my mother flew all the way from China to see my exhibition. I mentioned to that her that my concepts originally came from our conversation. But she still surprised by how I turn all the reflex zones and organs into abstract visual presentation. “ It’s a improvement based on the traditional reflexology. Comparing with teaching card and body map, this is the way I never thought before!”, She said. Beside that, my mother suggested me to introduce more reflex zones to the audience, especial those zones on the foot. Because the effects of reflex zone on human foot were much more obviously and remarkable. She also agrees with me that sometime it is difficult to deliver the culture spirit behind the reflexology to the western audiences. We both believe it is interesting and worthy to continue my thesis project.

More over, during the final process of my project, my friend Patrick, who pursuing PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology come to see my thesis exhibition. I go through this project with him on site. Patrick thought it is pretty interesting to visualize human’s organ. And he suggest me bring more sensor to this project in future, like pulse sensor, humidity sensor, temperature sensor, etc. “ It will be more interactions and more responsive experience!” he said. I agree with him and told him that my original idea is to make a glove which people can take on, through the interactive experience to feel the relationship of reflex zone on your hand and the inside organs. That’s the initial reason I choose pressure sensor. During our conversation, I told Patrick that it is common for designers, creative people in the visual arts to feel that we are not contributing enough to society at large when compared with people of advanced professions like scientists and engineers.

“But truly imaginative visual work is extremely important to society!” Patrick said, “Although designer sometimes don't do things that are immediately functional, but we are really using in those things functional to our understanding of issues. Designer are pointing people in the direction of a better design for a better life and people will be able to have a new behavior with it.”

Indeed, when our designer present visual work to society, whether an exhibition or a design discussion – work that opens up that sense of inquiry in the mind – we are seeding imagination into others. There may be no way to know who is going to take something from that and turn it into something else, but inspiration is cross – pollinating. So a piece of artwork in a museum may inspire a student or a scientist, and that in turn may be the seed that inspires a doctor or an engineer. Designers, like bees, play an important role in this inspiration process. The society needs these bees from all directions and all disciplines. Design has the power to drive social change and impact on the world.