Design Research

Research set-up project

Stella Waldvogel, Aluman BA 2021, Industrial Design

How can sex toys be developed and tested for people with bodies that deviate from the so-called 'norm'? How can the needs concerning their sexuality be found out despite the prevailing stigmatisation? The upcoming start-up ISYO wants to make sexuality accessible for all bodies. We achieve this by developing tailor-made products for different target groups that enable them to have a self-determined sex life. In order to develop and test the products, a guideline was created that will be refined via "research through design".

The set-up project is based on the BA thesis "ARIS, the sleeve for people with neophallus". Transmasculine people have no erectile tissue in the surgically formed penis to stiffen it. This makes active penetrative sex impossible. ARIS stabilises the neophallus and promises a confident sex life.

The most important sources of information for the development of this and other products are direct contact and interviews with the target groups as well as exchanges with experts. In order to be able to further develop the project within the research at the ZHdK, a third-party funding application was written. The application included the development of a research concept as well as the expansion of the advisory board and contacts within the target groups.