6Cape

The image that I am submitting has to do with starting a conversation on social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Being a design student, we were tasked with designing for the pandemic and I wanted to tackle social distancing wearables. My idea comes from the concept of a superhero--which commonly represents qualities needed in a pandemic such as pride, strength, grit, and resilience. A common motif with superheroes is a cape, and I feel a long cape could be used as a guide to social distancing. A cape is an effective wearable due to the activated and deactivated state it holds. It can be temporary for short interaction when it’s difficult to social distance. Being your own superhero, you are effectively protecting yourself and others while wearing the cape and face mask (another popular clothing accessory of the superhero). This work represents my efforts at UIC towards studying and advancing low-fidelity wearable technology. The mechanism for the cape is a simple lightweight flexible dowel and string when activated--so no actual technical workings. My work revolves around finding delight in manual interaction and play.