Remember going to a store and touching almost every product the store was selling without overthinking it? Our only concern was deciding whether to buy the product or not. Or visiting a museum and eagerly participating in the interactive installations? The spark of childlike excitement that came along with reading “Please Touch”; which we were more used to being instructed not to do. The current times and subsequent change in our behaviour patterns got us wondering: Could it be the end of the ‘Please Touch’ era?

Please (Don’t) Touch

Touch allows us to experience holistically on a different level; and goes beyond reading, watching or listening; as we have become used to in museums and galleries in the past decade. Heck, we even upcycled pasta to intrigue and encourage visitors to use their sense of touch to enjoy the Al Dente Wall we installed in 2019. Unfortunately, the coronavirus outbreak has changed a lot; in our design practises and our daily lives. 

Fear. With the virus possibly lingering on every corner or surface, we quickly rid ourselves of the habit of touching things while being outside. We’ve stopped carefully choosing fruits by lightly pressing them to test their ripeness. We are more mindful while greeting each other using elbow bumps; and refrain from shaking hands, giving kisses or embracing each other with hugs. Instead, we indulge in aromatic hand sanitisers and use disposable gloves at every opportunity. We’ve grown reluctant to enter physical spaces where we might encounter too many other people; and hide behind our masks in fear of being infected.

A lot of public spaces aren’t prepared to host people in a truly ‘safe’ manner; or haven’t adapted their experiential methods yet. Several brick-and-mortar owners are compelled to close their doors; periodically, temporarily or even for good. They’ve had to hide their playful, educative and engaging treasures from ‘before’; and leave them for us to be discovered through our personal screens, at home. We now travel the world, virtually, from our couches. Isn’t your finger tired yet?

While we may not see ‘Please Touch’ signs again in our public spaces anytime soon; we believe that there needs to be a future for ‘please touch’.

The Future of Touch in the Public Realm

If My Octopus Teacher reminded us something, it is that our sense of touch is an indispensable tool for exploring the world. It gives us a lot of information. If we hold a food item, for example, feeling it with our bare hands informs us about its weight, temperature, texture, and even its readiness to eat. We’ve learned to trust our sense of touch to gauge whether something is safe to eat or not. But what will the future of touch look like for us? When will we be able to start sharing experiences again together? And, more importantly how will we be sharing and touching in the future?

First, we will need to carefully orchestrate the reintroduction of touch. Whether you’re a shop owner, museum curator, restaurateur, or even an event organiser, we urge you to consider this. For now, this means only allowing smaller groups of people to congregate; making the experience more personal. Deep cleaning of shared spaces, tools and objects, will play a big role as well in the revival of touch. Next to introducing new products and technology to ensure safety, we need to work on the shift in our consumers’ mindsets as well; taking away the fear we have now associated with touch in shared and public spaces. 

Although we cannot determine the precise the future of touch, we look forward to the creative solutions that will be put to use to bring people together again to let them safely enjoy a shared experience, involving all our senses. In the meantime, we’re currently wondering how to transform our Scratch and Sniff wall panels to make them future proof. Any suggestions?

Written by Elise Coudré and Jashan Sippy.