Sep 22 - Oct 02 · Week One · Studio Practices
The UX of Human Senses
Revati Banerji I MA UX Design I London College of Communication
Brief: Design a dance experience based on a specific location
Team: Shuairuge Shu · Mingyu Chen · Merrin O’Connor · Aishwarya Saji · Yifei Huang
Our welcome to the MA UX programme hit the ground running, moving quickly from icebreakers to deeper questions. What is a user, what is an experience and where does the internet really live? These discussions set the tone for the week: don’t assume, question what you know and why you know what you know.
Our first task was to visit Twinings Tea (WC2R 1AP) and document its sensory experience. When we arrived, the first thing that caught our attention was the majestic Royal Courts of Justice across the street. If it hadn’t been for the strong scent of tea, we might have missed the narrow corridor of the Twinings shop, which has existed for nearly 300 years.
Fig. 1. Left: The Royal Courts of Justice opposite the Twinings flagship store. Photography by author. Right: Inside the store. Image courtesy of Dalziel–Pow.
The shop itself was small and intimate which may be why the chatter quickly became hushed and whispered. There was a variety of teas, a mix of premium teas, some packaged in Union Jack colours perfect for tourist souvenirs and even coffee sold at the back of the store. A tiny shelf dedicated to matcha hinted at how the brand responds to current trends. Throughout the space, Twinings’ long cultural history was on display, showing how its tea has travelled and evolved over the years.
Fig. 2. Materials documented at Twining flagship store documented by author.
Workshop
Later, we had was an inspiring session with Aaron McPeake. We were asked to listen to a recording: Tissue by Colin Lievens & Collective Agency, 2024, and physicalise what was being described. Our recording described two cut masses of breasts floating in a plastic cuboid box.
Fig. 3. Left: Interestingly, our individual interpretations of the recording were very similar. Right: This made it easy to recreate the final artwork as a group. Photography by author.
To us, the piece explored how once detached from the body this sexual organ is stripped of all its sexuality, desire and connotations. What was most interesting was that although the artwork exists physically, only a handful of people have seen it. Now it exists only as recordings and its interpretations.
Fig. 4. Sketch sourced from Colin Lievens’ website. Artist not specified.
While, this activity highlighted the potential of a single sense, it also made me think about the value of pushing users to work a little harder, allowing space for interpretation rather than over-explaining an experience.
Aaron also spoke about the haptics of roads and how they are designed to communicate with the differently abled, and the politics behind these decisions. It is something I have actively engaged with, but never considered or questioned as a designed experience.
These discussions challenged how much we rely on sight, encouraging us to strengthen and engage our other senses to create more rounded and inclusive experiences.
References:
Dalziel & Pow (n.d.) Twinings. [Online] Available at: https://www.dalziel-pow.com/work/twinings (Accessed: 15 January 2026).
Lievens, C. (2019) Colin Lievens. [Online] Available at: https://www.colinlievens.com (Accessed: 15 January 2026).