Conclusion (500 words)

My multi-sensory diary covers touch and sight. The experience I observed was shaving and after observing my self during my auto-ethnography I thought it would be interesting to observe males and females for the next stage of the project. 

My personal observations concluded that touch, sight and sound were the most important and richest senses used when shaving. Because of this I concentrated on observing these senses and talking about these sensory experiences with those whom I observed. I observed that the way males and females experience shaving was different, I also observed that a difference in age also contributed to the participants having a different experience. This was because the approach they used to shave was different and the care or length of time also differed. Because of this my participants had different sensory reactions to shaving, they felt things differently and saw things differently. I found this to be of interest and tried to include these differences in my multi-sensory diary. It also meant that when the participants experienced something in a similar manner it meant that it was very obvious and I noted that this would be highly important. 

I also payed attention to what my participants were talking to me about when they were shaving. I was asking questions as we went such as “How does that feel?” or “What does that remind you of?” meaning I got a good sense of what materials or tactile / visual images I needed to use to convey to a different use in a sensory manner what my participants experienced when shaving. 

In the multi-sensory diary I wanted to create a step by step approach to the stages of shaving with the user having to experience the diary in first a  tactile manner and then a visual manner. To do this I created or manipulated materials to have similar tactile qualities as the experiences I was trying to mimic. I used the information I gathered through my personal observations and my observations of others. I tried to use materials that are not associated with shaving in order for the user to be unable to draw a linear conclusion between what they were feeling and what they knew. I also want the user to close their eyes and remove sight from the experience when touching the diary as I do not want their preconceptions about what they see to influence what they will then feel. The second part, the sight, comes at the end of the tactile section. After this section the user will then look at images I have taken which convey certain aspects of the experience. They user will flick back through the diary and look at each image. An image will correspond with a tactile experience on the opposite page so that the user if they want can feel the experience for a richer way of  visualizing it. 

Overall I feel that the multi-sensory diary is highly successful and aptly conveys to a user the shaving experience through touch and sight.