Boards Hit Back: Reflecting on Martial Arts Practices Through Soma Design

There is an increasing interest in the HCI community in designing for bodily practices. We report on a soma design process for martial arts and the resulting artifact – an interactive wooden dummy. Through a detailed account of the design process, we show how it enriched and revamped the bodily practice, but also how it changed the martial arts expert in the design team. Based on a phenomenological account of his experiences, we argue that the estrangement methods in soma design may allow practitioners engaging as soma designers, to cultivate and create new artistic habits fused with thought and feeling, changing themselves and their practice in directions they seek.