How to design your hyper-body system – choosing materials, components, and purpose

We’ve completed several activities throughout the book and they have become increasingly complex. In this section, we’ll look at designing your own hyper-body system and what you should consider as part of your wearable design process.

The many forms our wearables can take include socks, vests, underwear, scarves, wristbands, gloves, hats, belts, jewelry, and near-body items such as purses, handbags, and backpacks. How will you choose the form for your project? Making decisions about how to protect or secure your circuitry for a wearable is an important factor to think through as part of your planning. In a hyper-body system, we may have sensors or outputs in several locations. This has an impact on their placement too.

As the complexities of our circuits increase, you may decide to move from the typical placement of components on top of the fabric to a more incorporated...