Oya Demirbilek

Product design, semantics and emotional response

This paper explores theoretical issues in ergonomics related to semantics and the emotional content of design. The aim is to find answers to the following questions: how to design products triggering ‘happiness’ in ones mind; which product attributes help in the communication of positive emotions; and finally, how to evoke such emotions through a product. In other words, this is an investigation of the ‘meaning’ that could be designed into a product in order to ‘communicate’ with the user at an emotional level. A literature survey of recent design trends, based on selected examples of product designs and semantic applications to design, including the results of recent design awards, was carried out in order to determine the common attributes of their design language. A review of Good Design Award winning products that are said to convey and/or evoke emotions in the users has been done in order to define good design criteria. These criteria have been discussed in relation to user emotional responses and a selection of these has been given as examples.

Collaborating with Elderly End-users in the Design Process

The fact that end-users can participate and contribute to the design process, was pointed out in previous studies on user participation to the design process conducted by Cavanagh (1996), Ciccantelli and Magidson (1993), Mitchell (1995), Morini and Pomposini (1996), and Reich et al (1996). For Howes, et al (1998), participatory design is a design methodology, European in origin, giving an important contributory role to the end-user in the development of products they would eventually use. This paper presents a study (Demirbilek, 1999) in which elderly end-users were invovled in the design process by means of participatory design sessions. In these sessions, the expertise of designers and the comments and ideas of elderly end-users were applied to how doors and door handles for domestic use should be designed. Two different design sessions were run for each group of elderly end-users.

Evolution of Emotion Driven Design

Abstract Our thoughts, behavior, experiences, and relationship with the world are all influenced by our emotions, which are a central component of what makes us human. Emotions are forces that help us make sense of our interactionswith the world. Human behavior is a direct consequence of emotions, with the emotions directly affecting perception, cognition, personality system, body language, and the mind. While some emotions are innate, others are learned and synthesized from accrued knowledge. This chapter looks at the evolution of emotion driven design and the related theories and research. It also offers a glimpse of what is to come in this field with the latest technological advances.