Comparison of Kansei Engineering and AttrakDiff to Evaluate Kitchen Products

Kansei Engineering can be used to create scales to measure perceptions and evaluations of products in a particular context. To what extent do specifically constructed Kansei scales reveal more information about a product than a more generic, prestructured instrument, such as AttrakDiff? This case study identified relevant affective and pragmatic Kansei attributes that influence the purchase of a range hood (cooker hood). 102 customers rated the extent to which each of 10 range hoods possessed these attributes. In addition, AttrakDiff was used to measure hedonic and pragmatic quality perceptions. There was a general high correspondence between AttrakDiff and Kansei. While Kansei provided richer and more specific feedback, it was more resource intensive to carry out

Developing a Labeled Affective Magnitude scale and Fuzzy Linguistic scale for tactile feeling

Affective design is the inclusion or representation of human emotions and subjective impressions in product design processes. In affective design, a number of different scales are commonly used to reveal and measure subjective emotions related to the design features of products. Osgood's Semantic Differential Scale (SDS) is one of the scales that has often been used for this purpose. However, there are some drawbacks in the SDS due to the ordinal nature of the scale that leads to losses or distortions of a significant amount of information and this makes it difficult to justify parametric statistical analysis. In this study, two scales, namely a Labeled Affective Magnitude (LAM) scale and a Fuzzy Linguistic scale, are developed. The LAM scale is an alternative scale based on magnitude estimation and has ratio properties. The Fuzzy Linguistic scale is an interval scale for which responses are linguistic descriptors that are identified with fuzzy numbers or intervals. The scales were developed for tactile feelings because they are an important factor in product evaluation. Statistical analysis was conducted to compare the scales. There was no significant difference between the newly constructed fuzzy scale and 11 point SDS, whereas there was a significant difference between the newly constructed LAM scale and 11 point SDS

Embedding Intelligence. Designerly reflections on AI-infused products

Artificial intelligence is more-or-less covertly entering our lives and houses, embedded into products and services that are acquiring novel roles and agency on users. Products such as virtual assistants represent the first wave of materializa- tion of artificial intelligence in the domestic realm and beyond. They are new interlocutors in an emerging redefined relationship between humans and computers. They are agents, with miscommunicated or unclear proper- ties, performing actions to reach human-set goals. They embed capabilities that industrial products never had. They can learn users’ preferences and accordingly adapt their responses, but they are also powerful means to shape people’s behavior and build new practices and habits. Nevertheless, the way these products are used is not fully exploiting their potential, and frequently they entail poor user experiences, relegating their role to gadgets or toys. Furthermore, AI-infused products need vast amounts of personal data to work accurately, and the gathering and processing of this data are often obscure to end-users. As well, how, whether, and when it is preferable to implement AI in products and services is still an open debate. This condition raises critical ethical issues about their usage and may dramatically impact users’ trust and, ultimately, the quality of user experience. The design discipline and the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) field are just beginning to explore the wicked relationship between Design and AI, looking for a definition of its borders, still blurred and ever-changing. The book approaches this issue from a human-centered standpoint, proposing designerly reflections on AI-infused products. It addresses one main guiding question: what are the design implications of embedding intelligence into everyday objects

An aesthetics of touch: investigating the language of design relating to form

How well can designers communicate qualities of touch? This paper presents evidence that they have some capability to do so, much of which appears to have been learned, but at present make limited use of such language. Interviews with graduate designer-makers suggest that they are aware of and value the importance of touch and materiality in their work, but lack a vocabulary to fully relate to their detailed explanations of other aspects such as their intent or selection of materials. We believe that more attention should be paid to the verbal dialogue that happens in the design process, particularly as other researchers show that even making-based learning also has a strong verbal element to it. However, verbal language alone does not appear to be adequate for a comprehensive language of touch. Graduate designers-makers’ descriptive practices combined non-verbal manipulation within verbal accounts. We thus argue that haptic vocabularies do not simply describe material qualities, but rather are situated competences that physically demonstrate the presence of haptic qualities. Such competencies are more important than groups of verbal vocabularies in isolation. Design support for developing and extending haptic competences must take this wide range of considerations into account to comprehensively improve designers’ capabilities

SPACE HABITABILITY. Integration von Human Factors in den Entwicklungsprozess zur Verbesserung der Bewohnbarkeit für langandauernde Weltraummissionen

Astronauten arbeiten in den extremsten Umgebungen und unter lebensgefährlichen Bedingungen, um das Wissen der Menschheit über den Weltraum zu erweitern. Radioaktive Strahlung, Anpassung an die Schwerelosigkeit, Isolation und Mensch-Technik-Interaktion sind nur einige der vielen Herausforderungen, welche sich gravierend auf die Bewohnbarkeit des Weltalls auswirken und damit auch auf die Leistungsfähigkeit, die Sicherheit und das Wohlbefinden eines Menschen. Kenntnisse über den Einfluss dieser Faktoren auf den Menschen sind von größter Bedeutung wenn es darum geht, Leistungsfähigkeit, Sicherheit und den Erfolg der Mission zu gewährleisten. Human Factors, eine Fachrichtung welche die Interaktion zwischen Menschen und anderen Elementen des Systems behandelt, wurde bis heute nicht angemessen berücksichtigt, welches Berichten zufolge die Ursache für das geringe Niveau der Bewohnbarkeit von Raumstationen, von der Mir bis hin zur derzeitigen Internationalen Raumstation, ist. Wie die European Cooperation for Space Standardization betonte ist die Integration von fundiertem Human Factors-Wissen in allen Projektphasen von Anfang an eine primäre Notwendigkeit, insbesondere in Anbetracht des immer warscheinlicher werdenden Szenarios einer Langzeitmission. In dieser Arbeit wird ein neues konzeptionelles Modell als Lösungsweg für den Umgang mit diesen Bedürfnissen vorgeschlagen, welches den Schwerpunkt auf die Einbeziehung von Human-Factors-Prinzipien in alle Aspekte einer bemannten Langzeitmission setzt, um die Bewohnbarkeit im All zu verbessern. Das neue konzeptionelle Modell, nachstehend als "Integrated Design Process (IDP)" bezeichnet, umfasst drei wichtige Designprinzipien: Faktoren der Bewohnbarkeit, einen benutzerzentrierten Ansatz und eine ganzheitliche Methodik. Das konzeptionelle Modell wurde in vier Studien im Vergleich zu existierenden Modellen untersucht. An der ersten Studie waren Studenten aus verschiedenen Fachrichtungen beteiligt, welche das Modell einsetzten, um die Gestaltung einer Mondbasis zu unterstützen. An der zweiten Studie war der Arbeitskreis Extreme-Design beteiligt, welcher das Modell einsetzte, um Verfahren zum Bewohnbarkeits-Debriefing sowie Sensorenreize während einer simulierten Mission auf der Mars Desert Research Station zu untersuchen. An der dritten Studie waren Studenten des Lehrstuhls Mensch-Maschine-Systeme der TU Berlin beteiligt, welche Raumausrüstung für Systemabläufe in einer Mensch-Maschine-Umgebung entwarfen. An der vierten Studie war ein interdisziplinäres Team im Deutschen Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) beteiligt, welches das Modell beim Entwurf eines closed-loop Habitat-Systems für Langstreckenmissionen anwendete. Die Ergebnisse dieser Studien zeigten, dass im Vergleich zu den aktuellen Methoden die Verwendung des IDP-Modells während der Entwurfsphase die Bewohnbarkeit verbessert. Die Vermutung liegt daher nahe, dass die Verwendung eines solchen Modells in der Planungsphase einer Weltraummission die Bewohnbarkeit und als Folge die Leistungsfähigkeit des Menschen und dessen Sicherheit verbessern und letztendlich zum Erfolg der Mission beitragen kann. Die Auswirkungen eines solchen Modells gehen über die Anwendung im Weltraum hinaus und schließen auch andere Umgebungen mit ein, in welchen Menschen in geschlossenen Räumen für längere Zeit leben und arbeiten müssen, wie beispielsweise in Forschungslaboren in der Antarktis, aber auch in Megastädten und Altenheimen.Astronauts work in the most extreme environments and under life-threatening conditions in order to expand human knowledge in outer space. Radiation, adaptation to microgravity, isolation, and user-system interaction are some of the many challenges that strongly affect the level of habitability in space and, as a consequence, human performance, safety, and well-being. Knowing how these elements impact on humans is of paramount importance when it comes to ensuring user performance, safety, and mission success. Until now, human factors – the discipline that is concerned with the interactions between humans and other elements of a system – have not been taken into account appropriately, which is why the level of habitability on space stations, from the Mir to the current International Space Station, is reportedly low. As underlined by the European Cooperation for Space Standardization, the integration of sound human factors into all project phases, starting from the very beginning, has become a primary necessity, in particular considering the approaching scenario of long duration/range missions. As a means for dealing with this need, this thesis proposes a new conceptual model, which focuses on incorporating human factors principles right from the preliminary design phase into all aspects of long-duration/range human mission projects in order to improve habitability. The new conceptual model, referred to herein as the ‘Integrated Design Process (IDP)’, incorporates three key design principles: habitability factors, a user-centered approach, and a holistic methodology. The conceptual model was tested against existing models in four separate studies. Specifically, study one involved students from various disciplines employing the model to assist in the design of a Moon Base. Study two involved the Extreme-Design research group employing the model to investigate habitability debriefing procedures and sensor stimuli during a simulation mission at the Mars Desert Research Station. Study three involved students from the Human-Machine System Chair at TU-Berlin designing space equipment for human-machine-environment system operations. The fourth study involved a multidisciplinary team at the German Space Agency (DLR) employing the model to design a closed-loop habitat facility for long duration space missions. The results of these studies revealed that employing the IDP model during the design phase improved self-rated habitability when compared to the current methods. These results suggest that employing such a model during the design phase of a space mis-sion will improve habitability of the item under development, thus improving user performance, safety, and ultimately mission success. The implications of such a model extend beyond application in space and include other environments where individuals are expected to live and work in confined areas for extended periods of time, such as in research laboratories in Antartica. It can also be applied in megacities as well as in retirement homes