The roles of products in product emotions an explorative study

Although several theoretical frameworks that aim to explain the emotional impact of product design have been introduced in design research literature, none of these frameworks clearly specifies the role of the product in these emotions. This paper reports a study that was designed to explore the variety of roles that products can play in emotional experiences. In a three staged experience sampling study, 29 participants produced 170 records of emotions experienced while interacting with products. Each case was examined in order to identify the antecedent event (the event triggering the emotion) and the mental object (what the emotion is about). The results indicated that several types of events involved in the user-product interaction can elicit an emotional experience: noticing a product; an event occurring during product usage; an entire usage episode; an external agent mentioning the product; and a change in the relationship between a user and a product . It was also found that the resulting emotional responses can be about (can be attributed to) several types of mental objects: a physical object, such as the particular product involved; the user or some other person; the actions of the user or the designer; the antecedent event itself. The results are used to identify and discuss eight distinct roles that products can play in the experience of emotions. In addition, examples are provided to illustrate how these roles can facilitate a structured approach to design for emotion. Keywords: Design and emotion, user-product interaction</p

Mood Regulation as a Design Topic: Interview with Pieter Desmet

Pieter Desmet is the founding co-director of the Delft Institute of Positive Design, chair of the TU Delft Department of Human Centered Design, and Director of the Delft Design Labs. After introducing cognitive emotion theory to the field of design research, he established the Design and Emotion Society. Full professor of Design for Experience at TU Delft, Desmet is also co-editor of Design and Emotion Moves (Cambridge Scholars, 2008) and co-author of Positive Design: An Introduction to Design for Subjective Well-Being (IJDesign, 2013). Pieter Desmet, who holds a PhD in the domain of Emotion Psychology, has been recently awarded a five-year personal grant to research about the nuances of human mood in human-product interactions. Besides his academic activities, he also contributes to local community projects, such as a recently developed sensory wellness neighborhood park, and a cultural ‘House of Happiness’ located in Rotterdam. In this interview, Desmet discusses the background to positive design, as well as the practical and ethical challenges that arise from using such an approach. He also refers to his latest research initiative: Design for Mood Regulation. Finally, Desmet explains how he transfers the knowledge he develops to companies

Sensory enrichment for people living with dementia: increasing the benefits of multisensory environments in dementia care through design

Recent research has investigated the impact of design on providing multisensory experience for people with dementia living in care homes, particularly the quality of multisensory environments (MSEs). This interdisciplinary research evolved from a broad consideration of the role of design in dementia care enhancing the wellbeing of people living with dementia and their carers. Previous research suggests that using MSE in dementia care as a resource for meaningful engagement has beneficial effects and many MSEs have been installed in UK care homes. However, evidence indicates that these spaces often fail to benefit the residents causing staff becoming discouraged and subsequently the room becoming unused. A study investigating the current facilitation of MSE in sixteen UK care homes revealed two key issues: (1) set-up and design of existing MSEs in care environments is, in most cases, not suitable for older people; (2) there is a lack of knowledge and information for care practitioners for facilitating sensory activities and environments. Based on these findings, design criteria improving usability and accessibility for people with dementia were established and user-centred design recommendations developed. As a first step towards closing the knowledge gap amongst healthcare practitioners in providing multisensory experience, initial design guidelines were published as an online resource

Technology and Meditation: Exploring the Challenges and Benefits of a Physical Device to Support Meditation Routine

Existing studies of technology supporting meditation habit formation mainly focus on mobile applications which support users via reminders. A potentially more effective source of motivation could be contextual cues provided by meaningful objects in meaningful locations. This longitudinal mixed-methods 8-week study explored the effectiveness of such an object, Prana, in supporting forming meditation habits among seven novice meditators. First, the Meditation Intentions Questionnaire-24 and the Determinants of Meditation Practice Inventory-Revised were administered. The self-report habit index (SrHI) was administered before and after the study. Prana recorded meditation session times, while daily diaries captured subjective experiences. At the end of the study, the system usability scale, the ten-item personality inventory, and the brief self-control scale were completed, followed by individual semi-structured interviews. We expected to find an increase in meditation frequency and temporal consistency, but the results failed to confirm this. Participants meditated for between 16% and 84% of the study. The frequency decreased with time for four, decreased with subsequent increase for two, and remained stable for one of them. Daily meditation experiences were positive, and the perceived difficulty to start meditating was low. No relevant correlation was found between the perceived difficulty in starting to meditate and meditation experience overall; the latter was only weakly associated with the likelihood of meditating the next day. While meditation became more habitual for six participants, positive scores on SrHI were rare. Despite the inconclusive results, this study provides valuable insights into challenges and benefits of using a meditation device, as well as potential methodological difficulties in studying habit formation with physical devices

Workshop: Positive Design. Designing the road of happiness

“If you want to increase your happiness, don’t buy new products, change your behaviour.” Positive psychologists sometimes advise that not too much ought to be expected from the contributions to subjective well-being made by consumer products (Nicolao, Irwin, & Goodman, 2009). The ‘Positive Design’ workshop challenges this view by proposing that design can increase happiness. The central question addressed is: How can designcontribute to human flourishing? Positive Design is an umbrellaterm for all forms of design, design research and design intention in which explicit attention is paid to the effects of design on the subjective well-being of individuals and communities (Desmet & Pohlmeyer, 2013; Pohlmeyer & Desmet, 2014). In their workshop, Anna and Pieter will introduce their view on Positive Design andpresent examples of how design can help people in finding balancebetween pleasure, purpose in life, and virtuous behaviour. They will introduce some of the key research questions in the domain of Positive Design and detail a Positive Design Framework in-depth. In addition to providing relevant background knowledge, a number of hands-on exercises will be conducted to familiarize participants with essential concepts and design methods. The aim of the workshop is to inform, engage, and inspire; offering a balance between theory & research on the one hand, and experiences & design examples on the other