Introduction: Food and Eating Design

Design Aesthetic

The effects of sensory impairments on product experience and personal well-being

To determine the roles the sensory modalities play in user-product interactions, one modality was blocked during the execution of eight simple tasks. Participants reported how they experienced the products and how they felt during the experiment. Blocking vision resulted in the largest loss of functional information, increased task difficulty and task duration, and fostered dependency. On the other hand, the other senses were used more and product experiences increased in perceived intenseness. When touch was blocked, the perceived loss of information was smaller, and participants reported that familiar products felt less like their own. Blocking audition resulted in communication problems and a feeling of being cut off. Blocking olfaction mainly decreased the intenseness of the experience. These outcomes suggest that vision mainly plays a functional role in everyday user product interactions, whereas the main role for olfaction lies in the affective domain.Industrial DesignIndustrial Design Engineerin

Should Mary smell like biscuit? Investigation scents in product design

In attempt to influence how a product is experienced, designers can manipulate all aspects of a product, including odor. The effect odor has on a consumer’s experience of the product is still not yet understood. Two experiments were conducted in order to shed more light on the influence odor has on consumers. In Experiment 1, differences in people’s reactions to congruent and incongruent odors for products that normally have an odor (e.g., lemons) and for products that normally do not have an odor (e.g., kitchen paper holder) were investigated. All scented products were found to be surprising, and were evaluated moderately positively. In Experiment 2, the effects of the degree of inappropriateness of odors on the evaluations of products that normally do not have an odor were investigated. Although ratings for degree of fit obtained in a pre-study showed that our manipulations were successful, no significant effects were found for the degree of inappropriateness on overall product evaluations in the main study. This may stem from the fact that because scent is a relatively unimportant attribute for the products used in our experiment, its contribution to the overall evaluation is difficult to measure on rating scales. However, participants’ comments suggest that odors do play a role in their evaluations. Therefore, this investigation sets forth that product designers should not ignore the potential effects of odorsIndustrial Design Engineerin

The influence of sensory product properties on affective and symbolic product experience

Creating pleasurable products requires understanding of the influence of sensory product properties on affective user experience and symbolic meaning of products. This paper gives an overview of a series of studies, in which we investigated the impact of sensory product properties (color, material, sound, smell, and taste) on affective user experiences (pleasure, annoyance, satisfaction, and surprise) and symbolic meanings of products (freshness, warmth, and noisiness). The results demonstrate that the pleasantness of a product could not always be predicted on the basis of the pleasantness of its sensory properties. The findings also suggest that sensory product properties might be linked to symbolic properties through metaphorical meaning of sensory adjectives.Industrial DesignIndustrial Design Engineerin

Pleasantness in bodily experience: A phenomenological inquiry

This study investigated the varieties of pleasantness in bodily experience in order to advance the aesthetics of interaction paradigm. Interviews were held with twelve people varying in age and occupation. They were asked to describe pleasant experiences for Sight, Audition, Smell, Taste, Touch, Action and Thought. A phenomenological reduction performed on the interview transcripts resulted in seven pleasantness themes: sociality, aesthetics, comfort, agency, associations, vitality and progression. These pleasantness themes involved multiple bodily faculties with a prominence of two or three specific ones, which allowed a preliminary mapping of the pleasantness themes in relation to the body. The results may advance the aesthetics of interaction paradigm by explicating the varieties in pleasant experience and how the body is involved in shaping them.Industrial Design Engineerin

Effects of visual-auditory incongruity on product expression and surprise

Product experience is influenced by information from all the senses. Our experiments provide insight into how sounds contribute to the overall experience of a product’s expression. We manipulated the sounds of dust busters and juicers so that they either did or did not fit the expressions of the products’ appearances. In some, but not all cases, we found an inverse relationship between the degree-of-fit of a sound and the degree of surprise evoked. Furthermore, we found in some cases that the expression of a product’s sound influenced the overall expression of that productIndustrial Design Engineerin

The effect of (un)pleasant sounds on the visual and overall pleasantness of products

A product is a nnulti-sensory object and eacli sensory property can contribute to the product experience. In this study we investigated the effect of sound (pleasant, unpleasant, original, and no sound) on the perceived pleasantness of products (i.e., visual pleasantness and overall pleasantness). Results indicate that ratings for visual and overall pleasantness are similar when no sounds are provided with the products (pictures). When participants are provided with sounds corresponding to the product, however, the overall pleasantness ratings decreased and visual pleasantness increased. Furthermore, while original and unpleasant sounds had a negative effect, pleasant sounds had a positive effect on visual and overall pleasantness ratings. We suggest that if efforts are put into improving the sound quality users will be more pleased and more willing to interact with products.Industrial DesignIndustrial Design Engineerin

Designing for user experiences in specific contexts: Contributions from contextmapping

In saturated consumer markets, consumer choices often depend on subtle product differences that contribute positively to their user experiences. Hence, it is important for designers to be able to create products that elicit different experiences. In this chapter we discuss a design approach that takes the creation of specific user experience as a starting point. The approach aims for improvement beyond product functionality and user friendliness in order to make products that really fulfil important, often latent needs in people’s lives. Experience-driven design involves determining what experience to aim for and, subsequently, to design something that will evoke that experience.Industrial DesignIndustrial Design Engineerin

Consumer-product attachment: Measurement and design implications

Due to differences in the attachment consumers experience towards the durable products they own, they hang on to certain products whereas they easily dispose of others. From the viewpoint of sustainability, it may be worthwhile to lengthen the life span of many durable consumer products. Hence, there is a challenge for designers to strengthen the bond between consumers and their products through the product design process. In the present study, we develop a scale to measure consumer-product attachment, and we identify and measure seven possible determinants of attachment: enjoyment, memories to persons, places, and events, support of self-identity, life vision, utility, reliability, and market value. Only memories and enjoyment contribute positively to the degree of attachment. The highest levels of attachment are registered for recently acquired products (<1 year) and for products owned for more than 20 years. For new products, enjoyment may be the main driver of attachment, whereas for old products memories may be more important.Industrial Design Engineerin

Towards a conceptual framework for Experience-Driven Innovation

Companies that aim to evoke specific experiences among their customers, should not only modify their design process, but also need to reorganize their innovation processes. Experience-driven innovation has implications on at least three levels in the organization: company, brand, and product/service level. The creative process at each level can be characterized by four stages: context description, vision formulation, concept generation, and end result. To support the innovation process, companies may take organizational measures and employ tools to support the design process. We suggest a number of these for inspiration purposes. We hope to improve our conceptual framework further through the use of an interactive website, on which users can comment on the framework and upload sample projects.Industrial DesignIndustrial Design Engineerin