About the nature of Kansei information, from abstract to concrete

Designer’s expertise refers to the scientific fields of emotional design and kansei information. This paper aims to answer to a scientific major issue which is, how to formalize designer’s knowledge, rules, skills into kansei information systems. Kansei can be considered as a psycho-physiologic, perceptive, cognitive and affective process through a particular experience. Kansei oriented methods include various approaches which deal with semantics and emotions, and show the correlation with some design properties. Kansei words may include semantic, sensory, emotional descriptors, and also objects names and product attributes. Kansei levels of information can be seen on an axis going from abstract to concrete dimensions. Sociological value is the most abstract information positioned on this axis. Previous studies demonstrate the values the people aspire to drive their emotional reactions in front of particular semantics. This means that the value dimension should be considered in kansei studies. Through a chain of value-function-product attributes it is possible to enrich design generation and design evaluation processes. This paper describes some knowledge structures and formalisms we established according to this chain, which can be further used for implementing computer aided design tools dedicated to early design. These structures open to new formalisms which enable to integrate design information in a non-hierarchical way. The foreseen algorithmic implementation may be based on the association of ontologies and bag-of-words.AN

Mapping a multi-sensory identity territory at the early design stage

This article presents a kansei design methodology. It is placed at the very beginning of the design process and aims to influence the following steps in order to improve the user's understanding and experiencing of the designed product. The experimentation combines in a subtle way the design thinking approach of learning by doing and the kansei engineering quantitative approach. The research presented is based on the results of a previous study that defined the semantic and emotional scope of future hybrid cars for European using visual stimuli. This kansei design methodology creates and assesses multi-sensory atmospheres is order to provide tangible direction composed of vision, touch, hearing and smell stimuli. From the cognitive and affective responses of the 42 participants we were able to detail 3 directions for future cars interiors that aim to enrich the styling design briefs and to influence the design strategies such as the management of the different grades. The research presented here was supported by the Kansei Design department from Toyota Motor Europe (TME-KD). This collaboration also brought an industrial context to it.SUPPORTED BY TOYOTA EUROP

Definition and representation of user experience intentions in the early phase of the industrial design process : a focus of the kansei process

L'expérience perçue lors de l'utilisation de produits est récemment devenue un facteur différenciateur majeur entre les principaux acteurs de l'industrie. Elle influence désormais grandement le succès de nouveaux produits. En parallèle, l'intérêt de la communauté de recherche en design sur le sujet va en grandissant. La présente recherche apporte une contribution à ces deux mondes en explorant des moyens de définir et représenter des intentions d'expérience utilisateur. Une des originalités de cette recherche réside dans le fait que son assise théorique combine les notions complémentaires d'expérience utilisateur et de processus « kansei » (processus mental affectif) utilisées originellement par des communautés scientifiques différentes. Elle fait aussi partie du groupe très restreint de travaux qui investiguent les liens entre ces considérations et le monde industriel.Au long des cinq expérimentations qui composent ce mémoire, j'explore la création d'outils et de méthodologies s'intéressant au processus kansei des futurs utilisateurs et permettant l'élaboration puis la communication d'intentions venant nourrir le processus de conception de nouveaux produits. L'influence de la nature des représentations amont sur la compréhension réciproque au sein d'équipes de conception multiculturelles (multi-nationalité et disciplinaire) ainsi que sur différentes typologies de projets prospectifs centrés sur l'expérience sont aussi mis en avant. En termes de contributions académiques, cette recherche a permis de modéliser l'information design échangée au sein d'équipes de conception visant à impacter les processus kansei des potentiels futurs utilisateurs. Elle a aussi mis en valeur les qualités et l'importance des représentations amonts multi-sensorielles. Les contributions industrielles couvrent quant à elles, la création d'outils, de méthodologies et de représentations amonts permettant de caractériser l'approche dite du « Kansei Design », et d'établir des liens entre ces différents aspects et trois typologies de projets de développements de nouveaux concepts.In the industrial context, users' experience with products recently became a major differentiation factor between competitors and can greatly influence the success of a product. In parallel, the interest from the design research community about this topic is also growing. This research intends to contribute to both contexts by investigating the definition and representation of user experience intentions. When defining the theoretical background of this research a link will be created between the complementary notions of user experience and kansei process. Based on this original field of study, this dissertation will discuss design activities undertaken by design teams in order to nourish the much wider industrial design process.With the five experiments that will be presented in this dissertation, I will explore the creation of tools and methodologies centred on potential users' kansei process and supporting the creation of intentions related to the user experience of products to be designed. I will also investigate how the nature of the resulting early representations can impact reciprocal understanding within multi-cultural design teams, and finally how the developed approach (Kansei Design approach) can impact different typologies of new concept development projects.In terms of academic contributions, this research enabled to model the exchange of kansei-related design information among design-teams and highlighted the added value of multi-sensory early representations resulting from experience-centred design activities. Regarding industrial contributions, the different experiments made it possible to characterise the Kansei Design approach in terms of tools, methodologies, and early representations. Moreover a link was established between the different characteristics of this approach and three typologies of new experience-centred concept development projects leading to different products development projects

Définition et représentation d'intentions liées à l'expérience d'utilisation en phase amont du processus de conception de produit

In the industrial context, users' experience with products recently became a major differentiation factor between competitors and can greatly influence the success of a product. In parallel, the interest from the design research community about this topic is also growing. This research intends to contribute to both contexts by investigating the definition and representation of user experience intentions. When defining the theoretical background of this research a link will be created between the complementary notions of user experience and kansei process. Based on this original field of study, this dissertation will discuss design activities undertaken by design teams in order to nourish the much wider industrial design process.With the five experiments that will be presented in this dissertation, I will explore the creation of tools and methodologies centred on potential users' kansei process and supporting the creation of intentions related to the user experience of products to be designed. I will also investigate how the nature of the resulting early representations can impact reciprocal understanding within multi-cultural design teams, and finally how the developed approach (Kansei Design approach) can impact different typologies of new concept development projects.In terms of academic contributions, this research enabled to model the exchange of kansei-related design information among design-teams and highlighted the added value of multi-sensory early representations resulting from experience-centred design activities. Regarding industrial contributions, the different experiments made it possible to characterise the Kansei Design approach in terms of tools, methodologies, and early representations. Moreover a link was established between the different characteristics of this approach and three typologies of new experience-centred concept development projects leading to different products development projects.L'expérience perçue lors de l'utilisation de produits est récemment devenue un facteur différenciateur majeur entre les principaux acteurs de l'industrie. Elle influence désormais grandement le succès de nouveaux produits. En parallèle, l'intérêt de la communauté de recherche en design sur le sujet va en grandissant. La présente recherche apporte une contribution à ces deux mondes en explorant des moyens de définir et représenter des intentions d'expérience utilisateur. Une des originalités de cette recherche réside dans le fait que son assise théorique combine les notions complémentaires d'expérience utilisateur et de processus « kansei » (processus mental affectif) utilisées originellement par des communautés scientifiques différentes. Elle fait aussi partie du groupe très restreint de travaux qui investiguent les liens entre ces considérations et le monde industriel.Au long des cinq expérimentations qui composent ce mémoire, j'explore la création d'outils et de méthodologies s'intéressant au processus kansei des futurs utilisateurs et permettant l'élaboration puis la communication d'intentions venant nourrir le processus de conception de nouveaux produits. L'influence de la nature des représentations amont sur la compréhension réciproque au sein d'équipes de conception multiculturelles (multi-nationalité et disciplinaire) ainsi que sur différentes typologies de projets prospectifs centrés sur l'expérience sont aussi mis en avant. En termes de contributions académiques, cette recherche a permis de modéliser l'information design échangée au sein d'équipes de conception visant à impacter les processus kansei des potentiels futurs utilisateurs. Elle a aussi mis en valeur les qualités et l'importance des représentations amonts multi-sensorielles. Les contributions industrielles couvrent quant à elles, la création d'outils, de méthodologies et de représentations amonts permettant de caractériser l'approche dite du « Kansei Design », et d'établir des liens entre ces différents aspects et trois typologies de projets de développements de nouveaux concepts

About the nature of Kansei information, from abstract to concrete

Designer’s expertise refers to the scientific fields of emotional design and kansei information. This paper aims to answer to a scientific major issue which is, how to formalize designer’s knowledge, rules, skills into kansei information systems. Kansei can be considered as a psycho-physiologic, perceptive, cognitive and affective process through a particular experience. Kansei oriented methods include various approaches which deal with semantics and emotions, and show the correlation with some design properties. Kansei words may include semantic, sensory, emotional descriptors, and also objects names and product attributes. Kansei levels of information can be seen on an axis going from abstract to concrete dimensions. Sociological value is the most abstract information positioned on this axis. Previous studies demonstrate the values the people aspire to drive their emotional reactions in front of particular semantics. This means that the value dimension should be considered in kansei studies. Through a chain of value-function-product attributes it is possible to enrich design generation and design evaluation processes. This paper describes some knowledge structures and formalisms we established according to this chain, which can be further used for implementing computer aided design tools dedicated to early design. These structures open to new formalisms which enable to integrate design information in a non-hierarchical way. The foreseen algorithmic implementation may be based on the association of ontologies and bag-of-words.International audienceDesigner’s expertise refers to the scientific fields of emotional design and kansei information. This paper aims to answer to a scientific major issue which is, how to formalize designer’s knowledge, rules, skills into kansei information systems. Kansei can be considered as a psycho-physiologic, perceptive, cognitive and affective process through a particular experience. Kansei oriented methods include various approaches which deal with semantics and emotions, and show the correlation with some design properties. Kansei words may include semantic, sensory, emotional descriptors, and also objects names and product attributes. Kansei levels of information can be seen on an axis going from abstract to concrete dimensions. Sociological value is the most abstract information positioned on this axis. Previous studies demonstrate the values the people aspire to drive their emotional reactions in front of particular semantics. This means that the value dimension should be considered in kansei studies. Through a chain of value-function-product attributes it is possible to enrich design generation and design evaluation processes. This paper describes some knowledge structures and formalisms we established according to this chain, which can be further used for implementing computer aided design tools dedicated to early design. These structures open to new formalisms which enable to integrate design information in a non-hierarchical way. The foreseen algorithmic implementation may be based on the association of ontologies and bag-of-words

On-road trust and perceived risk in Level 2 automation

To encourage appropriate use of driving automation, we need to understand and monitor driver's trust and risk perception. We examined (1) how trust and perceived risk are affected by automation, driving conditions and experience and (2) how well perceived risk can be inferred from behaviour and physiology at three levels: over traffic conditions, aggregated risk events, and individual risk events. 30 users with and without automation experience drove a Toyota Corolla with driving support. Safety attitude, subjective ratings, behaviour and physiology were examined. Driving support encouraged a positive safety attitude and active driver involvement. It reduced latent hazards while maintaining saliently perceived risks. Drivers frequently overruled lane centring (3.1 times/minute) and kept their feet on or above the pedals using ACC (65.8% of time). They comfortably used support on curvy motorways and monotonic and congested highways but less in unstable traffic and on roundabouts. They trusted the automation 65.4%, perceived 36.0% risk, acknowledged the need to monitor and would not engage in more secondary tasks than during manual driving. Trust-in situation reduced 2.0% when using automation. It was 8.2% higher than trust-in-automation, presumably due to driver self-confidence. Driving conditions or conflicts between driver and automation did not affect trust-in-automation. At the traffic condition level, physiology showed weak and partially counter-intuitive effects. For aggregated risk events, skin conductance had the clearest response but was discernible from baseline in < 50%. Pupil dilation and heart rate only increased with strong braking and active lane departure assist. For individual risk events, a CNN classifier could not identify risk events from physiology. We conclude that GSR, heart rate and pupil dilation respond to perceived risk, but lack specificity to monitor it on individual events.Intelligent Vehicle

Do driver’s characteristics, system performance, perceived safety, and trust influence how drivers use partial automation?: A structural equation modelling analysis

The present study surveyed actual extensive users of SAE Level 2 partially automated cars to investigate how driver’s characteristics (i.e., socio-demographics, driving experience, personality), system performance, perceived safety, and trust in partial automation influence use of partial automation. 81% of respondents stated that they use their automated car with speed (ACC) and steering assist (LKA) at least 1–2 times a week, and 84 and 92% activate LKA and ACC at least occasionally. Respondents positively rated the performance of Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and Lane Keeping Assistance (LKA). ACC was rated higher than LKA and detection of lead vehicles and lane markings was rated higher than smooth control for ACC and LKA, respectively. Respondents reported to primarily disengage (i.e., turn off) partial automation due to a lack of trust in the system and when driving is fun. They rarely disengaged the system when they noticed they become bored or sleepy. Structural equation modelling revealed that trust had a positive effect on driver’s propensity for secondary task engagement during partially automated driving, while the effect of perceived safety was not significant. Regarding driver’s characteristics, we did not find a significant effect of age on perceived safety and trust in partial automation. Neuroticism negatively correlated with perceived safety and trust, while extraversion did not impact perceived safety and trust. The remaining three personality dimensions ‘openness’, ‘conscientiousness’, and ‘agreeableness’ did not form valid and reliable scales in the confirmatory factor analysis, and could thus not be subjected to the structural equation modelling analysis. Future research should re-assess the suitability of the short 10-item scale as measure of the Big-Five personality traits, and investigate the impact on perceived safety, trust, use and use of automation

Perceived safety and trust in SAE Level 2 partially automated cars: Results from an online questionnaire

The present online study surveyed drivers of SAE Level 2 partially automated cars on automation use and attitudes towards automation. Respondents reported high levels of trust in their partially automated cars to maintain speed and distance to the car ahead (M = 4.41), and to feel safe most of the time (M = 4.22) on a scale from 1 to 5. Respondents indicated to always know when the car is in partially automated driving mode (M = 4.42), and to monitor the performance of their car most of the time (M = 4.34). A low rating was obtained for engaging in other activities while driving the partially automated car (M = 2.27). Partial automation did, however, increase reported engagement in secondary tasks that are already performed during manual driving (i.e., the proportion of respondents reporting to observe the landscape, use the phone for texting, navigation, music selection and calls, and eat during partially automated driving was higher in comparison to manual driving). Unsafe behaviour was rare with 1% of respondents indicating to rarely monitor the road, and another 1% to sleep during partially automated driving. Structural equation modeling revealed a strong, positive relationship between perceived safety and trust (β = 0.69, p = 0.001). Performance expectancy had the strongest effects on automation use, followed by driver engagement, trust, and non-driving related task engagement. Perceived safety interacted with automation use through trust. We recommend future research to evaluate the development of perceived safety and trust in time, and revisit the influence of driver engagement and non-driving related task engagement, which emerged as new constructs related to trust in partial automation.Transport and PlanningIntelligent Vehicle