Advances in Affective and Pleasurable Design

We are using information communication technology (ICT) and communication robots (hereafter referred to as “robots”) to examine a system to assist recreational activities at nursing homes. The system relies on visual content to deliver a variety of recreational activities, from exercises to reminiscence therapy. Robots support those activities by interacting with nursing home residents. These systems are currently being evaluated at various elderly care facilities, where the prototype has been installed. In this research, we will examine the influence of this service brought to the care staff and nursing home residents based on the result of questionnaire taken from the care staff after the assessment.

Considering the reduction of the number of persons engaging in traditional skills, archiving various types of traditional skills is required to preserve and transmit them to future generations. We focus on representing fundamental movements and pauses in traditional skills because they are key components in describing traditional skills and archiving them. The fundamental movements and pauses can be described based on the movements of a number of body parts obtained using motion capture system. In this paper, we propose an efficient method to represent fundamental movements and pauses using the motion data. The proposed method generates concise and informative feature values from the motion data on the basis of dimensionality reduction and feature selection. The effectiveness of the proposed method is evaluated through an experiment to describe several types of fundamental movements in Japanese traditional tea ceremony.

Conversation is a good preventative against behavioral problems in the elderly. However, caregivers are usually very busy tending to patients and lack the time to communicate extensively with them. In order to overcome such problems active “listening volunteers” have more opportunities to communicate with the elderly, but the number of skillful volunteers is limited. Therefore, we investigated conversational support systems which can help inexperienced volunteers; such systems typically have included content such as photographs, videos, and music, and in our case we primarily used photos. We predicted that whether, and how much, frustration and discomfort the young adult volunteers experienced through such conversations depended on the category of the photo. We measured dissatisfaction and discomfort during conversations by using an expression analysis sensor. Furthermore, we took the data obtained by measuring dissatisfaction and discomfort through obtained from non-contact devices (expression analysis) as an object of comparison and evaluation.

The purpose of this research is to develop the micro-silk through the breeding of the transgenic silkworm. First of all, to construct transformation vector system of silkworm, we did cloning the sericin promoter in silkworm and sorting the selection marker gene (in order that sorting the transformation silkworm) and then cloning again. Second, we analyzed the fibroin gene of silkworm and IGF-1 gene of human After cloning. Then, we made and analyzed transformants of silkworm which gene expression as IGF-1 of human and the fibroin of silkworm. We inserted the protein expression vector which IGF-1 of human and the fibroin of silkworm into silkworm eggs using the microinjection. Using PCR and Southern blot methods, we analyzed expression vector in DNA level. In addition, we analyzed it using the RT-PCR methods in order to confirm gene expression in RNA level. The protein expression was analyzed in protein level through the western blot and ELISA methods. Through transformation on two separate occasions on spring and summer, we determined growth and ecology between Uzbekistan silkworm and Korean transformation silkworm. Lastly, we compared fabric of Uzbekistan silk, Chinese silk and Japanese 6A which we developed. Also we analyzed sericin content, strength and elongation and thickness of transformation silk single yarn.

The cardinal direction is used in various situations such as road sign and information sign. It should be designed in order to improve the efficiency and accuracy of information transmission. Therefore it is required to design to understand the human cognitive characteristics and attention function. The purpose of this study is to clarify the design elements of the cardinal direction based on cognitive processes. Results showed that for all groups, that is easy to understand in accordance with an increase in the character information but it takes time to understand that information. As a result of the integrated evaluation of two types of experiment, the use of the letter N meaning the north direction in any of the types was proved to lead to better easy to understanding.

The perception on clothing of elderly female were compared with that of youth, especially focusing on the sense of cool. The information were collected through the questionnaires given to the groups of elderly females in their 60, 70, and 80s and also to the female in their 20s for a comparison. In terms of the color taste, opinions and feelings about clothes, the sense of “cool” seems to be received in a different way between the youth and the elderly. However, when their lifestyle (behavior and information sources) were concerned, the perception of the 60s was closer to 20s. The 70 and 80s were divided by two groups. It could be by the sensitivity to information.

This paper deals with tangible objects intended for improving young children education in the classroom. Aligned with recent trends that embed interactivity and connectivity in physical objects, our study augments traditional wooden toy blocks with sensors detecting movement, location and alignment as well as providing visual and aural positive feedback when a good result is attained. Several prototypes were designed and tested with children for basic spelling, vocabulary and basic math exercises. Results obtained are positive and encouraging to continue improving the proposed tangible system.

We investigated whether the influence of age and individual differences in mental model construction level affect the evaluation of appearance and functionality when users select household electrical appliances based only on appearance. Results showed that older (age 66–80) adults emphasized usability more than young (age 20–34) adults did. Moreover, users with high proficiency in mental model construction focused more on usability than did those with less advanced mental models.

When we speak in public, we sometimes fail to speak well because of anxiety and strain. To solve such a problematic situation, we propose a method of overlapping positive response on audiences, and implement the system which overlaps an image of smiling pumpkin with nodding on each audience using video see-through HMD. As the result of an experimental evaluation of the proposed system, it is found that this system can reduce the anxiety and strain compared with the situation that scowling audiences are in view. It is considered that the result comes from two facts: (1) participants’ anxiety and strain increase in case that audiences or pumpkins are scowling, and (2) they decrease in case that audiences or pumpkins are smiling. In addition, it is found that the feeling of relief and satisfaction, which are factors of reducing the anxiety and strain, are more improved in smiling pumpkins than smiling audiences.

Body shape changes induced by metabolic syndrome have become an issue in recent years in Japan. However, studies on work pants for metabolic male workers with so-called “apple-shaped” bodies remain rare on the ground. We developed a new work pant pattern to fit for them, especially the physical features of the “apple-shaped” bodies. The new pattern had two characteristics about a crotch point and a front waist/back waist differential. It was indicated that the features of the new pattern were effective through the evaluation tests. In addition, we proposed a concrete work pants design for metabolic male workers with the features. The design was devised about three characteristics.

With the increasing popularity of digital music player applications, it is not difficult to find such app used by smartphone users. However, the current user interface (UI) design of these mobile music apps is often too rigid and unable to engage users for prolonging pleasurable entertainment. There is, therefore, a need to improve the aesthetics of this UI to enhance user experience and to keep and sustain customer loyalty. This paper will share feedback from 50 participants on existing music player applications’ UI design, and explore the relationship between user’s personality and preference (such as music genre) for better UI design of mobile music app. The research aims to predict the trend of these variables and would like to propose a customizable UI design of a mobile music app prototype.

Holographic Technology has made huge strides over the past few years. The range of applications is practically endless and we envisage seeing major investments in the coming years. The main aim of this project was to create virtual 3D agents capable of behaving in a believable manner and display them within a real 3D model of a megalithic temple called “Hagar Qim” (http://heritagemalta.org/museums-sites/hagar-qim-temples/). These holographic humans are not only visually appealing with clear animations but must also behave in a psychologically sound and autonomous manner, meaning that they would be their own beings, not controlled by a user and their actions relate to the context of the world they are situated in. In order to achieve a high degree of autonomy and believability, the holographic humans developed in this work are self-determined with their own reactive plan of actions to organize their Neolithic daily routines, just like our ancestors did. In order to produce such believable behaviour, computational motivation models based on human psychological theories were explored. Each holographic human is also self-aware and adheres to its own biological needs. Furthermore, visitors are able to interact and communicate with the holographic humans via a mobile device. The system was tested by a number of people in order to test the subjective concept of believability of the system as a whole. On the whole we were extremely satisfied with the positive feedback obtained whereby 96 % of respondents found the exhibit believable. There was also a 90 % agreement that this platform would be suitable in a museum context since it would immerse visitors within this context whilst helping them learn in a fun and interactive way.

A characteristically high population of bedridden elderly in Japan is due to the infrastructural and systematical difference in the elderly care houses in Japan and other countries, and has been causing a big social problem such as odor in elderly home, care burden. The application of functional fibers as the phthalocyanin-processed fabric fiber to reduce the odor in the room, generated from bedridden elderly. The phthalocyanin-processed fabric was applied to the elderly suffering from a hand contracture. A grip rod made of the phthalocyanin-processed fabric was designed for a contracted hand. The clinical test was performed by applying a prototype of a grid rod to the contracted hands and observed the smell and fungus disease of the contracted hands. As the odor was reduced, the fungus disease also disappeared after a week. The same fabric was applied to cover a urinary catheter bag, which is normally placed besides the bed. Urine contains ammonium and bodily wastes as the source of odor. When the urinary catheter bag was covered by the phthalocyanin-processed fabric, the odor was considerably reduced after an hour and almost to the level of slightly noticeable smell after 5 h.

This study focused on the impressions of robot design in the Japanese robot anime series, “Mobile Suit Gundam”. In Experiment 1, the impressions of robot design were measured using semantic differential method. Results of the factor analysis showed that the impressions of the robot design were illustrated by a three dimensional space, which was spanned by “Massiveness”, “Coolness” and “Roundness”. “Moe” is one of the most important keywords in robot design. The results of a multiple-regression analysis showed that Moe was felt deeply for a massive, cool and box-shaped robot. In Experiment 2, the differences between robots of scale models and super-deformed models were investigated. The results showed that the scale models were designed to be cool and the super-deformed models were designed to be cute.

In the present study, impressions of monster design in the series of Pokémon games were investigated with semantic differential method. In the Pokémon games, a player selects a buddy monster out of three monsters. In the experiment, the buddy monsters and the other monsters in five different versions were used as stimuli. Most of the monsters in first phase monsters in Pokémon metamorphose into second and last phases. The results showed that the monsters in the first phase were cute but powerless and not sharp. Proceeding to the latter phases, the monsters metamorphose into more powerful and sharper but less cute. The results also showed that the buddy monsters were designed as cuter than the other monsters. Moreover, the relationship between colors and impressions of Pokémon were investigated in the present study. The results showed the colors of Pokémon partly correlated to the impressions of potency and cuteness.

In the present study, a perceptual experiment was conducted using synthesized faces as stimuli. The results showed that the impression space of the faces were spanned by “childishness”, “potency” and “potency”, and the multiple-regression analyses showed that a cute and childish character evokes Moe emotion, but a cute and mature character does not. On the other hand, “potency” does not affect Moe, beauty and preference. In the next step, the length and width of the faces, the width between both cheeks, and the vertical and horizontal length of eyes were measured. Then, regression analyses with the second order curves were performed, using the ratios of the parameters as independent variables and the degree of Moe and beauty as criterion variables. The results showed quantitatively that a Moe character has a rounder face and widely opened eyes than a beautiful character.

In the present study, the impressions of 94 figures of heroines appeared in “Pretty Cure” metaseries were investigated using semantic differential method. The set of 94 figures contained three different types of models. The results showed that the impression space was spanned by three factors, stylishness, activity and cuteness. The stylishness was deeply affected by the proportion ratio of head to body size, and the activity was deeply affected by the figure size, itself. Other than the figure size, it was suggested that colors cover the figures also affect the activity. The cuteness or degree of “Kawaii” did not depend on only one factor. It was suggested that the complex interaction of many factors determine the degree of cuteness.

Kawaii is a Japanese word that represents one critical kansei value in Japan. Generally, it is translated into English as cute, lovely, or adorable. However, it has a deeper meaning since it also represents an element of Japanese culture and not just a word with a single meaning. Kawaii expression have become familiar to many people around the world, including the young generations of Saudi Arabians. This research observes levels of kawaii and examines the differences and similarities of kawaii levels among genders and generations of Japanese and Saudi Arabians. Also, we divided our targets of evaluation into Japanese, Saudi Arabians in Japan, and Saudi Arabians in Saudi, to examine the impact a new culture might have on the selection of Saudi Arabians in Japan. Using the analysis results of the collected data, we compared the selection tendencies of levels of kawaii ribbons between Japanese and Saudi Arabians.

Kansei value has been considered as one of the important factors in the manufacturing in Japan. Kawaii, which is a positive adjective that has such positive meaning as cute or lovable, becomes more important as a kansei value. Currently, there are researches that evaluate kawaii feeling by employing various biological signals. However, the eye tracking has not been conducted in detail yet. Therefore, we employed it in our research to find the relationship between kawaii feeling and eye movement. Previously, we performed an experiment on the preferences of kawaii illustrations by selecting one of the six kawaii illustrations. However, we could not perform detailed analysis due to the complexity of eye movement and the calibration-free data. Therefore, we improved the experiment method by randomly showing only two illustrations at a time selected from the six. From the analyzed result, we clarify the relationship between kawaii feeling and eye movement.

Soft-computing forms the basis of a considerable amount of machine learning techniques which deals with imprecision, uncertainty, partial truth, and approximation to achieve practicability, robustness and low solution cost. This paper describes an application developed to understand what means a picture (portrait) to be Iyashi. The neuro-fuzzy quantification allowed extracting a set of 35 rules that describe the meaning of the word Iyashi to hundreds of users. Facial expressions of the subjects and their brain signals during the evaluation of the images have been explored to validate the obtained rules. The developed system allows discovering the rules that describe the preferences of users while exploring the space of possible design parameters so that the system predictions match the preferences of users. Interactive genetic algorithms (IGAs) have been used for the implementation of a color recommendation system following customer’s preferences. The combination of color and geometric shapes is also explored.

In recent years, technology of brain-computer interface (BCI) has been developed. One application of BCI is for entertainment, that is, BCI game. As ideas in science fictions, BCI game has potential extensibility in combination with virtual reality environment. However, implementation and evaluation of the combination have not been studied well. Thus in this study, we proposed the BCI game system composed of a simple EEG recorder, a smart tablet, a PC, and a immersive head mounted display. We conducted experiments and evaluate our hypothesis that the head mounted display (3D condition) is suitable for BIC game comparing with a flat display (2D condition). Results of a statistical analysis showed that beta/alpha ratio, which was used for controlling the game, in the 3D condition was significantly higher than one in the 2D condition. The results of questionnaires showed that 3D condition were superior to the 2D condition. In sum, we concluded that the immersive head mounted display is suitable for combining with BCI games.

In this study, we investigate the influence of Kawaii appearance on persuasiveness within the context of a negotiation, and propose a support system for advising women on their negotiation approach—with a focus on the negotiator’s Kawaii appearance. As a result of this experiment, we were able to obtain the multiple regression equation indicating the importance of the three language factors (euphemistic, honorific and sympathy expressions) for impressions made during negotiations. Based on this multiple regression equation, we constructed a system which automatically suggests negotiation sentences appropriate for creating a certain desired impression. Our system is expected to be able to recommend the optimal negotiation sentences based on the user’s personal and situational factors (such as Kawaii appearance, use of language, age, and relationship to the negotiation counterpart).

In recent years, Japanese young people are exhibiting less interest in driving. Since we believe that their interest can be increased by in-vehicle systems, in this study, we prepared a driving course that features exciting scenes and measured the biological signals of participants while they drove a driving simulator. We focused on the excitement of driving scenes in experiments using a DS and evaluated the feelings of excitement by EEGs and ECGs. We concluded that SDNN and RRV indexes identify feelings of excitement. In this report, we describe a new experiment and analyze its results, which show the same tendency about feeling excitement between questionnaires and biosignals such as EEGs and ECGs.

Such affective impressions as the comfort and cleanliness of a residential space are crucial for its residents. Although it is sometimes difficult to maintain a good affective atmosphere in the inner-city area of a big city like Tokyo, the space’s appropriate structure might increase its impressions. To clarify the effect of a living room’s space structure, we designed and performed an experiment using scale models. This paper describes the experiment and its multivariate analysis results, which show that openness and comfort have a negative correlation despite employing an open structure in many narrow site houses, at least in Japan.

Kansei/affective values are attracting attention as a new evaluation axis of commercial value. We performed affective evaluation experiments on the tactile material perception of bead-coated resin surfaces and found that physical attributes change affective evaluations. Then, we planned to perform new affective evaluation experiment by adding hues, one of the three elements of color, as an important attribute of surfaces as the next step of our research. For the experiment, we performed two preliminary experiments: the experiment to select appropriate adjective pairs, and the experiment to select the hue candidates. This report describes the first preliminary experiment. We performed an experiment to reduce the number of adjective pairs for affective evaluations. The experimental results were analyzed by correlation analysis and hierarchical clustering analyses. From the results of those analyses, we selected 21 adjective pairs.

While authors surveyed the use of chopsticks, they found that there are different types of norms regarding the good/bad use of chopsticks. Japanese culture has created a set of rules on good manners and bad manners for using them. Good manners are DOs for the manner of using them to appear as smooth and beautiful in a similar way as the hand motion of Japanese traditional dance. When picking them up from the table, it is recommended to take three steps by the right hand first, then the left hand and finally the right hand. Then, for placing back them down on the table, the reverse movement is recommended. We can distinguish behaviors in three different layer of POSITVE manners, NON-NEGATIVE manners and NEGATIVE manners. We can say that, in a more generic sense, the cultural constraints can be classified in these layers in terms of the aesthetics. We can easily find other behavioral constraints in such cases as bowing, walking, opening the door (Fusuma), presenting the gift, etc.

In this study, we studied the strategy for importing digital service into local brands, and four workshops were held to analyze the seven local brands in Yunlin County. The specific practices include the establishment of a basic service design concept, application of service design tools, digital service strategy, service design practice, brand strategy planning and digital marketing practice. The workshop process followed the four stages of action research. Through the cycle of planning, action, observation and reflection, 22 feedback sheets designed for the workshops and opinions on brand operation were collected; the results were analyzed based on the implementation and observation of each stage of action research, as well as encoded student comments in the feedback form. A comprehensive analysis was conducted on the import of digital service into local brand marketing in the form of workshops, and the workshop design strategy and the action research viewpoint are proposed to serve as the digital marketing strategy for local brands.

Numerous standardized questionnaires like the System Usability Scale and Net Promoter Score have been developed to provide reliable and valid measurement of subjective satisfaction. Few studies, however, examine the perceived usability and preferences of questionnaires by the raters or end users themselves. In this study, 20 participants evaluated different types of questionnaires as well as ranked and discussed their subjective preferences for them. We found that 65 % of participants chose the questionnaire with enhanced design features (e.g., color-coded ratings, user experience examples, and specific/global comments) as well as measurement of user experience beyond usability as the most preferred questionnaire, while 80 % of participants chose the questionnaire that measured user experience with semantic-differential rating scales as the least preferred. Based on participant feedback, we provide several questionnaire design recommendations.

Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese wisdom of harmonizing human beings with their surrounding environment. It is now universally applied to interior layout design for working area. But the rationality of office Feng Shui still remains doubtful with limited research on it. In this study, experimental methods in ergonomics were adopted to testify the model of office Feng Shui design developed by the Form School theory of Feng Shui. In the experiment, subjects did simulated office tasks in three different office Feng Shui designs (“best”, “middle” and “worst”) and indoor environmental parameters, subjects’ physiological index, working efficiency, emotional states and subjective evaluation were obtained by measurement or questionnaire. The results of different designs were compared afterwards. The conclusion came that ideal office Feng Shui design can bring positive influence on office users’ subjective feelings, but it does not make significant difference concerning indoor environment, uses’ physiological index or efficiency.

This paper aims to study the different intervening approaches and combining ways of anthropology in different fields of design. In the field of design teaching, the anthropology often get involved into design through two ways: one is to introduce anthropological knowledge to the design curriculums; the other is to set up a major called “design anthropology”. In the field of design research, there are three study themes: material culture, relationship between product-lifestyle and UCD. For the design practicing areas, anthropology usually could undertake three tasks: research tool, situational simulation, and design guidance. Briefly, this combination mode could reflect more in-depth understanding and interpretation to human nature and life. In another words, design is the materialization of human inner.

D.A. Norman emphasized that a package with metaphorical expression brings emotional (Kansei) value. Inspired by Norman’s statement, we clarify the relationship between Kansei value and recognition capability in beverage package design in abstract metaphorical method. To achieve this, we conducted a questionnaire with 9 packages (3 packages of soft drink, milk and water) based on a sample of 30 students from Future University Hakodate. All selected packages were new to the participants. Each feature was evaluated on a scale from 1 to 5 (“−2”, “−1”, “0”, “1” and “2”) according to the following 6 evaluation items: (1) metaphor level of packages, (2) abstract expression level of packages, (3) originality level of packages, (4) desiring level of packages, (5) recognition level of packages, and (6) interest level of packages. The scores of 9 packages were quantified as evaluated scores, and each package was visualized on the map with the x-axis, showing the evaluated scores of metaphor level and y-axis, the evaluated scores of abstract level. These 9 packages were separated into 2 groups: Group A—a group of abstract metaphor package and Group B—specific package group without metaphor, then these 2 groups were visualized on another x-axis (the evaluated scores of interest and originality level) and y-axis (recognition level). As a result, Group A has a high Kansei level, but its recognition level is low; Group B has a high recognition level but the Kansei level is low. Moreover, based on correlation coefficients, metaphor level has no relationship with recognition level. In comparison, abstract level has a negative relationship with recognition level. The principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted for an integrated survey. The following 2 principal components obtained “Kansei value”(with +desire level, +originality level, +interest level and +metaphor level) and “Novel”(with +abstract level, +originality level and -recognition level). And each package’s scores (x-axis) for “Kansei value” and scores (y-axis) for “Novel” was mapped. As is it shows, if a package design gets a high score of “Novel”, it will be difficult for participants to recognize what kind of beverage is. However, if a package gets a low score of “Novel”, it will be easy to recognize what kind of beverage it is, but nothing original can be seen on the package. There will be a balanced position between “high novel” and “low novel” better for users. In conclusion, designers can attract customers in a metaphorical and abstract method, but they need to be aware that the more abstract method is overused on packages, the weaker relationship between package and beverage there will be.

We observed their movement by measuring their range of motion using a motion capture to investigate behavior in sitting. In addition, we performed electromyographic analysis of joints to examine the causes of the burden in sitting down and standing up. We believe that the slower movement in sitting down and standing up in the elderly compared to those in young people was caused by loss of muscle strength and joint weakness. Therefore, we came to a conclusion that something supplementing those strengths is required. To improve the elderly’s trajectory of sitting down and standing up to the level of young people, a force supporting from the bottom is needed.

Rising healthcare costs and an increasing senior population, require preventative health solutions to be sought in order to mitigate the health concerns of seniors. Multiple concerns can be addressed simultaneously through appropriate daylight exposure, benefiting not only seniors but also caregivers. This paper outlines strategies for wellness that can be undertaken in a residential setting, and the supporting research for these suggestions.

Americans spend a considerable amount of their waking-hours in sedentary behavior. Among the different places where sedentary behavior occurs, the workplace is one of the primary settings for prolonged sitting which is associated with poor health outcomes. This study aimed at understanding the needs and wants of office workers in relation to the products that help sedentary employees reduce their sitting time. The research was conducted using a holistic design approach, including IRB application, online survey, and data analysis methods. The primary goal of this study was to understand the barriers and motivators to sit less in the office, and explore the employees’ attitudes and experiences of using products to reduce their sitting time. Based on the findings, the design guidelines of product design in the workplace were proposed to improve their sedentary behaviors that cause public health-related outcomes.

This article explores concepts of the senses, experiences and emotions treated by many authors and sheds light also on Phenomenology and Emotional Design, indicating how are important for the differentiation of products and services in the contemporary world. Through literature review, explores the concepts of urban furniture, explaining how such structures can transform the urban landscape of cities, people’s behavior and the reframing process that is usually used by us in these structures. It is relevant to discuss the urban furniture as identity element, memory and pleasure, and how the perception of quality of users varies according to the characteristics of the projects, either through tactile and visual aspects or multisensory elements transform the experience and pave the way for new discoveries and interactions. Review both concepts will explain the pleasure and satisfaction of the people regarding to things, but also demonstrate how designers and architects choices can influence political decisions, the human behavior and at the perception of quality that people have in relation to urban facilities of cities.

Emotional states are in many cases crucial to the usability, likability, and effectiveness of an interactive system. An ideal system must be able to both efficiently analyze emotional states of its users and believably convey emotions back to its users, as well as altering its behaviors to best fit the needs of its users. Noninvasive, natural means of ascertaining emotion are essential for users to accept emotion-detection in a system. Analyzing speech patterns is one such means. Speech signals can be collected using a microphone with little to no physical contact with the user and contain a plethora of information for determining emotional baselines and temporary states. A smart, adaptive system could use this emotional information to maximize positive sentiment and affect of the user during and after its use, with system manipulation and the use of emotionally expressive agents.

This paper discusses the relevance of beauty and aesthetic values for an aesthetically pleasing design of technology-enhanced spaces in the context of ergonomics, usability, and technology acceptance. Under the concept of Aesthetic Intelligence we subsume various aspects, including conceptual scoping, formal design skills and creative methodologies. Our goal is to provide a concept for the exchange of ideas, initiation of collaborations and the development of methodological practices for facilitating effective and pleasurable designs.

Globalized world and heavy competition conditions require customer-oriented product designs. Especially, the manufacturers are forced to do their designs for their customers in the automotive sector by the increased competition. Understanding and upgrading the customer’s perception about the quality of vehicle will allow automotive manufacturers to proceed in the competition environmental. Generally perceived quality can be defined as consumer’s opinion of a product’s (or a brand’s) ability to fulfill his or her expectations. Kansei Engineering is a method for translating feelings and impressions into new design solutions and precise technical parameters. This study aimed to propose a common terminology for automotive world with guidance of KE.

During recent years research in new design development (included product design, services design, etc.) has tried to understand how humans experience the artificial world. The research field which investigating human lived experiences of design is known as user experience. It focused on the interactions between people and the design that occur in a particular place and time, and how the interactions provide living qualities associated with the emotional and affective levels of a person such as pleasant, fears, joy, etc. The literature on user experience has constantly investigated new theories. However, these theories were piecemeal and they failed to provide a clear and comprehensive overview of the most influential aspects of user experience. This caused the situation that some concepts may be overlooked and relevant features may be absent from a general perspective. This study investigated how the experiences resulted from the human-design interaction, which is the foundation to explore the methods to optimise the design process and tools to support designers. The literatures of user experience were reviewed to understand the process of how user using and experiencing outstanding designs. The pragmatic characters of the design and the corresponding significant experiences in the human-design interaction were identified. Empirical studies then were adopted to find out how the experience provided by awarded designs and how the role of emotion in these experience. Based on the understanding of experience obtained from the studies above, the study then presented an evaluative research. Eight-category emotion system from psychologist studies was adopted as the measurement for users and designs to rank. This resulted the understanding on what emotions they prefer to experience and how their emotion were elicited through the designs. Thus, a design tool to support designers in the elicitation of experiences was proposed. The tools encourage create experience through emotions under the prediction of designers. This study is the preliminary study to connect existed knowledge and provide the overview of user experience. It provides a general understanding on the role of emotion in user experience for design research field. This study also suggested an optimised design tool for designer from the perspective of user experience.

For centuries, people have created and refined products. Nowadays the consumers are looking for emotional benefits rather than utilitarian performance. The challenge today is to switch from material product dimensions to a holistic view of consumer experience. The design products inspired by natural elements and produced by raw natural materials may contribute to this satisfaction. Through ergonomic inputs about the human factors on multisensory perception of a product, we conducted a study to identify the affective and pleasure values, and to estimate their pertinence, in a product conception inspired and produced with natural Amazon resources. A quantitative technique, based on a questionnaire during a product exhibition, was employed. People appreciate the use of natural raw materials in the creation of new products, preferring mainly to natural product finishes preferring mainly to natural product finishes, its unique character, the textures and the historical and cultural values. The implications and limitations of the approach are discussed and further research steps indicated.

The perceived quality of a product is—in case of a large number of product alternatives—a key purchasing criterion. The designers challenge is to create (often very complex) products that can be perceived by the customer as high quality. The objective of the work is the creation of a method, which allows the designer to detect influencing factors and enables them to analyze the haptical characteristics of a product, already in the early design stage. Based on the CAD model, this method allows it to create the haptics of a product by defined design targets, or to perform improvements on existing products. The result of this optimization is a design model with a defined parameter setup, containing the desired haptical characteristics and ready to be used for the further embodiment-process.

In this work, we investigate how gamification can be integrated into work processes in the automotive industry. The contribution contains five parts: (1) An introduction showing how gamification has become increasingly common, especially in education, health and the service industry. (2) An analysis on the state of the art of gamified applications, discussing several best practices. (3) An analysis of the special requirements for gamification in production, regarding both external norms and the mindset of workers in this domain. (4) An overview of first approaches towards a gamification of production, focusing on solutions for impaired workers in sheltered work organizations. (5) A study with a focus group of instructors at two large car manufacturers. Based on the presentation of three potential designs for the gamification of production, the study investigates the general acceptance of gamification in modern production and determines which design is best suited for future implementations.

This article aims to demonstrate the relationship between language and thought in the eastern culture. Given this relationship, it should examine how ideogrammatic writing influences the visual identity of Japanese packaging. The objective of this research is to identify the relationship between ideographic writing and the visual identity of Japanese packaging. It also try to determine at which level and aspect, the ideogrammatic language affects favorably or prejudice the design and the visual identity of the packaging of a product. This characteristic includes concepts of emotional and affective design and the messages they can transfer to the users. Established this association, it should consider how the diagrammatic writing influences the visual identity of the Japanese packaging.

The Attention Restoration Theory (Kaplan in J Environ Psychol 15:169–182, 1995 [2]) and the psychological stress reduction theory (Ulrich et al. in J Environ Psychol 11:201–230, 1991 [3]) show that natural landscapes generally stimulate positive emotions. However, Gray’s biopsychological theory of personality suggested different personalities process environmental stimuli differently, leading to varying levels of or completely different emotions. Thus, current emotion tags to landscapes are likely inaccurate, as they lack the consideration of personality type. This study investigates the relationship between the emotions experienced and personality types. 50 participants aged 10–80 years were invited to watch a slideshow of landscapes. Subsequently, they were recorded reading a short passage. To assess participants’ emotions, the voice recordings were processed using PRAAT, a scientific software for analysis of phonetics in speech, and a modified version of the Profile of Mood States (POMS). The results provided the foundation to more accurate tagging programmes linking photographs of natural landscapes with emotions evoked in different personalities.

The purpose of this work is to investigate a method of measuring emotional experience by interrupting video content every three minutes to self-report. We let 16 test participants watch the short-film Helium divided into a control group and an intervention group. The subjective experiences from nine subjects (the intervention group) were captured by self-reporting via the widely used SAM pictogram scale. The intervention group was interrupted every three minutes for this. We found that interruptions induced by the self-reporting approach have negative effects on the subjects’ experience. This is observed in the biometric GSR data, which shows a clear correlation between GSR measures and the interruptions, showing an average of 30 s to return to “normal” after interruptions. The intervention group’s experience evaluation of the video content also support this effect, showing statistical evidence of a reduced experience when using the method of interruptions.

In recent years we are witnessing the spread of plastic materials with ecological characteristics derived from food waste that, if on the one hand, they solve some problems related to the environmental impact, on the other hand are often considered poor, unreliable and unsightly, and so little regarded. The possibility of giving them a specific “personality” and thus to define and enhance the aesthetic character may contribute to their widespread use. The paper presents the results of a research experience as part of a Design Course held in the Department of Architecture of Pescara. The research focuses mainly on one aspect: to explore how eco-friendly materials are used for the creation of meanings and how they get different meanings in different user products. The research objective was to verify whether it is possible to attribute, through the expressive-sensory experience, specific “meanings” to ecological materials, thus starting the definition of their own specific “personalities”.

Design fixation affects the emotion of a designer and so the quality of his design. This paper is to explore how an understanding of cultural product design through homeomorphism—a mathematical concept—can assist in tackling design fixation of cultural product designers. In particular, homeomorphism offers a scientific viewpoint toward a cultural product, dissecting it into structures and features that are all bounded by cultural rules and influenced by biases, the functions of rules, that shape their manifestations. The features define the variants of a cultural product, while the structures define its invariants. This paper concludes that homeomorphism in cultural products tells cultural product designers what to change and what to reserve, providing a means for them to tackle their design fixations.

To design a delightful product, kansei of customers as well as technical requirements should be considered. Kansei engineering has been developed and implemented with different approaches, depending on the prospects and goals. It has been evolving and separated in important categories and this research aims at providing a new way, more systematic, to consider kansei engineering and to implement it in product development tools. In order to do so, data mining and population studies are important factors to cope with. The main prospect of this research is to provide this new kansei engineering methodology taking two inputs, a defined population and a defined product, and delivering one output, design advices that would enhance chosen emotions and the delight of customers. Such a methodology is thought to be implemented in a software.

The delight design platform (DDP) is a vision of a new integrated design environment that would enable design engineers to consistently design delightful products. Such delightful products satisfy an attractive quality as well as the performance and must-have qualities of the Kano model. The attractive quality depends on a customer’s subjective evaluation involving emotion. To implement DDP, we aim to develop a model-based design (MBD) environment that can simulate a customer’s affective responses toward digital design models. With this environment, a designer can test their ideas in the early-design phase. In this article, we propose a Kansei database framework as an essential component of the DDP. The Kansei database stores functions that estimate the customer’s emotional responses to the design model. We propose a Kansei database structure including two indexes, perception and delight, with a delight map as a visualization scheme. Furthermore, we propose a methodology to create the indexes.

We proposed a method that promotes walking which uses a two-dimensional emotion map. In this method, a subject listened to a beat sound while walking. The beat was adjusted according to the condition of the subject, based on his/her comfortable walking frequency. Simultaneously, the walking velocity, the stride length, and the heart beat of the subject while walking was measured, and LF/HF was calculated from the result of measured heart beat. Furthermore, we asked them to give information on the condition of their feelings, from pleasant or not by 5 levels in each case of the beat sound. By using these data, a two-dimensional walking condition map and two-dimensional emotion map were made and we found the relation between these two maps. Therefore, according to the emotional condition of the targeted person while walking, this method can promote or restrain walking adequately, only adjusting the beat sound.

Elderly adults show an aging-related decrease in hand dexterity. Hence, there is a need to develop techniques to address this impairment in manual dexterity, especially when the elderly operate equipment such as powered wheelchairs. In this research, we built and tested a prototype of a manual controlled input lever with two degrees of freedom. The system uses magnetic particle brakes in each rotational joint. The drag torque was implemented by actuation of the magnetic particle brake. In order to help control the input to a control system, the lever generates a resisting torque against the user’s actions at a suitable angle. The purpose of the proposed system is to reduce the burden of operation on the user while respecting their intentions. We confirm that this system is able to allow lever manipulation while avoiding inappropriate operation. The results of this study enable control input devices to adapt to the ability and preferences of the user.

In the current study, we formulated ontological descriptions for emotional states of users using motion assistance apparatus. In our previous studies, we developed apparatus that assists the ankle joints of patients in neuro-rehabilitation. Although we have confirmed the apparatus can improve the gait of the patient while walking, we have to capture and manage patients’ emotions as feedback of the usage. The ontological descriptions provide a feasible framework for common understanding while sharing and using this knowledge. In future work, we will develop a subset of this framework for more practical usage, in addition to expanding the descriptions of emotional states. After that, we will assess the validity and utility for design and implementation of software and hardware applications using this subset.

Automotive customers nowadays decide to like-or-not with a perceptions of total quality and it effects purchasing intention as well. Style, materials, textures, colors, fit and finish and craftsmanship are the main ingredients of perceived quality. This paper, presents perceived quality and craftsmanship activities from the concept design to final product by a case study on trunk lid cut line of Fiat New Tipo. The aim of the study is achieving affective usability and esthetics for product.

We measured brain activity during changing of indoor thermal environment with light stimulus by near-infrared spectroscopy. The experiment was composed of four parts (without-light trial, with-light trial [3000, 5000, 7200 k trial]) for the light stimulus. In the case of the 3000 k trial, the oxyHb level in the prefrontal cortex tended to increase earlier than the oxyHb level in the without-light trial when the room temperature increased. On the other hand, in the 6700 k trial, the oxyHb level tended to increase later than the oxyHb in the without-light trial.

Tele-presence robots enable video calls easier and more engaging with the combination of tablet tools’ usability and web-controlled mobile functions. The lack of tele-presence issue has been significantly reduced by the idea of these robots. However, the lack of feeling for relationship with the person or with the robot is still an open issue. This study proposes an idea of remote individuals’ connection through an active display systems called ARM-COMS: ARm-supported eMbodied COmmunication Monitor System and tackles these issues. ARM-COMS is composed of a tablet PC and a desktop-type robotic arm. ARM-COMS is based on the two types of modes, or intelligent tablet mode (IT-mode) and intelligent avatar mode (IA-mode). Under these modes, ARM-COMS has three types of functions; namely, autonomous positioning (AP), autonomous entrainment movement (AEM), and autonomous entrainment positioning (AEP). This paper presents the basic concept of ARM-COMS and overviews the active display interface of ARM-COMS to accelerate the emotional entrainment in remote communication.

The word Emotion comes from the Latin word e=ex=out and mov ere=motion. So, literally it means to move out. To move out or to act, we have to make a decision. Thus, Emotion is closely related to decision making. Yesterday, the changes were small so we could easily make predictions. Therefore, we did not need to make decisions or even we had to, they were not too much critical. But today changes are frequent and extensive. And what makes the situation difficult is they are unpredictable. Therefore, we need another approach to make decisions with more flexibility and faster adaptability. This paper discusses the issue of awareness or perception and recognition of a problem, which precede a decision or to problem solving and proposes a versatile approach to defining a problem.

The purpose of this study is to develop a specific design class for children and youth with ASD as the necessity of diversified educational approaches for them rises. And this study aims to motivate ASD students to feel emotional empathy through indirect questions. In this regard, this research focuses on indirect design class and suggests the strategies for instructors to encourage ASD’s spontaneous language production, imaginative thinking and independent achievements. We pursue an indirect design class, which is expected to focus on design-thinking rather than design-outcome while concerning the identity of the students with ASD, improving their spontaneous communication and emotional empathy. More importantly, this study’s ultimate long-term goal is to suggest a guideline of Individualized Educational Plans (IEP) based on the analysis of five-week ITAD proposed in this study.

Wearable devices are gaining increasing attention with the smartphone market slowing down. As many major consumer electronics manufacturers are undertaking expanding the wearable device market, the future is suggested to consist of a “year of the wearable devices”. Because wearable contents are still newly created, many interaction design issues of wearable devices like HMD still exist. This study focuses on the affective interaction design for HMD contents. It focuses on the cinematic content that the user experiences with the VR cinema in a very personal environment. We suggest a novel method of affective multimodal story-based interaction methodology for the VR cinema of HMD to maximize the users’ emotional responses. Contextual and implicit interactions enable the users to be more engrossed in the narrative of the cinema and affected emotionally through the experience. The research results have significant effect on future directions in designing the affective interaction method for HMD contents.

As digital signage has spread throughout cities, researchers and artists have come up with various projects to use interactivity and networks for civil communication. In doing so, they have encountered problems, including difficulties in controlling content posted by citizen, and a lack of public participation. This study conducted a survey to find out what contents and forms of interactivity members of the public would prefer when using the digital signage installed in Seoul subway stations as an aid to communication. Our results showed that citizens wanted to post content and to read recommendations relating to Seoul and healing messages. The personal information they were most willing to expose was their own age, and the desired exposure time for their own content varied. For interactions to express empathy, they preferred touching the screens in the public space to using their smartphones. The data collected from online and offline will be classified and analyzed by area, age, and category; it will be used by citizens and the government to monitor and understand the thoughts of members of the public.

Since 2012, North Korea has paid close attention to amusement parks. Kim Jong Un, its new leader, underscored the need to build more theme parks suitable for the cultural and aesthetic desire of people. And North Korea underwent rapid change with construction of several new parks. I wonder why DPRK had to build amusement parks after the recent leadership change. In this paper, I examine the design characteristics of North Korean amusement parks and its social value through the analysis of the newly built or renovated several cases. This research found that there are three main characteristics of North Korean amusement parks. First, North Korean amusement parks are mostly located in historic sites of Pyongyang, which are related to the establishment of the state of DPRK. These amusement parks would become a great urban public space to carry positive communal meanings and to increase empathy for Pyongyang citizens. Second, lots of amusement parks were designed to cater specially to young people’s leisure time and activities. As for big-sized theme parks such as Rungna people’s pleasure ground newly opened in 2012 in Pyongyang, it has grown to include more rides and 3D attractions for youth and children in addition to existing facilities like dolphin aquarium, swimming pool and a mini golf course. Third, amusement parks represent well-designed urban green space in North Korea. Recently landscape architecture like designing parks and public space is recognized as one of highly civilized city conditions in DPRK. The green amusement park seems to be seen by North Koreans as a political symbol to show their happy living and developments of bioengineering. In conclusion, a close analysis reveals that the position of amusement parks remains subordinated to North Korean cultural policy, although it appears that recent media has emphasized its large role to produce people’s pleasure and provide the people with happy spare time under Socialism.

This paper explores what constitutes a comfortable experience in daily events, based on descriptive accounts of such experiences submitted by 35 participants. The results outline nine themes, eight of which are similar to the themes of passenger comfort in the flight context. Those are ‘peace of mind’, ‘pleasure’, ‘physical wellbeing’, ‘proxemics’, ‘satisfaction’, ‘social’, ‘association’ and ‘aesthetics’. It is assumed that these are universal elements of comfort and could potentially inspire design of everyday products or services that bring about comfortable experiences to users. However, the specific characteristics of a situation are expected to dictate the concerns of users relevant to those themes and consequently the comfort experience associated with the design. In addition, the results revealed the importance of the theme ‘esteem’ for comfort in daily situations, which is justified by a focus on self and a mental state directed at enjoyment in daily activities.

Uplift, addresses the quality of life of cancer patients—identifying opportunities that cultivate joy and happiness, and strengthening the support group around the patient. Based on a hypothesis that through design, joy and humor can positively change most experiences—and inspired by the revolutionary physician Hunter Doherty (popularly known as “Patch Adams”), advocate of humor, fun, and love in healthcare—Ilhan (author) investigated how design could touch people at an emotional level, especially in situations where they feel most vulnerable. The Uplift project aims to help improve the quality of life of cancer patients and caregivers by using design to provide new tools and services that support them—both emotionally and socially. Most of the concepts created in the thesis can be used by a variety of people suffering from a wide range of conditions—from chronic to life-threatening—but can also aid in the everyday context of a hospital visit.

In 2014, a team of University of Central Florida engineering students gained national media exposure when they developed a customized prosthetic 3D printed arm for a six-year-old boy. This team of UCF engineers known as Limbitless Solutions, is a non-profit organization devoted to bringing designers together who aim to use their skills to improve the world around them. Using their vast knowledge of engineering and multiple 3D printing facilities they are able to create cheap, and accessible prosthetics for children. In the late spring of 2015, the School of Visual Arts and Design (SVAD) was approached by Limbitless Solutions to assist in the further design development of their products. Limbitless reached out to SVAD to obtain students who could customize and design personalized decorations on the prosthetics to suit their recipient. During those initial meetings it became clear that there was a great opportunity for collaboration between the School of Visual Arts and Design and Limbitless. Limbitless showed interest in the Game Design program at SVAD and proposed a research opportunity to integrate the controls of the Limbitless prosthetic arm with game developed by SVAD students. When the children receive their prosthetic, many of them still need to learn or, in many cases, relearn elements such as grabbing, squeezing and other range of movement with their newly fitted prosthetic, the games developed by SVAD are used to train these movements.

In this paper, we present our progress so far in realization of project aimed to create a complex, modular humor-equipped conversational system. By complex, we mean that it should be able to: (1) detect users’ emotions, (2) detect users’ humorous behaviors and react to them properly, (3) generate humor according to users’ emotive states and (4) learn each user’s individual sense of humor. The research is conducted in Japanese. We chose puns as a relatively computable genre of humor. We describe a general outline of our system, as well as its four modules: humor detection module, emotion recognition module, response generator module and individualisation module. We present the algorithm of systems used in each module, along with some evaluation results.

In future smart environments sensors and actuators know about the environment’s inhabitants and visitors. This knowledge allows them to predict and suggest activities and behavior and even to take care that certain activities and behavior are enforced on inhabitants and visitors. For example, in a potential dangerous situation a car driver can be alerted, can be given a limited number of choices or the car can take over. Similar environmental behavior, not necessarily involving danger, can happen in domestic, urban and office or other professional environments. Humans have now become part of the Internet of Things. Wearables, clothes, body sensors, smart tattoos and implants allow the environment to monitor a user, but also to guide and steer a user in a way and a direction that suits the environment and those who own or maintain the environment. In this paper we investigate how a smart environment can use its smartness to create funny and humorous situations by suggesting or enforcing particular activities and behavior of its human inhabitants. In order to do so we have to look at how actor behavior and activity is modeled in storytelling research. In this research we have actors, but sometimes also directors or the environment is called upon to act as a smart director. Rather than aiming at efficiency when guiding ‘actors’ in these environments, we can as well guide human and virtual actors towards situations that are humorous or potentially humorous.

In this paper, we discuss the possibilities of adapting humorous smart technologies to the workplace. Also, we discuss the precautions that need to be taken when introducing the theories of humor. We explore adapting the theories of humor and the pros and cons of integrating it in the workplace. We believe the adaptation of this technology will help current and future employees at companies to improve and retain their happiness. We also provide a brief explanation of the different types of humorous technologies: mobile, physical, and virtual and how they can be beneficial in the workplace. Suggestions of how to evaluate these systems are also provided.

To a Graphical User Interface (GUI) designer, typeface design used to mean creating text that would deliver information to users in the most effective way. In typography, however, moveable type has evolved beyond being a simple means to deliver messages. In fact, typefaces must now accommodate individual users’ preferences and tastes by also serving as an image information system. An interface that can satisfy the basic needs for reading and also provide aesthetic pleasure is now available through typography. Typography transforms the interior system of language into a visual imagery system. Additionally, future adoption of kinetic typography within GUIs will enable interaction with users and set a new stage for the evolution of operating systems. In other words, the interface is considered a living being that evolves alongside mobile devices as a computer application. The objective of this study is twofold. First, we examine the role of typography in the process of configuring user identity and interactive interface design strategies that provide users with a pleasurable experience. We define brand involvement as a variable that may affect typography preferences. We suggest incorporating a verification process in the GUI that allows experimentation with various user preferences. Second, this study attempts to examine the problem of distortion, which occurs when trying to evaluate users’ emotional needs concerning device preferences, and the association between evaluation processes and changes in user preferences. To meet these objectives, the concept of brand involvement is used as an important measurement parameter.