64. A Framework for the Design of Smart Wearable Devices Using Emotional Design Approach

Technology is changing our lives fundamentally by redefining our way of interacting with each other, performing transactions, commuting from one place to another, etc. Smart wearable technology is one of the areas in which explosive growth is witnessed in recent years. Smart wearable devices (SWD) are eventually going to become an integral part of human life, and the design discipline has clearly understood the potential of these devices. Traditionally, design discipline has always been responsive to the technology and material advances by coming up with their practical and innovative usages. In this, design education has played a crucial role by fostering designers to cope with the pace of technology change. However, contemporary design education lacks the explicit emphasis on the design of these new-age products. Since emerging technologies like SWD offer new prospects for designers to cultivate, enhance, and implement their thoughts and imaginations, a critical understanding of these present-day devices is highly required today for young upcoming designers. For that to happen, the need has arisen to relook at the current design curriculum. This paper tries to rationalize the significance of smart wearable device design for the current design curriculum and propose a systematic ideation method using the emotional design approach. Furthermore, an exploratory study was conducted with undergraduate design students to develop a structured approach to enhance the creativity of idea generation for SWD. Insights from this study would help design academicians to formulate guidelines for SWD design in the design curriculum.