The Institute of Design for Industry and Environment Research
Mission
To increase knowledge in affective design through research and design practice, and to transfer this knowledge to industry, to inform the research community, and to enhance tertiary education.
- What is "affective product design" about?
- What is AFFECT about?
- Centre Objectives
- Activities of the Centre
- Contact AFFECT—if you would like further information
- http://www.affectdesignresearch.com
What is "affective product design" about?
Affective design is about the appreciation, experience and desirability of products. Product appeal changes over time as the level of immersion progresses. The three central concepts are described in the following.
- Desirability is about the aspiration of owning and using the product. This is related to personal identity, cultural and social values, and self-representation. Ideally, your product is the one that people are talking about, craving for, and that they eventually end up buying. In order to be successful, the product must meet your customer's aspirations and be more desirable than the competition.
- Experience arises from perceiving and interacting with the product. This is where the greatest opportunity, and threat, of product success lies. If the product meets or exceeds the expectations of the user, they will spread the word. If it doesn’t, they will spread the word to many more. You want to ensure that the user has the best possible experience with the product during the life cycle of use and ownership. If so, they will come back to you the next time as well.
- Appreciation is related to the long-term appeal of the product. It is partly an independent factor, and partly arises as a result of desirability and experience. Appreciation has to do with all factors of perceiving and interacting with the product. How you judge and interpret is on the basis of a product’s design. It is influenced by external and internal subjective assessment and evaluation.
What is AFFECT about?
Successful product design today is about much more than simply creating products that do the things you want them to. It’s all about offering the consumer products that are appealing—socially, emotionally and cognitively. We call this area "affective product design". Functionality and usability are still key characteristics for a good product, but unless the product is instantly appealing and continues to appeal, the chances for success on the world stage are slim.
Research in affective design has two significant areas of importance:
- As a knowledge and design development area, in order to more effectively design products that are appealing to customers and users.
- From the perspective of international competitiveness for New Zealand companies in order to be successful on local and global markets.
Centre Objectives
- To develop the understanding of the factors that influence our appreciation of product design.
- To utilize that knowledge to develop the processes of designing affective products.
- To transfer this knowledge to industrial activities in order to increase competitiveness and competency to create appealing and affectively successful product designs.
Activities of the Centre
The Centre delivers output related to affective product design through working in three main activity areas:
- Research projects and international publications,
- Design consultancy work with industry, and
- Courses, delivered to industry and university design programs.
The focus of AFFECT is on creating products that are appealing, meaningful, and desirable to people. Through research activities into, for and through design, we also create the knowledge and information necessary to inform the processes of creating such products. Simply "using design" is not good enough; nowadays, companies need to know why and how to use design in order to create the desired affective connection with customers.
AFFECT provides research, design processes and practice with a design or strategic outcome that inform decision-making and enhance the probability of achieving a successful product. AFFECT has direct access to other related research centres and areas of expertise through the broad range of programmes and research activities at Massey University.
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