A Human Sensibility Ergonomic Design for Developing Aesthetically and Emotionally Affecting Glass Panels of Changing Colors

Abstract

Objective:To enhance user experience of the product by using "wow" materials and parts, a framework for participatory emotional design and evaluation was proposed and validated through a case study in this paper. Background: Customers in recent days value a product which provides new feeling and images they want to get while interacting with it beyond its function, quality, and usability. Since the product consists of various parts and materials, "wow" materials and parts which can affect the customer's feeling and emotions are the essential components for changing the user experience. Method: A framework for participatory and human sensibility ergonomic design was considered and applied on developing the aesthetically and emotionally affecting glass panels of changing colors. Design experts defined a target market for this multicolor glass panels and modified the existing designing goal. Constraints for this design modification were identified by market trend research and consulting with the company which owns the technology for checking out its feasibility. The company developed and provided prototype samples as well as their competing materials. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the emotional quality was conducted to validate whether the design goal was achieved successfully. Results: The target market for the developing materials was defined as finishing for the buildings. The designing goal was set as to feed new visual sensation of clean and colorful images. The emotional quality of two different types of multicolor glass panels and an ordinary unicolor panel were evaluated quantitatively with semantic differential method. Results showed that the emotion of the subjects for the multicolor glass panels can be abstracted into two dimensions; named 'colorfulness' and 'harmony'. It was found that the developed samples got higher scores in emotional quality for both dimensions compared to the ordinary one. Age was found to be a significant factor for evaluating the emotional quality of colorfulness. Conclusion and Applications: The proposed framework is a valid approach for enhancing the user experience of the product by participatory design of emotional materials and parts. This framework can be applied easily on the emotional design and evaluation of different materials and components.