1、英文原文:Product design, semantics and emotional responseAbstractThis paper explores theoretical issues in ergonomics related to semantics and the emotional content of design. The aim is to find answers to the following questions: how to design products triggering happiness in ones mind; which product a
2、ttributes help in the communication of positive emotions; and finally, how to evoke such emotions through a product. In other words, this is an investigation of the meaning that could be designed into a product in order to communicate with the user at an emotional level. 1. Introduction Contemporary
3、 life is synonymous with accelerating social and technological change. Similarly, product design is being rapidly transformed through materials technology, production technology, information-processing technology and other processes. The changes in technology are occurring at a speed and scale beyon
4、d any expectation. The digital revolution is progressively turning the objects with which we interact into smaller and more intelligent black boxes, making it difficult for us to understand the mechanism or the working method (Bolz 2000). Design therefore occurs in a different framework than before,
5、 with reference to social change, the conservation of resources and energy, emerging environmental problems, and customer-oriented trends (Ohira 1995, Jones 1997). Accordingly, whether driven by advertisement and marketing strategies, or by trends, fashion, and social events, users expectations from
6、 consumer products have been also changing. Functionality, attractiveness, ease-in-use, affordability, recyclability, and safety are all attributes that are expected to already exist in a product. Users are expecting more from everyday products. Recent design trends show an inclination towards objec
7、ts that inspire users, enhance their lives, help in triggering emotions or even in evoking dreams (Jensen 1999, Alessi 2000). Jensen predicts that the Dream Society is coming soon, following a society based on data, called the Information Society (1999). He adds that, as information and brainpower a
8、re becoming the realm of computers and high-tech, society will place new value on a human ability that has not been automated yet: emotion. Functionality is more and more taken for granted in products, and users are looking for fulfillment at an altogether different level of appreciation. Imaginatio
9、n, myths, and rituals (being the language of emotion) will have an effect on our behaviors, ranging from our buying decisions to our communication with others (Jensen 1999). Furthermore, Khalid (2001: 196) points out that the decision to buy can be momentary, so customer needs can then be created ve
10、ry quickly, while other needs are long established. Consequently, emotions and affect in general, have received increasing attention over the last few years (Velsquez 1998). Affect being defined as the consumers psychological response to the semiotic content of the product. Approaches to emotions an
11、d affect can be studied at many different levels and all offer different insights. As Velsquez points out, several models have been proposed for a variety of domains and environments. Some examples that he gives include the use of emotions to create synthetic agents with lifelike qualities and perso
12、nalities (Bates 1994, Kline and Blumberg 1999, Elliott 1992, Reilly 1996) systems that reason about emotions in narrative (Elliott et al. in Velsquez 1998), systems that rely on emotional processing to mediate social interactions (Breazeal in Velsquez 1998), and architectures that model the influenc
13、es of emotions in behavior and learning (Camero 1997, Kitano 1994, and Seif El-Naser et al. in Velsquez 1998). Different approaches work best in different domains, and the decision to follow one or the other depends greatly on the specific goals and purposes of these models. Design directed by emoti
14、onal content can be regarded as the heart of current design practices, research, and education. As Paul Hekkert (2002), the chairman of the Design & Emotions Society, says: “It is no longer sufficient to design good products or services; we all want to design experiences and generate pleasurable or
15、exciting sensations.” “But what do we really know about these experiences and products ability to evoke emotions? Can affective interactions be designed and how do designers and industries deal with this new design paradigm?” The goal of this study is to reveal the semiotic nature of emotional respo
16、nses in design products, as well as to explore affect programs concerning the relationship between product design and human experience. 2. Product semantics at the physical and cognitive level Product semantics was developed and introduced by Krippendorff and Butter (1984: in Riley 2001) and is defi
17、ned as the study of symbolic qualities of man-made shapes, in the cognitive and social context of their use. Thus, according to this definition, product semantics is concerned with the relationship between the user and the product on one hand, and the importance that objects assume in an operational
18、 and social context on the other hand. Intentionally or not, all manufactured products make a statement through shape, form, color, texture, etc. They communicate with users and can never be contextually neutral. It is widely recognized that visualization is important when it comes to assessing the
19、feasibility of a product in terms of appearance, functionality, production feasibility, product semantics, ergonomics and social factors (Johanson 2000). Regardless of how designer use color, shape, form, and texture in designing the product, messages are being sent through products via a part of la
20、nguage structures that deal with meaning, called semantics. This implies that designers and ergonomists should not only know what message(s) they wish to transmit and the sort of response(s) that can be expected from the user being the receiver, but also the symbols and attributes forming that langu
21、age. A product tells us something, about itself and in certain cases also about the human being who owns it. Through its design and function, the product expresses values, whose importance individuals then interpret and value in relation to a certain social context in terms of acceptance or rejectio
22、n, liking or disliking. However, the product can, through its semantic content and expression, either strengthen or weaken this role, in this way creating positive or negative perceptions, emotions, values and associations within the individual person (Wikstrm 1996). The products that we encounter h
23、ave different functions, e.g. technical, practical and semantic. Mon (in Wikstrm 1996) defines four semantic functions of products: To describe - The product gestalt describes facts (e.g. its purpose = define the task), way of use, handling. To express - The product gestalt expresses the products va
24、lues and qualities. To signal - The product gestalt urges the user to react in a specific way, for example to be careful and to be precise in his/her work. To identify - The product gestalt identifies (e.g. the purpose = establish similarity), origin, nature and product area (connection with system,
25、 family, product range etc as well as the function and placement of individual parts). The semantic functions provide the designer with the possibility to communicate a clear message through the product. This means that the designer has to make clear to him/herself what should and what should not be
26、 communicated through the product (Wikstrm 1996). Butter (Krippendorff and Butter 1984:4), who first made up the phrase product semantics, claims that designers and ergonomists with an awareness of the how to use function of design can demystify complex technology, improve the interaction between ar
27、tifacts and their users and enhance opportunities for self-expression. According to Wikstrm (1996), the semantic functions should make the product comprehensible. Both the whole products and its individual parts should communicate the intended message, so that the user knows how the product should b
28、e handled merely by looking at it. For example, a knurled knob says turn me; a button so designed to say press me; a form that invites a particular handgrip, like a jack-plane; a teapot or kettle that says hold me here and Ill pour for you; a chair that softly welcomes your relaxed posture; a shape
29、or form that indicates I move in this direction or I fit into that part of your body. The users reaction to what something is and how this something should be handled is an effective and immediate (semantic) indication of the extent to which a products design is self-instructing. Complicated product
30、s require a manual, but simpler products ought to be self-instructing. In cases where pictures, labels, or instructions are needed for simple things, arrows or labels to differentiate push from pull; designers have failed to communicate through the form of the object (Norman 1988). However, the requ
31、irement for comprehensibility varies with the context. In some cases, as Wikstrm (1996) mentions, the product should even be incomprehensible to a certain user group, for example medicine bottles and medicine cabinets to children, in order to prevent them from accessing to these. In public milieus,
32、however, information-carrying products should be self-instructing. The user group focused upon here should be able to identify the products purpose, be able to use it, and be motivated to use it without the need for additional information (e.g. manuals, text). Being one of the most important trends
33、in design in the US, product semantics is an approach to developing a visual vocabulary in products in order to give them an immediately identifiable set of mainly visual clues (sometimes tactile and auditory), which become tools available to the designer to communicate through their products, helpi
34、ng to reflect function and underlying cultural associations (Zaccai 1990). In other words, product semantics is an attempt to identify appropriate visual, tactile and auditory messages and incorporate them into product design. Understanding how people assimilate unfamiliar products is crucial to the
35、 application of semantics in Industrial Design (Griffin 1999). It combines various disciplines, such as art, ergonomics, semiotics, communication, logic, philosophy, and psychology. When product semantics is properly applied, products can become more emotionally and psychologically comfortable for u
36、sers, with eloquent and expressive shapes or details, allowing them to make emotional connections with otherwise impersonal objects. These become intuitive products where the user knows how it works and what it does without instructions. The two fundamental principles of Norman (1988) to assist user
37、s in constructing a mental model of the product are first, providing a good conceptual model, and second, making important features visible. 3.Products as communicators and reflectors of meaning According to Griffin (1999), the process of interpreting and decoding the unfamiliar products semantic co
38、ntent involves two different reactions. The first one based on knowledge and dependent on social and cultural background, and the second reaction being emotional. Meaning is then interpreted based on associations drawn from prior experience. Furthermore, emotions are closely related to human psychol
39、ogy. If we were to look at a simple psychological definition of these factors that activate emotions, we would see that emotions are not triggered by situations or events, but by our thoughts, beliefs, values and attitudes about the situations or events. The emotional response is not an automatic re
40、sponse to an object, a thing, or a situation. It is an automatic response (deep inside our brain) to the thoughts that we have associated with the situation or the object.4. Happiness and pleasure in product use Some general definitions for pleasure, happiness and joy may be given as follows: Pleasu
41、re: the agreeable emotion accompanying the expectation, acquisition, or possession of something good or desirable. Related Word bliss, felicity, happiness, and thrill. Happiness: a state of well-being and contentment. Joy: a pleasurable or satisfying experiences; the emotion evoked by well-being, su
42、ccess, or by the prospect of possessing what one desires. The four different categories of pleasure in product use given by Jordan (1997) are: 1. Physio-pleasure -related to touching and holding a product. 2. Social-pleasure -related to social relationships and communication that a product enables.
43、3. Psycho-pleasure -gained when a product helps the user to establish a task. 4. Ideo-pleasure -related to values that a product and its use represent or support. Satisfaction is one of the usability attributes in Nielsens definition (1993) and is related to how pleasant the product is to use. Usabi
44、lity and functionality are undeniably very important attributes of products but are not sufficient on their own to convey pleasure and happiness to users. Positive emotions have proved to have important role e.g. in decision-making, motivation, and social interaction (DeCatanzaro 1999, Isen 1993, Mk
45、el 1999) needed for task-based activities. Functionality is more and more taken for granted in products (commodities), and users are looking for something more. 5. Emotional response systems or affect programs The emotional response systems, based on inherent psychological structures, values and pro
46、cesses, bear resemblance to some of the aspects in which the interactions between neural systems involving the amygdale, the hippocampus, and the prefrontal cortices have been considered to mediate emotions, such as assigning an emotional valence to different stimuli, activation of emotional behavio
47、rs, and emotional learning (Damasio 1994, LeDoux 1996, Panksepp 1995, in Velsquez, 1998). Based on work from different theorists (Ekman 1992, Johnson-Laird and Oatley 1992, Panksepp 1998) and subsequent to a previous study on design criteria to assess good design related to award winning products (D
48、emirbilek and Park 2001), six different types of affect programs involving happy feelings, joy, or evoking dreams have been identified such as follows: senses, fun, cuteness, familiarity, metonymy and color.6. Conclusion and future plans The emotional content of design is gaining more and more impor
49、tance for Ergonomics and Design Science. So far, there are no direct methods for predicting, evaluating and measuring this human-product phenomenon. This paper shows that more knowledge is needed in analyzing the relationship between the basic trio: emotion, user, and product design. Peoples emotional responses t
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