Experience-Centred Design and the Role of Computer-Aided Tools in the Creative Process

Introduction

The economic development and technical progress have transformed the product demands from the mass and quantitative consumption to customised and perceptual consumption. Despite the importance of technology capability, technology is not only what it takes to captivate customers (Boatwright and Cagan 2010); they want products that are functional at a physical level, usable at a psychological level and attractive at a subjective and emotional level. Hence products are meant to satisfy some functional requirements such as aspiration, cultural, social, and emotional needs.

Research by Boatwright and Cagan (2010) revealed that people pay for products that address their cultural and emotional needs in all types of businesses. This is because; emotion in its various forms is a strong driving factor for a consumer want. Thus, a sustainable user-centred design approach can help to establish an emotive connection and resilience of relationship between product and user (Chapman 2009; Overbeeke and Hekkert 1999). Although collaborations between manufacturers and supplies are becoming increasingly more usual, it is still far from common for the customer to be considered as a fundamental participant in the collaborative design chain (Camarinha-Matos and Afsarmanesh 1999). The different types of customers that will filter the product throughout its life cycle are stakeholders in the process and should be given preferences from the very earliest design stages.

Against this backdrop, this chapter investigates the knowledge regarding how user-centred design approach can be employed to develop emotive products. Furthermore, the chapter elaborates on the three-design level and the resulting appraisals that elicit emotions. Based on this understanding, an experimental study was conducted where two products were designed using computer-aided design (Solidworks software). The 3D CAD models were evaluated to know the emotive response towards the design and the result shows some interesting findings by demonstrating the theories in practice and also reveals that 3D computer-aided design can help to engage potential customers as fundamental participants in the collaborative design chain.