EMOTION-DRIVEN ELICITATION OF ELDERLY PEOPLE USER NEEDS ILLUSTRATED BY A WALKING FRAME CASE STUDY

DS 68-7: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED 11), Impacting Society through Engineering Design, Vol. 7: Human Behaviour in Design, Lyngby/Copenhagen, Denmark, 15.-19.08.2011

Year: 2011
Editor: Culley, S.J.; Hicks, B.J.; McAloone, T.C.; Howard, T.J. & Badke-Schaub, P.
Author: Gudmundsson, Hjalte P.; Andersen, Casper L.; Achiche, Sofiane; Boelskifte, Per
Series: ICED
Section: Human Behaviour in Design
Page(s): 44-53

Abstract

In this paper an emotion-driven design approach is used to elicit the needs of elderly users illustrated by a walking frame case study. First, images of existing walking frames were collected from websites and clustered into categories, followed by a collection and an assessment of the emotional responses of elderly people presented with the representative walking frames from each category, using a questionnaire adapted from the Product measurement instrument (PrEmo). The results of this assessment were categorized using three levels of product emotions (visceral, behavioural and reflective) and then transformed into user needs that can be later used by designers to create new designs. From these user needs it was found that the elderly had concerns with emotional content as well as more traditional needs based upon ergonomics and functions.

Keywords: WALKING FRAME; USER NEEDS; PREMO; MOBILIY AID; KANSEI ENGINEERING; ELDERLY; DESIGN FOR EMOTION

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