Knowledge Base Repository
In addition to research papers, the Design Society is developing several valuable resources for those interested in the study of design. These include a repository of PhD theses, a library of case studies and transcripts of design activities, and an archive of our newsletters. Please note that these resources are accessible exclusively to Design Society members.
Prototypical product shapes as a tool for aesthetic product design
Maya, Jorge; Betancur-Rodríguez, Daniel
Type:
Year:
2017
Editor:
Anja Maier, Stanko Škec, Harrison Kim, Michael Kokkolaras, Josef Oehmen, Georges Fadel, Filippo Salustri, Mike Van der Loos
Author:
Series:
ICED
Institution:
Universidad EAFIT, Colombia
Section:
Human Behaviour in Design
Page(s):
559-568
ISBN:
978-1-904670-96-4
ISSN:
2220-4342
Abstract:
The use of prototypical product shapes allows to structure and support the intuitive aesthetic design process. Prototypicality, a cognitive variable, is the extent to which an object represents a category: it shapes our aesthetic feelings with products, affects usability, makes up the products’ look, and affects products’ aesthetic evaluations and preferences. A mental prototype is a category’s central element. We all have artifacts’ prototypical information, however, designers are not aware and do not use it explicitly. These concepts have seldom been applied in design. Consequently, we explored how to use prototypical shapes for the aesthetic design process. 1. We proposed vectorising and interpolating 32 hand drawn Pepper Mills, PMs, to get the prototypical shape. In 2, we found the most innovative, original and typical PMs (n=74, 20 PMs). 3. We then used rules to explore aesthetic design possibilities and to transfer attributes to the prototypical PM shape. PMs’ aesthetics, usability, and design pedagogy issues are discussed. We suggest a structured simple way to design the product’s aesthetic for non-expert designers and applicable to other aesthetic cognitive variables.
Keywords:
