Psychology Based Design Approach (PSYDA) - A Pedagogical Concept
Year: 2010
Editor: Boks W; Ion, W; McMahon, C and Parkinson B
Author: Gulden, Tore; Moestue, Cathrine; Berg, Arild
Section: SUSTAINABLE DESIGN
Page(s): 376-381
Abstract
The means of design and manufacturing require a shift of course to meet with the need of a future sustainable consumption. Innovative design strategies to create emotionally durable products have emerged from the research fields of sustainable design and user attachment. Emotionally durable products can contribute to change the pattern of consumption and therefore restrain manufacturing globally. However, most of these strategies are inadequate as design methods. In order to actuate such strategies into design concepts, new methods are needed. This lead to the research question: How can the combination of research from psychology and design affect designers’ ability to create sustainable product concepts? This article introduces the new design approach “psychology-based design approach” (PSYDA) were research from design and psychology are combined. The expected learning outcome through the use of the PSYDA in design education is to be able to create a design process in order to evoke specific feelings through product concepts. The PSYDA was the basis for a case study arranged for students in product design education. This lead to the definition and illustration of the design parameter named “inclusive exclusivity” i.a., seemingly contradictory values, combined in one solution. The analysis of the case study indicates that the approach can be used as a tool to define and create product concepts that evoke feelings of user attachment. Working with PSYDA seemed to have had a good effect on the learning environment since the approach urged students to think beyond the traditional design process.
Keywords: Product attachment, concept development, product lifetime optimization, sustainable consumption, learning outcome, branding