Designing Pleasurable Products—Holistic Design Now and For The Future

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Speaker
Patrick W. Jordan
Head of the Contemporary Trends Institute (CTI)

When
-

Where
Newell-Simon Hall 1305 (Michael Mauldin Auditorium)

Description

How can we design pleasurable products, considering dimensions other than product usability? My talk will address this question, in two parts:

Part 1. Designing Holistically: A Persona-Based Approach To User-Centered Design. I will discuss how to create designs which appeal to the user holistically, leading to products and services that are a genuine joy to use, by outlining a practical framework for holistic user modeling. I will also present a case study of a persona-based approach, which organizes user data into fictitious characters, to assist in the product design process.

Part 2: Contemporary Trends And Product Design. To create products that are a genuine joy to own and use, it is important to consider the fit of a product—both functionally and aesthetically—with the values, aspirations and lifestyles of those for whom it is designed. I will outline eight trends which, it is anticipated, will have a major impact on Westernized society both now and over the next five to ten years. The implications of these trends for product design are discussed and examples are given illustrating early signs of these effects.

Speaker's Bio

Pat Jordan is Head of the Contemporary Trends Institute (CTI) and Head of User Research at Symbian, a joint venture owned by Motorola, Nokia, Psion, Ericcson, and Panasonic. Formerly, Pat was Director of Trends and Identity at Philips Electronics. He has over 60 publications in peer reviewed journals, and has written and edited 5 books. He is currently Europe’s best-selling author in his field.