DEA 3510/6510 Human Factors and Inclusive Design run by Jay Yoon and Michael Kowalski teamed up with the Downtown Ithaca Alliance (DIA) for the fall semester, 2021. The DIA is a not-for-profit organization charged with the revitalization, development, promotion, and management of downtown Ithaca. The course’s project will address current human factors and inclusivity challenges in using public products in the downtown, especially taking into account the current effects of COVID-19 on public product usage. Two key areas of interaction will be examined: (1) on-street parking pay-stations and (2) outdoor public seating. The students will create design solutions that address a wide range of human variety and abilities (physical and psychosocial) and environmental conditions. The project is generously supported by the DIA and Engaged Cornell.

On August 7, 2020, Michael Kowalski, MA successfully defended his master thesis entitled “I love it, I’ll never use it: Exploring factors of product attachment and their effects on sustainable product consumption behaviors.” The thesis was supervised by Dr. Jay Yoon of Design+Environmental Analysis and Dr. Mark Milstein of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management.

Abstract
Research on the concept of Product Attachment has shown an increased tendency for product retention and delay in disposal. This has been implied to be more environmentally sustainable, though little empirical evidence of actual use and consumption patterns related to attached products is available. This study seeks to further understanding on the mechanisms of attachment to material possessions that can have implications for sustainable product consumption.
Methods – Two studies have been conducted in sequence. The first involved qualitative semi-structured in-home interviews regarding individuals’ assessment of their relationships with material possessions, and evidence of resultant consumption behavior. The second study involved a quantitative online questionnaire with self-report measures of attachment to material possessions and related component factors, and evidence of resultant behavioral outcomes. The results from the two studies showed both active use and passive use of objects of attachment, with evidence of increased redundant consumption associated with objects exhibiting more passive forms of use. Irreplaceability and its component subfactors suggested a reduction in active use of an attached object, as well as an increased likelihood of redundant consumption of similar objects.

On June 5, 2020, Jialin Ke, BS successfully defended her honors thesis entitled “Design for breathtaking experiences: An exploration of design strategies to evoke awe in human-product interactions.” The thesis was supervised by Dr. Jay Yoon of Design+Environmental Analysis and Dr. Michael Goldstein of Psychology.

Abstract
From looking up at a tall skyscraper, to the vast depths of the Grand Canyon, or even learning about the extensive network, you may have experienced awe in one way or another. Awe is experienced when one encounters something that is greater or more powerful than her/himself and is known to be associated with prosocial behavior through a diminishment of self-importance. In design research, most of the studies on awe have been conducted in lab conditions, by using technologies such as Virtual Reality because of its efficiency to simulate typical awe-stimulating conditions (e.g., nature scenes). While useful in inducing awe and assessing its effects on users, they gave very little guidance as to how the experiences of awe can be deliberately evoked through design. Most attempts tend to focus on the response of awe instead of its underlying eliciting conditions (i.e., mechanism), which is illustrated by the fact that many studies on awe utilized nature imagery. With a proposition that it can be advantageous for designers to understand when and how awe can be facilitated in human-product interactions, this thesis explores design strategies to evoke awe through an exploratory top-down-bottom-up approach. Based on appraisal theory, a theoretical overview of the underlying conditions of awe was formulated (i.e., top-down), based on which its relevance to designing for awe was investigated. The conditions that underlie awe in the domain of design were empirically explored by means of a survey in which participants reported over 150 awe examples and experiences (i.e., bottom-up). These examples were analyzed, resulting in six design strategies to evoke awe. The thesis describes these design strategies with design examples and discusses their implications for the design practice.

Jay Yoon gave a keynote presentation at International Conference on Design for Experience and Well-being in Xi’an, China. The keynote title was “Why bother designing for positive emotions?”

http://DEw2019.scievent.com/

Abstract: Despite great advances in scientific understanding of emotional processes and effects in product use, research into emotions has been constrained by a strong bias towards mitigating negative affective states, rather than purposefully facilitating positive emotions. For instance, traditionally, attention has been paid to emotions particularly when design causes unpleasant experiences, which led the focus of design to be directed at avoiding negative emotions. There is now an increasing emphasis on the unique functions of positive emotions in design research.  There are considerable evidences that positive emotions play the critical roles in perception, thought, behavior and, by extension, improved well-being, which supports the view that designing for positive emotions is valuable to further explore. In this talk, Jay Yoon will present how diverse and nuanced positive emotions that people experience in day-to-day product use contribute to well-being, and how such experiences can be deliberately created and sustained through design.

Bill Xu, M.S. candidate of Design and Environmental Analysis, presented his paper “Erglove: An ergonomic solution for wrist injury prevention” at IASDR conference in Manchester, the UK. The paper was published based on the course project “Design for ergonomic workplace” coordinated by Jay Yoon (DEA 4700/6700 Applied Ergonomics Methods). The project was financially supported by Clay, Inc.

Abstract: Hotel house cleaners are at high risk for musculoskeletal disorders due to strenuous and repetitive tasks: in particular, wrist injury is prevalent due to many combined hours of wiping in inappropriate postures. Erglove is an instant and long-term wrist posture feedback system that allows cleaners to gain awareness of their posture and change their behaviour as they wipe. An exploratory user study was conducted to compare the effects of using the Erglove feedback system versus no feedback on the wiping behaviour of a group of college-age participants. The results indicated that the perceived system usefulness was higher in the group with real-time feedback. The study findings provide initial insights into how design can influence usage behaviour in the context of posture improvement. These insights likely extend beyond the specific application to wrist MSDs prevention for hotel housecleaners and are applicable to a wide variety of everyday tasks.

Citation:

• Xu, T., Dewey, C., Vira, A., Aguiar, C., & Yoon, J. (2019). Erglove: An ergonomic solution for wrist injury prevention. The International Congress of International Association of Sciences of Design Research (IASDR), Manchester, the United Kingdom.

On September 1, DISEÑA published a special issue on Aesthetics of Interaction. For the issue, Jay Yoon acted as guest editor in collaboration with Juan Carlos Ortiz Nicolás, Angélica Martínez de la Peña, and Renato Bernasconi.

DISEÑA promotes research in all areas of Design. Its specific aim is to promote critical thought about methodologies, methods, practices, and tools of research and project work.

• Papers are open access: http://revistadisena.uc.cl/index.php/Disena/issue/view/208
• Editorial: Aesthetics of Interaction (PDF download)