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Master thesis defense: Michael Kowalski, MA


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.

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Honors thesis defense: Jialin Ke, BS

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.

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[Canceled] Workshop “Design and Sustainable Development” with De Montfort University

  • Workshop: Design and sustainable development
  • Participants: Cornell and De Montfort University students
  • Location: Design+Environmental Analysis, Cornell University
  • Period: May 18 through 20
  • Participation fee: None

Update – March 12, 2020

We regretfully inform you that we are canceling our workshop, originally scheduled for May 18 through 20. 
Cornell University has issued new policies to minimize future community spread of COVID-19. All international events are strongly discouraged that bring outside guests to campus. We are following these policies, which unfortunately means we will not hold the workshop. Please understand this.

Thank you for your support and enthusiasm.

The purpose of the workshop is to engage Cornell students with high caliber design and research in the School of Design at De Montfort University in the United Kingdom. Participating students will have exciting and meaningful opportunities to take part in the research, design and action addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals with a focus on SDG 3 (Good health and well-being) and SDG 12 (Responsible consumption and production).

The core activities will be special lectures and workshops delivered by professors and lecturers from Cornell, DMU and UNIST. The program will consist of three full-day workshops. The special lectures will be about design for the UN SDGs addressing a range of different issues. Each workshop will be related to the special lecture and based on pre-defined briefs regarding UN SDG 3 and 12.

Cornell students will be paired with students from De Montfort to work on each brief to understand how British (or De Montfort) students think and work, and learn about how to work effectively and efficiently as a team in an international setting. They will be expected to produce compelling design solutions and visual outcomes such as drawings, modeling, renderings, or prototypes as a response to each brief. At the end of the third workshop, the best performing pairs will be awarded with small prizes.

Application
A total of 15 Cornell students can participate. Priority for this opportunity will be given to junior and sophomore students, but those in their freshmen or senior year are also welcome to apply.

Canceled – Fill out online application here.

General inquiries
Dr. Jay Yoon (jy846@cornell.edu)

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Keynote presentation at DEW 2019


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.

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Erglove presentation at IASDR Conference

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.
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Special Issue on Aesthetics of Interaction

Disena

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.

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Call for papers – DISEÑA: Designing for aesthetic interaction: current practice and emerging directions

CFP Diseña # 15: Design for Aesthetic Interaction: Current Practice and Emerging Directions
http://www.revistadisena.uc.cl/index.php/Disena/announcement/view/13

Guest editors:

  • Juan Carlos Ortiz Nicolás
    • Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez, Mexico
    • Assistant Professor of User Experience
  •  JungKyoon Yoon
    • Cornell University, USA Assistant Professor of Design and Environmental Analysis
  • Angélica Martínez de la Peña
    • Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico
    • Professor and Researcher, Department of Theory and Design Processes

Submission deadline: February 22, 2019
Submission guideline: PDF download

Aesthetics of interaction is a knowledge area with several domains of application in the field of design, among which are industrial design, product and service systems, social networks, built environments and artificial intelligence, as well as human-robot interactions and human-computer interactions. Given that emerging technologies are increasingly integrated with design – for example, through the use of mixed reality interfaces through multimodal technologies – the ways of approaching aesthetics in interaction are under development and constantly evolving.

Although aesthetics in interaction has gained more attention in recent years, our ability to understand its scope remains limited and fragmented, especially in terms of its impact on user experience in the short and long-term, as well as with reference to its implementation, both in practice and in design education. The different areas of application and the consequent variety of approaches make it difficult to pursue interaction-informed design processes and methods able to demonstrate their full potential in order to add value to the design processes and their results, whether they are products, services or systems development.

In response, this edition aims to present experiences and knowledge related to the practice of design for aesthetics in interaction, contributing ideas about its approaches, its access, its acceptance, and its implementation, as well as about its role in innovation through design.

Thus, this edition aims to bring together researchers and professionals in order to establish a discussion platform where they share, on the one hand, the state of the art of the theory related to aesthetics in interaction, and on the other hand, the methods implicit within it.

We intend to bring together researchers and practitioners to establish a discussion platform that shares state-of-art insights into theories and methods of design for aesthetic interaction. We also aspire to promote the exchange of ideas on issues such as the following:

  • Benefits of aesthetic interaction for the user experience;
  • Integration of aesthetic interaction with emerging technologies;
  • Opportunities and obstacles that arise when incorporating aesthetics of interaction in design processes;
  • Methods and tools that are being used for designing for aesthetic interaction;
  • The need to approach aesthetic interaction through transdisciplinary collaborations.

This edition will also address projects that demonstrate the potential of design for aesthetic interaction in general cases related to human-computer interaction or service design. Along with this, it is hoped to report on particular cases in various areas such as health, safety, social networks, and media, among others.

We hope that this collective effort stimulates discussions about the potential of aesthetics of interaction, proposing future challenges and a set of recommendations to consolidate this field of design.

If you are interested, kindly send your manuscript to www.revistadisena.uc.cl before February 22, 2019. Revisions and modifications subsequent to the revision process by the evaluators must be made during the first weeks of May. This edition will be published in August 2019.

The length of the manuscripts will be from 3,500 to 4,000 words. The authors can include figures and images. Authors should also provide an abstract (140 words maximum) and five keywords, as well as a brief biographical account of 150 words. The citations and the list of references must follow the APA style.

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Call for workshop papers “Design contributions to pervasive healthcare”

Conference: Pervasive Health 2019—13th EAI International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for HealthcareWorkshop DCPH
Location: Trento, Italy
Website: http://pervasivehealth.org/workshop-dcph/ 

Background

Healthcare costs for long term conditions such as chronic diseases are a heavy burden on the public purse. At the same time, chronic diseases are significant constraints on patients, in particular those conditions that are detrimental to the quality of life of individuals. In this workshop we focus on the design of Pervasive Healthcare Systems (PHS) for patients of a life-long chronic condition (both mental and physical). A PHS includes a collection of devices to be integrated into a seamless patient’s experience, with the potential to significantly help the patients’ self-management in their daily lives, improve their condition, and reduce their clinics visits.

Motivation

We argue that a design approach (e.g. Interaction Design, Product Design…) to PHS will deliver a better quality of care and quality of life to the patients. The workshop is about design projects that encourage and support patients into adopting better lifestyles to improve their condition, and into practicing better self-management of condition. This could be done with design interventions to stimulate long-lasting effects on patient motivation, affects and engagement. There is also a focus on the medical benefits of such a design approach, notably improvement of medication compliance and reduction of the patients’ demand on health services (visits to the hospital clinics, and interaction with healthcare professionals for routine issues).

Workshop Topics

This workshop has been planned as a forum to discuss the contribution design (e.g. industrial, interaction, service, or product design), and in particular design methodologies and processes, can make to pervasive healthcare. It is also a forum to identify the main opportunities and challenges of designing for PHS. Such design opportunities and challenges, to be addressed within the workshop, can be summarised as design approaches, processes and methodologies to:

  • Deliver long-lasting motivation and engagement changes that are conducive to effective support and assistance healthcare
  • Address daily interaction of patients with a PHS and with their medical and personal data
  • Allow for the personalisation and adaptation of the PHS to patients, their condition, lifestyle, culture and socio-economics.

We seek paper contributions with studies, theories, case studies, and (preliminary) experimental results aiming to address issues, such as (but not limited to):

  • Patient lifestyle, preferences and needs and how they should be considered in the implementation of the PHS
  • Patient (and close relatives) as fully participating partners in the management of the patient’s condition and the operation of the PHS
  • The PHS configuration, the management of the condition and the objectives to achieve as clearly communicated, shared and agreed with the patient
  • Negative aspects of the condition, notably psychological ones and how they are integrated in the self-management planning, and are focus points of the PHS implementation
  • Privacy, participation of close relatives, connection with patients-to-patients moderated social network, and how they are managed according to patient choices
  • Daily patient interaction with the PHS and in particular with their personal and health data.

Submissions key dates

  • 25th February 2019 – Deadline for paper submission to the workshop
  • 15th March 2019 – Workshop papers notification
  • 25th March 2019 – Deadline for camera ready submission

Workshop Schedule

It is anticipated that the workshop will be a one-day event, with the morning session dedicated to the presentation of the workshop vision (by the workshop organisers), and then presentations of the position papers followed by Q&A.

The afternoon session will be divided between a general discussion about what contributions design can make to Pervasive healthcare and the identification of design processes and methodologies to guide further developments in the area of PHS.

Workshop Outcomes

The workshop will conclude with the identification of promising design approaches and processes to pervasive healthcare, and key opportunities and challenges pertaining to the design of a PHS. The organisers of the workshop will gather insights and summarise the workshop outcomes in a journal paper on design processes and methodologies contributions to pervasive healthcare. The workshop position papers will also be invited, after extension (8000 words), for resubmission for publication in a special issue on design contributions (as processes and methodologies) to Pervasive Healthcare of Design Studies.

Your resubmitted and extended paper must be submitted following the Design Studies submission instructions https://www.elsevier.com/journals/design-studies/0142-694x/guide-for-authors

Key dates for Resubmission of the paper to Desigh Studies:

  • 26th July 2019 – Resubmission of revised paper (8000 words)
  • 3st October 2019 ­– Resubmission outcome notification
  • January 2020 – Submission of Camera-Ready Copy for online publication
  • May 2020 – Early estimate of planned publication date of special issue as a single volume of Design Studies

Workshop Organisers

Ben SALEM – The University of Liverpool, UK
I am a senior lecturer (associate professor) in the School of Engineering, and I have a lasting interest in the combination of Interaction Design, Product Design and System Engineering applied to healthcare. I am running a project where design disciplines contribute to the delivery of healthcare to clinic outpatients, focusing on lifestyle and habits that can have a detrimental effect on the patient’s condition.

JungKyoon YOON – Cornell University, US
I am an assistant professor in the Department of Design + Environmental Analysis. I investigate how products can be systematically designed to enrich users’ momentary as well as long-term experiences by means of emotions, building on knowledge and methods from user-centred design, positive psychology, and persuasive technology.

Martijn ten BHÖMER – Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, CN
I am a lecturer (assistant professor) in the Department of Industrial Design, where I am investigating how an embodied approach to technology and interaction design can underpin the design of personalised smart textiles products and services. I am working on projects in the context of dementia care, and more recently cardiovascular diseases.

Natalia ROMERO – Delft University of Technology, NL
I work as an assistant professor in user-centred design, interested in the design of self-reporting and self-experimentation practices in daily life, as a means to support vulnerable groups (low SES) in the transition from mindlessness to mindfulness actions and evidence-based decision making.

Technical Programme Committee (To Be Confirmed)

  • Aysar GHASSAM – Coventry University, Design Thinking
  • Kadian DAVIS-OWUSU – Delft University of Technology, User-Centred Design (tbc)
  • Martijn VASTENBURG – ConnectedCare, Interaction Design (tbc)
  • Hai-Ning LIANG – Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Computer Science
  • Bahar KHAYAMIAN-ESFAHANI – University of Liverpool, Health & Human Centred Design
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[Closed] Cornell University Fully-funded Ph.D., Application Deadline: November 1, 2018

The Department of Design and Environmental Analysis, College of Human Ecology, Cornell University invites applicants to the Doctoral Program in Human Behavior and Design. The Ph.D. in Human Behavior and Design at Cornell University is a multidisciplinary program integrating the social sciences and design. Research focuses on environmental settings across a range of scales (from products to buildings to cities) that support safe, healthy and productive behaviors and foster sustainable design and lifestyles. See: http://dea.human.cornell.edu/phd-hbd

Among the many faculty-led labs within DEA are: The Architectural Robotics Lab led by Keith Evan Green, Design & Augmented Intelligence Lab led by Saleh Kalantari, DUET Lab led by So-Yeon Yoon, Meta Design & Technology Lab led by Jay Yoon, and Cornell Wearable & Human Computer Interaction (HCI) Design Lab led by Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao. We invite applicants to apply to the Human Behavior and Design Ph.D. program in DEA at Cornell University (Ithaca, New York) to begin in the Fall 2019 semester.

  • Cornell’s Architectural Robotics Lab strives to address problems and opportunities of an increasingly digital society by developing and testing meticulous, artfully-designed, cyber-physical environment that act, think, and grow with their inhabitants. The novelty of the lab lies in its recognition of the physical, built environment, from furniture to the metropolis, as the next frontier of computing, robotics, and design.
  • Cornell’s Design and Augmented Intelligence Lab promotes a range of advanced technologies, innovative design approaches, and new analytical frameworks that can improve the relationship between people and their created environment. Two of the major research themes at DAIL are the use of embodied intelligent assistants in design processes, and human-robot interactions in fabrication.
  • Cornell’s Meta Design & Technology Lab investigates how products, including services and systems, can be purposefully designed to enrich users’ momentary as well as long-term experiences. The lab’s research agenda revolves around experience-driven design with a focus on emotions in human-product interactions, design-mediated behavior change and psychological well-being, and development of design tools and techniques that support designers in designing for them.
  • Cornell’s DUET Lab is devoted to the empirical study of emerging visualization technologies in conjunction with user experience design in the context of physical and/or virtual environments. Advances in technology have enabled unprecedented improvements in the emerging fields of design visualization and bio-sensing. The DUET lab research focuses on understanding how people feel, think, and act in designed environments using advanced visualization including VR/AR and bio/motion sensing technologies.
  • Cornell Wearable & Human Computer Interaction (HCI) Design Lab Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao’s lab will work at the intersections of HCI, Ubiquitous & Wearable Computing, Interaction Design, Digital Fabrication, Material Innovation, Fashion Design, Anthropology, and Body Art. We will design across scales, exploring culturally-designed body scale, on-skin interfaces in relationship with everyday products and environments.

Research in the labs is highly collaborative, developed in partnership with faculty and students from departments including Information and Computer Science, Mechanical, Electrical, and Computing Engineering, Cognitive Science, Psychology, and Digital Humanities. Preferred applicants are individuals interested in pursuing a Ph.D. focused in design research who have earned prior degree(s) in a design discipline, broadly defined, including architecture, industrial design, product design, interior design, interaction design, user experience, media arts, HCI, HRI, human factors psychology, and/or human-centered design/computing/engineering.

Applications:

Complete applications are due no later than November 1, 2018, without exception. Full funding and living stipend may be offered to qualified Ph.D. applicants. The degree of Ph.D. will be awarded in DEA (Design + Environment Analysis) at Cornell University. (The Architectural Robotics Lab also has a track for Ph.D. students in the field of Mechanical Engineering—for this, apply to Cornell’s Sibley School of MAE.)

One of the eight Ivy League Universities, Cornell consistently ranks among the top-20 research universities globally, benefits from its beautiful natural surroundings in upstate New York, and adjoins the lively, inclusive downtown of Ithaca.

Contacts and Links:

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Openings for research collaboration (Cornell students and researchers)

Cornell students and researchers (e.g., post-doc and visiting researchers) who are interested in collaborating with the members of Meta Design & Technology Lab can participate in a project. The project can be either part of the lab’s current research agenda or be newly formulated and proposed. Either way, we will be delighted to have a conversation to explore opportunities.

Students can receive credits for the independent study of Design and Environmental Analysis, through which they will get to know the lab members and develop design and research skills. The project can be a research project, a design project, or a combination of both. Activities involved in the project may vary depending on the nature of the project and research interest, e.g., collecting, processing, analyzing data and publishing the resulting outcomes.

If interested, please send your curriculum vitae, a description of your research interest, and portfolio (design students only) to Jay Yoon—jy846[at]cornell.edu.

In your description, please indicate provisional schedule (i.e., start and end date). If you have your own project idea, you may include a title of the project and a project brief that outlines its background, objective, methodology and expected outcomes.

We will contact you to organize a meeting once we have received and reviewed the project proposal. Let’s collaborate!