The ID-StudioLab at Delft Technical University

The ID-StudioLab of the TU Delft covers research in four areas: designing for the senses, designing and emotion, inspiration engineering and intelligence in products.

The challenge of the ID-StudioLab is to shape the conditions for a satisfactory product experience.

Traditionally, products are designed for their aesthetic appeal (aesthetics-driven), their usability (ergonomics-driven), and/or for their smart functions and possibilities (technology-driven). Well-designed as these qualities may be, they do not automatically lead to favoured experiences on the part of the user. Taking the experience, of any kind and over time, as a starting point in the design process radically reshapes design research and will ultimately change the face of product design.

One particular focus area is context mapping or user-involved information for designers: more and more, designers need deep insights in the user’s experience: emotion, the situation of product use, and social and cultural influences. Within the field of participatory design, a number of techniques have emerged to explore and ‘map out’ contexts of product use.

(via CPH127)