Abstract
Design communities have recently witnessed a growing interest in the role of emotions. This interest has produced, among other things, a series of emotion-related events and publications which have brought to the foreground a considerable amount of relevant projects. This paper looks with a critical eye at this dynamically developing domain, questions its originality, discusses the conditions of its emergence and comments on its substance. As historical aspects of design suggest, emotion in design is as old an approach as industrial design itself. The renewed preoccupation with emotion has been favoured by the dominance of pleasure-oriented branding and marketing which has characterized consumer societies in the last part of the 20th century. This has resulted in a rather superficial treatment of human emotion, which leaves large areas of it outside the remit of design. I argue that, as we are gradually moving towards communities based on diversity, collaboration, and co-creativity, it would be worthwhile to reconsider the current emphasis on emotion in design. If “design and emotion” is to play a positive role for society in the near future, it should perhaps shift from the apotheosis of personal hedonism towards the exploration of socially relevant, culturally specific, as well as shared aspects of human emotions.
Keywords
design and emotion, design history, critical thinking
Citation
Yagou, A. (2006) Critical reflections on design and emotion, in Friedman, K., Love, T., Côrte-Real, E. and Rust, C. (eds.), Wonderground - DRS International Conference 2006, 1-4 November, Lisbon, Portugal. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2006/researchpapers/77
Critical reflections on design and emotion
Design communities have recently witnessed a growing interest in the role of emotions. This interest has produced, among other things, a series of emotion-related events and publications which have brought to the foreground a considerable amount of relevant projects. This paper looks with a critical eye at this dynamically developing domain, questions its originality, discusses the conditions of its emergence and comments on its substance. As historical aspects of design suggest, emotion in design is as old an approach as industrial design itself. The renewed preoccupation with emotion has been favoured by the dominance of pleasure-oriented branding and marketing which has characterized consumer societies in the last part of the 20th century. This has resulted in a rather superficial treatment of human emotion, which leaves large areas of it outside the remit of design. I argue that, as we are gradually moving towards communities based on diversity, collaboration, and co-creativity, it would be worthwhile to reconsider the current emphasis on emotion in design. If “design and emotion” is to play a positive role for society in the near future, it should perhaps shift from the apotheosis of personal hedonism towards the exploration of socially relevant, culturally specific, as well as shared aspects of human emotions.