Abstract
Most of the scholar works about Sustainable Design treat of the objective side of product sustainability, whereas its subjective side has not been observed adequately. A sustainable product should be able to last in its expected lifetime not only objectively but subjectively. The main focus of design researches concerning the subjective issues of sustainability is on ‘lifetime optimization of products’. Focusing on the subjective side of product sustainability, here the concept of ‘Product Subjective Sustainability’ is proposed to specifically indicate ‘the emotional, affective and/or aesthetical capability of a product for satisfyingly and pleasantly lasting during its expected long/short lifetime’. However, such a concept may generally encompass all possible subjective effects of the product on sustainability values. This research basically aims to clarify ‘Product Subjective Sustainability’ experientially. As Kansei embraces much wider subjective issues of product than emotion, this study is based on Kansei Engineering approach. Here, a comparative and analytical study is done on the evolution of users’ Kansei toward their personal product during its entire lifecycle in two different contexts, Iran and Japan. The product lifecycle from user perspective is divided into three stages including purchasing or choosing, keeping or using and replacing or throwing away the product. The assigned personal product for this comparative analysis is mobile phone which is an approximately short-lived product. Thus, two groups of Iranian and Japanese subjects are investigated about their senses, feelings and/or emotions (ie Kansei) regarding their mobile phone during each of its lifecycle stages. After extracting the patterns of evolution of their Kansei and thence drawing the trends of subjective sustainability of mobile phone in Iran and Japan, the resulted patterns and trends would be compared.
Keywords
Product Subjective Sustainability, Psychological Lifetime, Kansei Evolution, Attachment, Mobile Phone, Context
Citation
Zafarmand, S., Tauchi, T., Terauchi, F., Kubo, M., and Aoki, H. (2010) Approaching Product Subjective Sustainability: Comparative Study on Evolution of Users’ Kansei during Lifetime of their Mobile Phones between Iran and Japan, in Durling, D., Bousbaci, R., Chen, L, Gauthier, P., Poldma, T., Roworth-Stokes, S. and Stolterman, E (eds.), Design and Complexity - DRS International Conference 2010, 7-9 July, Montreal, Canada. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2010/researchpapers/137
Approaching Product Subjective Sustainability: Comparative Study on Evolution of Users’ Kansei during Lifetime of their Mobile Phones between Iran and Japan
Most of the scholar works about Sustainable Design treat of the objective side of product sustainability, whereas its subjective side has not been observed adequately. A sustainable product should be able to last in its expected lifetime not only objectively but subjectively. The main focus of design researches concerning the subjective issues of sustainability is on ‘lifetime optimization of products’. Focusing on the subjective side of product sustainability, here the concept of ‘Product Subjective Sustainability’ is proposed to specifically indicate ‘the emotional, affective and/or aesthetical capability of a product for satisfyingly and pleasantly lasting during its expected long/short lifetime’. However, such a concept may generally encompass all possible subjective effects of the product on sustainability values. This research basically aims to clarify ‘Product Subjective Sustainability’ experientially. As Kansei embraces much wider subjective issues of product than emotion, this study is based on Kansei Engineering approach. Here, a comparative and analytical study is done on the evolution of users’ Kansei toward their personal product during its entire lifecycle in two different contexts, Iran and Japan. The product lifecycle from user perspective is divided into three stages including purchasing or choosing, keeping or using and replacing or throwing away the product. The assigned personal product for this comparative analysis is mobile phone which is an approximately short-lived product. Thus, two groups of Iranian and Japanese subjects are investigated about their senses, feelings and/or emotions (ie Kansei) regarding their mobile phone during each of its lifecycle stages. After extracting the patterns of evolution of their Kansei and thence drawing the trends of subjective sustainability of mobile phone in Iran and Japan, the resulted patterns and trends would be compared.