Abstract
At the early design stage, users’ verbalized thoughts lack in-depth analysis due to technological and cost constraints, hindering designers' creative future design. This study presents the results of a co-creation workshop with eight designers. Taking autonomous eVTOL flight as an example, this study developed the VR eVTOL cabin—an immersive experiential space where participants experienced story scenarios spanning boarding, flight, and landing. Participants’ verbalized thoughts about safety are collected through the think-aloud method. Subsequently, this study presents the reflective inference card to help participants comprehensively analyze the triggers behind these thoughts, their mental mechanisms, and propose design strategies for enhancing perceived safety. The results show that verbalized thoughts, as raw experiential knowledge, can be transformed into static and dynamic experiential knowledge. We hope that this method can help designers achieve multi-dimensional creativity at the early stage of design.
Keywords
eVTOL; perceived safety; experience as knowledge;co-creation
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1529
Citation
Luo, P., Tan, Z., and Chen, Z. (2026) Feeling as Raw Knowledge: A Method for Designing Future Experience, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1529
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Feeling as Raw Knowledge: A Method for Designing Future Experience
At the early design stage, users’ verbalized thoughts lack in-depth analysis due to technological and cost constraints, hindering designers' creative future design. This study presents the results of a co-creation workshop with eight designers. Taking autonomous eVTOL flight as an example, this study developed the VR eVTOL cabin—an immersive experiential space where participants experienced story scenarios spanning boarding, flight, and landing. Participants’ verbalized thoughts about safety are collected through the think-aloud method. Subsequently, this study presents the reflective inference card to help participants comprehensively analyze the triggers behind these thoughts, their mental mechanisms, and propose design strategies for enhancing perceived safety. The results show that verbalized thoughts, as raw experiential knowledge, can be transformed into static and dynamic experiential knowledge. We hope that this method can help designers achieve multi-dimensional creativity at the early stage of design.