By Dr. Janneke Blijlevens – StudioLab member

When people encounter a (new) product design, they evaluate this product design given the previous experience we have with product designs. Hence, people’s previous exposure to product designs influence how they interpret and how they value product designs that they encounter. People have a knowledge base on how the world around them works, looks and how they behave in that world. This knowledge base is important to correctly respond to certain situations and stimuli that people encounter on a daily basis. In order to correctly respond to stimuli people need to have a stable knowledge system that helps them in correctly responding: people have a need to protect this knowledge system. However, the world around us is ever changing. Hence, people have to learn and explore to be able to behave correctly: people have a need to expand the knowledge system. These two inherent needs influence people’s aesthetic appraisal of product designs. For example, people like product designs to deviate from the prototype that people have in their mind of how a certain product within a product category looks (most washing machines are angular and white), because it adheres to the need to expand the knowledge system. On the other hand, people do not like a product design to deviate too much, because this forms a risk to the knowledge system that they already have. Hence, people like product designs that deviate, but are still recognizable. We believe that these needs also influence aesthetic appraisal of product designs that provide certain social opportunities to us. My current research focuses on how product designs that provide us with the opportunity to feel connected to people or to feel unique influences aesthetic appraisal of product designs.

This LabTalk will be held in StudioSay, March 7th, at 16:00.

By Nynke Tromp – StudioLab member

From various perspectives (ranging from behavioral economics to persuasive technology) researchers have demonstrated how human behaviour is being influenced by the physical and social environment. Often without being aware of it, the actions people perform are obstructed, guided or steered by the products they use and the environment they are in.

Given this, could we demonstrate that design interventions are more effective in promoting prosocial behaviour than regular textual/symbolic interventions are?

In this Labtalk I invite you to actively and critically think with me about the set-up of an experiment to test this hypothesis. In her graduation project, Lysanne van de Voort is designing two products that are intended to discourage littering in the canteen. In a quasi-experimental set-up, Lysanne will test whether these designs are more effective in promoting prosocial behavior than signs are.

This LabTalk will be held in StudioSay, February 29th, at 16:00.

By Dr. Elif Özcan Vieira – StudioLab member

A product is a multi-sensorial object which can be experienced through our senses. When designing sounds for products, sound is often considered in isolation from its source (i.e., product). However, consistent product experience requires congruity between product properties. In the LabTalk, I will discuss how the auditory and visual product properties sometimes enhance a product experience and sometimes hinder a product experience. In detail, I will present three experimental studies based on audio-visual interactions in product experience. In the first study, the memory for product sounds and how visual and verbal labels influence the auditory memory is investigated. In the second study, the influence of context on product sound identification is investigated. In the final study, the influence of sound on pleasantness judgments of a product is investigated. The results will be discussed within a perceptual, cognitive and emotional framework for multi-sensory product experience.

This LabTalk will be held in StudioSay, February 15th, at 16:00.

By Reinier Jansen – StudioLab member

Visual, auditory, and tactile textures provide information about events and objects in our environment. Designers are considering more and more non-visual product experiences. Therefore, it is interesting to comprehend how sensory modalities can influence each other. In this labtalk, I will present an exploratory study on the use of an interactive sound synthesizer to describe visual textures. The study was recently presented at the Electronic Imaging conference in San Francisco, of which I will also give some highlights.

This LabTalk will be held in StudioSay, February 8th, at 16:00.

By Dr. Walter Aprile – StudioLab member

C and microcontrollers have been around for decades. There are many C programming toolkits that work just fine with engineers, but there is exactly ONE that designers want to use: Arduino.
In this labtalk will discuss programming toolkits for designers from the point of view of education and design. I have built a framework of traits to aid in comparing toolkits, pushing existing ones in a designerly direction and make sense of what can be a confusing landscape. I will present the framework for the first time and demonstrate a small tool I have written.

This LabTalk will be held in StudioSay, February 8th, at 16:00.

By Cecile Cuijpers – StudioLab member

Since December 2011 I am working as a PhD research at the University of Delft. During my research I will explore the possibilities of 3D navigation aids for Intervention Radiologists. The navigation aids should help the physician to navigate through the liver of a patient and minimize the amount of navigation difficulties. In my first PhD year, I tried to assess the design needs and understand how I could help the physician. During the LabTalk, I will discuss the methods and outcomes of my first year, and present my plans for the coming years.

This LabTalk will be held in StudioSay, December 14th, at 16:00.

By Ruben Post – StudioLab member

The use of neuroscience to explore new possibilities in field such as cognitive and consumer psychology, economy and sociology has in recent decades resulted in interesting collaborations. In this talk I will explain some of the basic concepts of the brain, and how neuroscience research has given insights in how our brain perceives the world. By giving some examples of experiments performed in fields closely related to design, I would like to engage in an active discussion of how the field of neuroscience might help create better design principles.

This LabTalk will be held in StudioSay, December 7th, at 16:00.

By Ellis Bartholomeus – StudioLab member

Before starting at the TU delft 6 months ago, Ellis had been involved in developing a social puzzel community for eldery, called: “Vitamine P, a Puzzle a day keeps the doctor away”
The development involved a business model, user interface design, user testing, motivation, concept development, software development, project processes, dynamic difficulty management, persona, aesthetic design and… wrong decisions and errors to learn from. I hope te tell and show a lot about it, and am very eager to answer question about this great and divers experience.

This LabTalk will be held in StudioSay, November 30th, at 16:00.

By Dr. Marco Rozendaal – StudioLab member

For this LabTalk I would like to share with you our experiences of setting-up and conducting our experiment at NEMO Science Live.The focus of the research is to inform our preliminary design framework for playful persuasion that involves psychological needs and bodily interaction. Topics of the talk include: Our research questions regarding UX, the development of the technology and our approach on data analysis.

This LabTalk will be held in StudioSay, November 23rd, at 16:00.

By Stella, Lenneke, Brian, and Ruben – StudioLab members

These 4 presenters will share with us their favourite papers of the IASDR conference. Each of them will shortly present a paper, and we will have short discussions on each of them.

This LabTalk will be held in StudioSay, November 9th, at 16:00.