Exploring Pleasure-Driven Design Through Internet of Things (IoT) Transformations
The Internet of Things (IoT) has transformed numerous analogue products into IoT products with embedded sensors, advanced features and novel experiences. As these connected objects become ubiquitous, designers have shifted from a tool-oriented to an experience-oriented approach. However, the focus on maximising living efficiency and profit growth has often obscured the importance of pleasurability and experimentation in designing IoT products. Recognising the historical and psychological significance of pleasure in human experiences, “pleasure-driven design” is proposed as an overarching concept for designing interactive product experiences that prioritise pleasure. While several general pleasure-driven design methods exist, they have not adequately addressed the distinctions between analogue and IoT products in terms of pleasurability. Additionally, concerns over privacy and automated decision-making in IoT objects pose challenges to designing pleasurable experiences. Therefore, this research explores new possibilities for pleasure-driven design by leveraging IoT transformations.
This work adopts a research-through-design approach. The exploratory practices identify differences between an IoT product and its analogue form in terms of pleasurable experiences and uncover deficiencies in current frameworks. A novel framework is developed to guide designers in delivering pleasurable experiences by utilising IoT transformations as materials and to enable design researchers to explore pleasure-driven design in this context. The framework is initially tested with designers and then with human-computer interaction (HCI) researchers through material speculation. Based on the new framework, the CloudPlanter – a technology probe and research product – is developed and applied in a co-speculation experiment to explore the future relationship between humans and networked objects.
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More about Zidong (Jerry)
Biography
Zidong (Jerry) Lin is a PhD candidate in the School of Design at the Royal College of Art. He has a BA (Hons) in Product Design (University of Lincoln) and an MFA in Design Informatics (University of Edinburgh). Under the supervision of Dr Bjorn Sommer and Professor Ashley Hall, his current research focuses on pleasure-driven design through IoT transformations.
As a researcher and an interaction designer, Zidong (Jerry) Lin’s design practices explore the human-nonhuman relationship by socio-technical narratives and experimental design methods. His previous works are related, but not limited to object-oriented ontologies, speculative design, design with data, design for Human-computer Interactions (HCI), as well as novelty design.
Degrees
MFA Design Informatics, University of Edinburgh, 2019
BA Product Design, University of Lincoln, 2017
Experience
Research Assistant, Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Royal College of Art, Nov 2019
Research Assistant, Design Informatics, The University of Edinburgh, Jun - Aug, 2019
Exhibitions
(2019) Data Play: Festival 2019. Design Informatics Pavilion. Edinburgh, UK.
(2019) MFA Design Informatics Degree Show. University of Edinburgh. Edinburgh, UK.
(2017) New Designers. Business Design Centre. London, UK.
(2017) BA Product Design Graduate Show. University of Lincoln. Lincoln, UK.
Publications
Lin, Z., Ahmed-Kristensen, S., Hall, A., and Sommer, B. (2023) Using Pleasurability to Compare Wristwatches and IoT Smartwatches: Providing Novel Insights into UX Design. Proceedings of the Design Society. 3, pp. 3761–3770. https://doi.org/10.1017/pds.2023.377
Lin, Z., Bohra, S., Kayganaci, E., Sayuti, A., Zheng, C.Y., Hall, A., Anderson, P., and Sommer, B., Towards an immersive virtual studio for design engineering. Electronic Imaging, 2023, pp 226-1 - 226-7, https://doi.org/10.2352/EI.2023.35.2.SDA-226
Sayuti, N.A., Lin, Z., and Sommer, B.(2023) From Bio-inspired Design to Microbiology-inspired Design: a Conceptual Model-based Case Study on biological Materials informed by Emotions. In: De Sainz Molestina, D., Galluzzo, L., Rizzo, F., Spallazzo, D. (eds.), IASDR 2023: Life-Changing Design, 9-13 October, Milan, Italy. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.315
Lin, Z., Hall, A., and Sommer, B. (2022) Designing experiences for IoT products: A case study testing existing UX frameworks. In: Lockton, D., Lenzi, S., Hekkert, P., Oak, A., Sádaba, J., Lloyd, P. (eds.), DRS2022: Bilbao, 25 June - 3 July, Bilbao, Spain. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2022.593
Sommer, B., Sayuti, A., Lin, Z., Bohra, S., Kayganaci, E., Hu, J., Zheng, C.Y., Lee, C.H., O'Donoghue, S., Hall, A., and Anderson, P. (2022) Spatialized video communication platforms: Applications in design education and conferencing. In: Lockton, D., Lenzi, S., Hekkert, P., Oak, A., Sádaba, J., Lloyd, P. (eds.), DRS2022: Bilbao, 25 June - 3 July, Bilbao, Spain. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2022.735
Sommer, B., Sayuti, A., Lee, C.H., Lin, Z., Hu, J., Hall, A. (2022). Immersive Exploration of Cell Localization Scenarios Using VR, Spatialized Video Communication, and Integrative Bioinformatics. In: Chen, M., Hofestädt, R. (eds) Integrative Bioinformatics. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6795-4_14
Lin Z., Sommer B. and Ahmed-Kristensen S. (2021). IoT Product Pleasurability - Investigating the Pleasurable User Experiences Between Conventional Products and IoT Products Through Watches. In: Brooks A., Brooks E.I. and Jonathan D. (eds) Interactivity and Game Creation. ArtsIT 2020. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 367. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73426-8_24
Conferences
"Using Pleasurability to Compare Wristwatches and IoT Smartwatches: Providing Novel Insights into UX Design', ICED23: The 24th International Conference on Engineering Design, University of Bordeaux, France, 2023
'Designing Experiences for IoT Products: A Case Study Testing Existing UX Frameworks', DRS2022, University of the Basque Country. Bilbao, Spain, 2022
'Investigating the Pleasurable User Experiences Between Conventional Products and IoT Products Through Watches', 9th EAI International Conference: ArtsIT, Interactivity & Game Creation, Aalborg, Denmark, 2020