Emotional and Environmental Design in Product Development

Posted on Mar 3, 2025 in Mechatronics Engineering

Emotional Design

One of the factors influencing consumer decisions to buy a product is its design. Design encompasses space formation, the construction of various products, the creation of residential environments (interiors, buildings, and equipment), and graphic design of logos, symbols, posters, panels, product packaging, labels, office visual style, and brochures. Mass production of uniform items may not appeal to customers who want to stand out; for this reason, it is necessary to modify the appearance of a product, while the working elements can remain the same. The aesthetic appearance of technological equipment, devices, or tools may seem secondary to production processes. However, the workplace environment can motivate employees to work productively and efficiently. It is important that the positioning of workplace equipment creates an impression of integrity. By emphasizing the design and highlighting the purpose of the devices, it is possible to create a design where the external appearance of the equipment reflects its internal function. Workplace planning must consider aesthetic qualities. A workplace area consists of equipment, parts, blanks, tanks for finished parts, control panels, and work and measurement tools. It should be designed so that a worker can perform their job safely and productively. When a completely new unit is designed and there is no direct prototype, a similar design and decoration is analyzed. From similar designs, it is possible to adopt useful elements, parts, modules, or blocks. In designing products for mass production, the individual tastes of the maximum number of people should be considered. However, the design should be based on compositional patterns, which must be the main criteria for evaluation and should be followed during the design process. A designer creating a new product or improving an old one must generate new ideas, or substantially improve and modernize an existing product, giving it a more modern look. This leads to competition in the market, as many companies offer products with similar designs and prices. It is therefore necessary to present a number of new, technically identical models with different external shapes, constantly shortening the presentation time to the user. The rapidly changing external appearance of a product can be achieved using machining equipment or a variety of pressing or molding forms.

Emotional design is associated with a person’s ability to perceive the world based on feelings. There must be an emotional connection between the user and the object. Emotions caused by surrounding objects can include:

  • Joy
  • Sorrow
  • Fear
  • Anger
  • Disappointment
  • Optimism
  • Mercy
  • Love
  • Respect

The classification of emotions has primarily been researched from two fundamental viewpoints. The first is that emotions are discrete and fundamentally different constructs, while the second asserts that emotions can be characterized on a dimensional basis in groupings. Emotional Design is a concept introduced by Donald Norman (2004). Emotions can play a crucial role in the human ability to understand the world and learn new things. Aesthetically pleasing objects appear to the user to be more effective due to their sensual appeal. This is because of the affinity the user feels for an object that appeals to them, leading to the formation of an emotional connection. Donald Norman created the ABC model of attitudes in three levels (dimensions):

  • Visceral level (the automatic, prewired layer): This is pre-consciousness, pre-thought. This is where appearance matters and first impressions are formed. Visceral design is about the initial impact of a product – its appearance, touch, and feel.
  • Behavioral level (the part that contains the brain processes that control everyday behavior): This is about use and experience with a product. Experience itself has many facets: function, performance, and usability. Behavioral design is related to the pleasure and effectiveness of use.
  • Reflective level (the contemplative part of the brain): This level is the most vulnerable to variability through culture, experience, education, and individual differences. It can also override the others. The reflective level extends much longer—through reflection, you remember the past and contemplate the future. Reflective design, therefore, is about long-term relations, about the feelings of satisfaction produced by owning, displaying, and using a product.

Emotional value—now that is a worthy goal of design.

Another emotional design approach was founded by Mitsuo Nagamachi (1989). Kansei (emotional) Engineering aims to develop or improve products and services by translating the customer’s psychological feelings and needs into the product’s design parameters. Nowadays, customers want to use products that are functional at a physical level, usable at a psychological level, and attractive at a subjective, emotional level. Affective engineering is the study of the interactions between the customer and the product at an emotional level. It focuses on the relationships between the physical traits of a product and its affective influence on the user. Kansei’s basic principles include the identification of product properties and the correlation between those properties and the design characteristics. The Kansei Engineering model includes:

  • Choice of Domain (definition of the target group, user type, market niche, and product group)
  • Spanning the Semantic Space (collecting words that describe the domain)
  • Spanning the Space of Properties (collecting products representing the domain, identifying key features, and selecting product properties for evaluation)
  • Synthesis (constructing the links)
  • Model Building and Test of Validity (checking if the prediction model is reliable and realistic)

Environmental Design

Successful environmental design is a synergy between a product and its surroundings, benefiting both. It is the process of addressing surrounding environmental parameters when designing products, buildings, and other objects. Environmental design is often associated with ecodesign, also known as green design, but the two are not the same. Ecodesign is one aspect of environmental design and addresses sustainability concerns, but environmental design is a much broader discipline that involves taking the surrounding environment into account when planning a design.

The environmental design movement first came to light in the 1940s, but environmental design existed long before. Ancient Greeks built houses facing south, which kept them cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter due to the seasonal orientation of the sun. The Greeks understood that the position of the sun varies throughout the year. For a latitude of 40 degrees, in summer, the sun is high in the south, at an angle of 70 degrees at the zenith, while in winter, the sun travels a lower trajectory, with a zenith of 26 degrees. The Romans continued this practice and began putting glass panes in windows to allow light in without allowing heat to escape, which evolved into the creation of greenhouses to cultivate exotic plants from much warmer climates. Large buildings in warm climates are built with stone floors to assist in cooling and often have louvered windows that allow light to penetrate indirectly, keeping the heat outside. In terms of a larger scope, environmental design has implications for the industrial design of products: innovative automobiles, wind-electricity generators, solar-electric equipment, and other kinds of equipment could serve as examples. Currently, the term has expanded to apply to ecological and sustainability issues.

Examples of environmental design:

  1. Renewable energy sources (solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, geothermal energy, and wind-electricity).
  2. Innovative automobiles.
  3. Zero-emission buildings.
  4. Energy-plus buildings.
  5. Rechargeable batteries (some inventors have connected this process with flexible photovoltaic panels, allowing for slow recharging when left in the sun. For example, Knut Karlsen’s Sun Cat batteries circumvent chargers completely by integrating solar cells within the batteries themselves. To make these prototypes, he attached 1.8V flexible photovoltaic cells onto 1.5V NiMH rechargeable batteries and connected them with a conductive silver pen and a few flat wires. The effect is similar to a trickle charger, which slowly charges a battery and can be left attached indefinitely without overcharging).
  6. Outdoor design. Responsible landscape designers will only use plants native to the region to avoid the invasion of foreign species, and desert gardens are likely to be xeriscaped, using cacti in rock and pebble beds to eliminate the need for irrigation.
  7. Roadway noise barriers.

The best way to spread environmental design is to connect it with industrial design. Industrial design is related to applied art and applied science. The goal of industrial design is to improve the aesthetics, ergonomics, functionality, and usability of a product for better marketing, brand development, and sales.

It is critical to the product development process that the industrial design and engineering aspects of a product are considered simultaneously. The problem is how to connect the engineering staff with the design group, because most of them have studied either engineering or design art and have competencies only in their studied field. To solve this problem, it is necessary to create a team for product design. Computer-aided design can be useful in solving engineering and design problems.

Product Manufacturability Parameters

1. Industrial Rationality of Product Design Elements: This refers to the qualities that ensure the best satisfaction of customer needs through an expedient selection of structural materials, parts for assembly and layout, and adaptation to the current technological level of production at the lowest cost. Available resources and capabilities of both the customer and manufacturer must be considered. As technological opportunities change, the rationality of product design for manufacture also changes. Design can be determined by comparing it with the best prototypes or pre-set parameters. Evaluation of design adequacy for production preparation, production, testing, and control parameters is important for successful manufacturing. The accuracy and surface roughness of the parts must be achievable using current technological equipment and personnel. It is necessary to use bases, surface layouts, joints, and fastening solutions for moving parts that allow for simple assembly, adjustment, and measurement, while ensuring the product design is attractive and acceptable to the customer.

2. Unification and Standardization of Design Elements: This involves the rational utilization of standardized and unified product assemblies and parts. Unified products have the same design and features, allowing them to be used without changes in other products. These products, components, and parts are used in the prototype but can later be incorporated into the design of new products without modification. The unification of a product can be determined by the ratio between the unified parts and the total number of parts. Standardized products have properties corresponding to international, national, or company standards. Standards include requirements for design, quality, production, maintenance, repair, and other parameters. The product standardization level can be evaluated by the ratio between the set of standard parts and the total number of parts. Using standardized and unified units and parts makes it easier and cheaper to organize production and shorten design time. However, it’s important to consider that designs can age technically and aesthetically, necessitating constant improvement.

3. Reduction of Product Labor Intensity: This is the useful effect obtained from the ratio between product sales volume and labor cost. This parameter can be estimated separately for all stages of the product life cycle: design, preparation for production, production, maintenance, repair, recovery, and recycling. The cost of labor for each stage is compared with the economic benefit from product sales. Labor intensity can be reduced by selecting a product design that matches the existing technical and organizational conditions for design, production, operation, maintenance, and disposal. The weight, accuracy, joints, technological base, materials, and dimensions of parts and subassemblies should be chosen to minimize labor costs while meeting customer needs for high-quality products.

4. Material Consumption Rate: This parameter describes the amount of material resources needed for one product, considering its design features for manufacture, operation, maintenance, and repair. Material consumption can be determined by material type (e.g., ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals, glass, plastics, rubber) and by the direction of material use (production, operation, maintenance, and repair). A lower material consumption parameter compared to the benefits indicates better manufacturability. Material consumption can be reduced by lowering the weight of structures, using advanced technological processes that minimize waste, choosing materials resistant to deformation, wear, and corrosion, finding technical solutions to increase product durability, decreasing vulnerabilities, and providing for the reuse of parts in other products.

5. Energy Consumption Level: This parameter describes the amount of energy resources needed for one product, considering its structural characteristics for production, operation, maintenance, repair, and disposal (recycling). Energy resources can be categorized by type (electricity, fuel, steam, compressed air) and by their use (production, operation, maintenance, repair, and disposal). A lower energy consumption parameter compared to the benefits indicates better manufacturability. To reduce energy consumption, identify the most energy-intensive components and parts and take measures to reduce consumption by changing materials to less energy-intensive options and using incremental production, operation, maintenance, repair, and disposal methods.

6. Eligibility for Repairs: This refers to the possibility of carrying out repair and restoration operations on the entire product or its individual parts. A technologically repairable product should have features such as the recoverability of components to their nominal dimensions and other parameters, and the possibility of control and disassembly. Repair of a highly technological product also has features characteristic of its operational convenience, such as accessibility to working surfaces, ease of disassembly, substitutability of parts, unification and standardization, and technological simplicity. Ensuring recoverability involves using structures, bases, and materials that allow for repair. Product design adequacy for control, adapting standard measurement and diagnostic tools, using them without special product disassembly, and controlling only the necessary parameters are also important. Common parameters should be monitored visually (e.g., oil level) or through audio signals (e.g., temperature overrun). Suitability for assembly work is achieved by using standard lifting equipment, special devices, and bases to center parts, and performing assembly and lifting operations. Access to working surfaces can be created by incorporating design features that provide ergonomic access to parts for repairs and indicators to be regulated without destroying the product, and the potential to use the right tools and instruments. Disassembly can be ensured by providing design features for splitting the product into separate parts, combining them into units using fastening methods, bases, and joints that do not require excessive effort for dismantling and assembling. Lifting elements can be provided for large, heavy parts. Parts interchangeability is ensured when the design allows for high-quality replacements without additional processing. It is appropriate to use the same components for the same purposes, connected without additional coordination or regulation, with appropriate dimensions and tolerances. Unification and standardization also significantly improve parts substitutability and reduce labor intensity. Technological simplicity is achieved by providing a clear hierarchy of repair operations and minimal complexity.

7. Operating Convenience: This is defined as the product design characteristics suitable for efficient transportation, storage, preparation for use, use, and maintenance operations. Costs must be minimized while meeting customer needs. Efficiency can be measured by the cost of maintenance operations and the level of user satisfaction. Costs typically include maintenance during operating time, parts replacement, and additional tools. Product design must be adapted to various operating transactions and have characteristics such as measures for transportation, storage, and use, serviceability, accessibility to working surfaces, dismountability of structures, parts interchangeability, and technological simplicity.

8. Simplicity of Utilization: This is a design feature that allows the product to be dismantled into parts, selected for recycling or reuse in other products, treated physically or chemically, burned, or deposited. The product should minimize the use of hazardous materials, and protective measures must be provided. It is appropriate to use only non-hazardous, easily recyclable materials like plastics, metals, and glass. Lubricants, fuels, and other products used in the product must be protected against environmental contamination through mechanical seals, washers, insulation materials, and other constructional solutions. The packaging should have characteristics for dismantling, folding, reducing occupied area, collection in different containers, and recycling.

Design for workability (manufacturability) requires the joint efforts of designers, technologists, standardization, and economic analysis specialists. Manufacturability must be aligned with the technological department representative. Design solutions can be evaluated for manufacturability using a comparative qualitative approach, such as expert evaluation of important parameters compared to an established standard. Assessment involves determining what is better or worse. If a standard cannot be chosen, important criteria for evaluation must be selected. These criteria should meet requirements for product quality, cost of design, manufacturing, production, maintenance, repair, and recovery, considering existing production facilities and staff. For a more accurate assessment, quantitative methods can be used. This involves collecting data on specific parameters expressed numerically and comparing them with a standard. This method is labor-intensive and is best suited for designs that will be in series and mass production.

Use of CAD/CAM/CAE in Innovative Product Design

Product Data Management (PDM) is a business function often associated with Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and focuses on data management and presentation. Software and other tools are used to monitor and control data related to a specific product. Observed data typically includes product specifications, production and development information, and the types of materials needed. Data management enables the company to track the various costs associated with product development and production. Information (Computer-Aided Design (CAD) models, drawings, and related documents) is stored and processed.

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is a process designed to manage the entire product life cycle, from inception to engineering design and manufacturing, to service and disposal. PLM integrates people, data, processes, and business systems, establishing information-based product development.

Computer-Aided Design (CAD) is the use of computer-aided design systems in the design or design documentation preparation process. Using software, electronic files can be transferred to printed form or used in industrial processes. This process is based on using two-dimensional or three-dimensional spaces to depict surfaces, objects, curves, numbers, text, etc.

Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) is the application of computer software for processing workpieces on machines, controlling tools, other production processes, and planning, management, transportation, and storage operations.

Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) is the use of computers and software for engineering objectives. It includes computerized design, production, analysis, planning, and integration of computers in production and material requirements planning.

Examples of CAD Software

The most widespread CAD software in Lithuania includes:

  1. AutoCAD: Commercial software for 2D and 3D automated design (CAD). Developed and marketed by Autodesk, Inc., AutoCAD was first released in 1982. It is used in various industries by architects, project managers, engineers, designers, and other professionals. AutoCAD is the most widely used CAD program in many countries.
  2. SOLIDWORKS: Parametric modeling CAD software for Euclidean space, running on the Microsoft Windows environment. Since 1997, it has been produced by Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. SOLIDWORKS is currently used by over 2 million engineers and designers in over 165,000 companies worldwide.
  3. PTC Creo (formerly Pro/ENGINEER): Parametric, integrated 3D CAD/CAM/CAE software developed by Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC). It was the first indication-based, associative parametric modeling software on the market. The program runs on the Microsoft Windows platform and is designed for mechanical engineers. It enables modeling, assembly modeling, drafting drawings, finite element analysis, direct and parametric modeling, suitable for separated surfaces, and ensuring the maintenance and functionality of numerical control for machining tools.
  4. Autodesk Inventor: Developed by US software company Autodesk, this is 3D mechanical CAD software designed to create 3D digital prototypes used in design, product visualization, and modeling. Currently, automation and robotization are widely adapted in mechanical machining to replace manual operation with mechanisms. Computerized production is effective for automating production and control.

Innovative Product Modeling (Rapid Prototyping Fundamentals)

  1. A model or component is formed using a computer-aided design and computerized manufacturing (CAD-CAM) system. The model representing the physical part of the product must be presented as a closed set of surfaces that uniquely defines a closed volume. This means that the data must describe the product’s interior, exterior, and boundary surface. This requirement is no longer necessary if the modeling approach is based on solid modeling. For example, using SOLIDWORKS software, it is possible to create a solid model that automatically includes a closed volume. This ensures that all horizontal cross-sections, necessary for rapid prototyping, will be closed curves for solid model building.
  2. The solid or surface model must be converted into STL (stereolithography) file format, derived from the 3D system. The STL file format is similar to a model surface made of polygons. Contoured surfaces are composed of many polygons, meaning that STL files for curved parts can be very large. However, some rapid prototyping systems also accept data in the Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (IGES) format.
  3. The computer program analyzes the STL file defining the product model and then “cuts” the model into sections. Sections are systematically reproduced using either liquid or solidification of the powder, and then combining the layers to form a 3D model. Another possibility is that thin cross-sections of laminate can be glued together to form a 3D model.

Rapid prototyping systems can be easily described as:

  1. Liquid-based systems: The starting material is in liquid form. During the process, commonly known as hardening, the liquid is transformed into a solid state. One widely used method is laser beam application, used in many systems. Ultraviolet light (laser) is used to form the object’s geometry in layers. It is also possible to quickly freeze the liquid associated with water droplets when creating a prototype.
  2. Solid-based systems: Except for powder, solid-based systems cover all solid-state materials. The solid form may be wire, rolls, laminated materials (laminates), or pellets. Melting and solidification or fusion methods are widely used. Cutting and pasting is the basis of the laminate method.
  3. Powder-based systems: Powder is a solid state, but it has a grain shape and is outside the solid-based framework. Powder-based systems use consolidation/bonding methods. A laser or glue can be used for binding or merging.

Innovative Product Modeling (Rapid Prototyping Applications)

Rapid prototyping methods are applied in:

  1. 3D printer replication: Printers producing their own parts could lead to a breakthrough, especially if they can print circuit boards, electronic components, and metal parts.
  2. Creation of high-end models: Turbines, machinery, and auto parts production.
  3. Food industry: Production of foods and works of art using granular printing systems (using heated air and granulated sugar) or through nozzles extruding material (dough, chocolate, etc.).
  4. Design visualization: Creation of prototypes and manufacturing of molds for casting.
  5. Limited edition production: Jewelry, works of art, or their restoration.
  6. Industrial production: Tools and equipment.
  7. Entertainment industry: Development of film decorations, costumes, and props.
  8. Personalized miniatures: Printing miniatures of people with different colors or face shapes.
  9. Household items: 3D printing of mobile phone cases, watch parts, furniture, ornaments, and other items.
  10. Experimental fashion: Printing of experimental clothes and shoes.
  11. Chemical industry: Development of chemical compounds and chemicals.
  12. Environmental protection and animal care: Manufacturing of dentures, creature habitats, restoring coral reefs, and similar activities.
  13. Science: 3D printing technologies are used for fossil restoration in paleontology, restoration of priceless antique and historical artifacts in archaeology, restoration of bones and body parts in forensic pathology, and restoration of damaged evidence in crime scene investigations.
  14. 3D scanning: Used to replicate items without injection molding machines, which are often more costly, complicated, or too invasive for manufacturing extremely expensive and delicate cultural objects where direct contact with modeling material could damage the original surface.
  15. 3D-printed buildings: Allows for faster construction at lower costs, especially in challenging social and natural conditions.
  16. Medicine: Bioprinters printing 3D human organs from biological tissue that is not rejected by the human body.
  17. Space industry: Pilot technologies for low-gravity conditions where it is possible to print tools, appliances, buildings, or even food. 3D printing may also be used in missile parts production.

There have been attempts to create and distribute plastic weapons, but state authorities have deemed such activity criminal and it is prosecuted. Several problems arise concerning intellectual property protection, as there are patented inventions intended for 3D printing machines, technologies, and components. Illegal production, scanning, and reproduction without permission from intellectual property owners are also prosecuted. An industrial plant using rapid prototyping technologies gains innovative potential and a competitive advantage, allowing it to better position itself in the market.