DE LOS CRITERIOS TECNOLÓGICOS A LOS EMOCIONALES EN EL DISEÑO Y DESARROLLO DE PRODUCTOS

Abstract

The development of product design has been closely linked to market forces and its identifiers: supply and demand. Traditionally, technological criteria guided design and product development. As a result, different methodologies and tools were expounded on the grounds of such factors as cost, quality and productivity. However, the user itself was often left out. During the last decades of the 20th century product design shifted from technical and physical criteria to more subjective and emotional criteria. These were the first steps of an era referred to as Emotional Design, in which designers now seek to offer their customers experiences rather than mere products. The article attempts to illustrate the evolution of product/user interaction models from which emotional responses stem and their potential integration in the process of product development. The paper also suggests an alternative model that attempts to unify the product/user interaction and the perception process from which users´ emotional responses originate. Keywords: Design and Product Development, User-centred Design, Emotional Design.