Improving the experience of patients in contact isolation by human-centered design: A proof of concept study using patient journey mapping

Background: Patient information provision about isolation measures is often not standardized. Moreover, it is unclear what information patients and informal caregivers need to optimize their knowledge and actual experience of contact isolation. We explored opportunities for improving the experience of patients in contact isolation from a human...

Lessons from Designing for End-of-Life

Generative Research Techniques Crossing Cultures: A Field Study in China

The value of understanding user needs has been recognized by industry, and user research methods have become an accepted part of industrial design practice. These techniques were originally developed and tested for Western markets, with participants from Western cultures. More recently, companies developing goods and services for the Chinese...

Setting-related influences on physical inactivity of older adults in residential care settings: A review

Background: Despite the detrimental effects of physical inactivity for older adults, especially aged residents of residential care settings may spend much time in inactive behavior. This may be partly due to their poorer physical condition; however, there may also be other, setting-related factors that influence the amount of inactivity. The...

The Plastic Bakery: A Case of Material Driven Design

A growing number of scholars argue that understanding how people experience materials in products, i.e. Materials Experience, is essential in<br/>designing meaningful material applications. Material Driven Design (MDD) has been developed as the method to understand these experiential traits<br/>of materials and embed them in the design process....

The effects of observation of walking in a living room environment, on physical, cognitive, and quality of life related outcomes in older adults with dementia: A study protocol of a randomized controlled trial

Background The number of older adults with dementia is expected to increase. Dementia is not only characterized by a decline in cognition, also other functions, for example, physical functioning change. A possible means to decrease the decline in these functions, or even improve them, could be increasing the amount of physical activity. A...

The effects of observation of walking in a living room environment, on physical, cognitive, and quality of life related outcomes in older adults with dementia: A study protocol of a randomized controlled trial

Background: The number of older adults with dementia is expected to increase. Dementia is not only characterized by a decline in cognition, also other functions, for example, physical functioning change. A possible means to decrease the decline in these functions, or even improve them, could be increasing the amount of physical activity. A...

The adventure of a hospitalization: Bringing the reversal theory to the world of design

The design & emotion research domain has produced a rich palette of theoretical and methodological approaches that support designers in their attempts to ‘design for emotion’. In this paper, we focus on situations that involve negative emotions that cannot easily be ‘solved’ through design (for example, sadness caused by the loss of a loved one)...

The adventure of a hospitalization: Bringing the reversal theory to life

The design & emotion research domain has produced a rich palette of theoretical and methodological approaches that support designers in their attempts to ‘design for emotion’. In this paper, we focus on situations that involve negative emotions that cannot easily be ‘solved’ through design (for example, sadness caused by the loss of a loved one)...

Aesthetics of tactual experience: About the body language of objects

From the moment we are born, we are surrounded, touched, supported, protected, attacked and equipped by man-made objects. We are continuously in physical interaction with this man-made world. Yet tactual experience in human-product interaction is a neglected domain in product design education and research. This thesis contributes to a design...