Contending stigma in product design: Using insights from social psychology as a stepping stone for design strategies

Assistive, protective or medical products that are visibly worn or used in proximity to the human body can have an emotional impact on their users and bystanders. In his design effort it is important for a designer to be mindful of the potential stigma a product might elicit. The identity threat model of Major (2005) is used as a stepping-stone...

Interweaving digitality in the fabric of design

Products that embrace and integrate an invisible, digital world are appearing around us in a rapid pace.This emerging type of products introduces a new dynamic between people, objects and the context oruse. The integration of embedded, pervasive and digital technologies in products imposes severalchallenges for the industrial designer. Designing...

Masked aversion: Walking and staring behavior towards stigmatizing products

An encounter with a person using or wearing a potentially stigmatizing product is an impacting experience that is the result of the artifact itself, the individual experiencing the stigma, the observing bystanders and the cultural context in which the situation is set. Using or wearing a potentially stigmatizing product might stimulate...

Infusing digital creativity in design, the low fidelity way

In (industrial) design projects, digital and non-digital aspects are often seen as two separate design 'tracks'. Due to advances in our social and technological context, the hard boundary between the digital and the non-digital is fading. This is a challenge for the designer since he needs to be creative with digital technology without...