Recognising their environmental impact despite ongoing circular-economy practices, Philips seeks ways to extend the lifespan of their products to reduce such loss of value at the end life of their products. This project explores the concept of Emotional Durability as a user-centred approach to sustainable product design, specifically within the context of Philips Personal Care's grooming devices. Emotional Durability refers to the ability of a product to create a long-lasting bond with its owner, fostering a desire to keep and use it for longer.
Grooming devices provide an ideal testing ground for this concept of Emotional Durability due to their context of use. Their highly frequent and recurrent use, the intimate relationship to their owners’ inner self, and their long lifespan make these devices particularly suitable to form a durable emotional connection with their users. The research aims to bridge this gap between long-lasting products and consumer behaviour through interaction and product experience design.
The project employs a participatory design approach, engaging users in the research, ideation, and evaluation stages to inform the development of design interventions aimed at fostering emotional connections between users and their grooming devices. The final intervention, All-about-One, employs engaging, personal, non-transferable, and functional interactions, found to be essential qualities for instilling Emotional Durability.
This thesis offers valuable insights and practical guidelines for the effective implementation of Emotional Durability in grooming devices, underpinned by a robust research-through-design approach.
The research findings hold potential for broader applications of Emotional Durability across other durable product categories, contributing to the growing relevance of Emotional Durability and providing actionable insights for design practitioners, researchers, and the consumer durables industry.

This project aimed to develop a biodegradable material that communicates its sustainability to consumers through its aesthetic attributes and to apply this material to shoe design.

In the current market, most biodegradable shoes do not express their natural origin through their appearance (tactile and visual properties). For instance, leather-like bioplastic material made from fruit waste, used by some shoe brands, mimics conventional leather with embossed texture, providing no indication to consumers that it is sustainable. While this approach of mimicking conventional materials might be effective for societal acceptance due to its familiar look, I strived to find an alternative approach.

Thus, this project starts with a simple question: What if a pair of biodegradable shoes looked "natural"? Would they communicate their sustainability through their appearance? Would they seem too wild?

To explore these questions, I embarked on the journey of developing biodegradable materials from scratch and constructing shoes with them. Through the research process, a Material Experience Vision was formulated, guiding me through the development of the material and the shoe design: I want people to recognise the material to be biodegradable as well as compostable through visual and tactile properties that people commonly associate with "naturalness" while maintaining their perception of quality. Additionally, I also want people to find the material to be interesting or unique to wear as a shoes with the propeties of natualness.

The research concluded with the evaluation of the proof of concept—a final prototype consisting of a pair of biodegradable shoes made from orange peels and mandarins. This evaluation focused on participants' perceptions of quality and naturalness, involving eight participants in the assessment.

Prosthetic limbs are devices that change users’ lives in every aspect. They allow the wearer to live and be independent again. Nevertheless, despite the numerous benefits, they carry cultural stigmas, as well as physical and mental discomfort, along with various daily challenges. While the functionality and physical comfort of these devices can be objectively evaluated using instruments with differing levels of sophistication, assessing psychological well-being is highly subjective and challenging.

It is known that the aesthetic of prosthetic limbs can have a significant impact on the users’ wellbeing. Research demonstrated that an aesthetically appealing prosthesis can improve user confidence and overall quality of life (Össur® systematic Review, 2022). It can promote a positive self-image and a more active involvement in society (Bekrater-Bodman, 2020), reduce the risk of anxiety, depression, and psychological distress and increase the frequency of use of the device (Lee at al., 2022). In this scenario customization emerges as a viable approach empowering prosthetic users to improve their life and the embodiment with their prosthetic limb.

This thesis has been conducted in collaboration with the prosthetic company Össur®. The project revolves around NAVii®, a new protective cover designed for the knee component of transfemoral prosthesis. For the first time, NAVii®’s users will be able to customize their prosthetic limb by choosing between five different colors and three available sizes. Össur® is now looking into the modalities by which these customization options can be presented to the market. The focus is on the main stakeholders: the prosthetic Users and the specialists Certified Prosthetist/Orthotist (CPOs). The project takes a user-centered design approach that aims to a deep understanding of the users, the context and the current system’s dynamics. By applying qualitative research methods such as interviews, focus group and observation the goal is to improve the whole user experience during the selection of the NAVii® cover.

This research highlighted the impact of the different CPOs on the journey of each patient. Even though every user goes through a subjective amputation experience, it is possible to identify common touch points throughout the prosthetic acquisition process. The final design is the result of an iterative process of concepts’ prototyping and testing. The findings obtained from the testing lead to the development of a system of tools that aim to support the CPOs and the users in the selection of the NAVii® protective cover. This new design system, is able to suit diverse user’s needs. The design outcome yielded positive impacts on the user’s psychological empowerment, consequently enhancing the CPO-User relationship.