<p> At its simplest, product design can be described as the steps taken to actualize a product that best solves an identified customer problem. Though the process of product design is not set-in-stone, designers remain focused exclusively on the in-person experience between customers and products. Such a perspective has allowed designers to create products with exceptional precision, elevating the overall experience for customers. However, provided that the adoption of online shopping continues <i>en masse</i>, exploring how designers can engage product design and online shopping together is timely. </p><p> This study proffered a new model and design perspective for designers to more effectively create products that are likely to be investigated and purchased online. This model is a rubric for measuring the difference, if any, between how a product is intended by designers to be perceived online versus what is perceived by customers online. Through a descriptive, quantitative study, cross-checked by open-ended qualitative interviews, the results from 50 survey participants and 10 interviewees indicated that the dimensions of the model &ndash; familiarity (incongruent form, as described by Noseworthy and Trudel, 2011), understandability (prototypical isolation, as described by Ramachandran &amp; Hirstein, 1999), and reward (multiple anticipations, as described by Eyal, 2014) &ndash; are key indicators of how customers evaluate and favor products online. The results suggest that by integrating an online perception evaluation step into the prototyping stage of development, the emergent design will be improved; in turn, allowing designers to produce a more competitive product for the online marketplace.</p><p>

Thesis (PhD)-Open University. BLDSC no.DX186512.

<p> This study explored factors thought to affect college students&rsquo; selection and experience of instructional materials by utilizing general procedures of Giorgi&rsquo;s (2012) descriptive phenomenological psychological method and Spradley&rsquo;s (1979) approach to interpretation. Twenty-five undergraduate students were asked to study finite mathematics materials after selecting from four sets of options, with the same content but different visual designs and formats. The entire process was observed, and students were interviewed about their experience. As a result of the analyses, students were found to select instructional materials that met their expectations, and such expectations had been defined or impacted by their various previous experiences. For example, students who believed that instructional materials should effectively deliver content selected materials based on the ease of navigation. Meanwhile, students who believed that instructional materials should attract them and engage them into learning selected materials based on the attractiveness of the materials. Students made decisions regarding which materials met their expectations almost immediately after looking at the materials. In addition, opinions regarding which materials allowed easier navigation or which materials appeared to be attractive were diverse. Furthermore, many students felt that the number of words was different in the materials although every word on the four materials was the same. One student even thought that the tone of the language was different in different materials. Students&rsquo; difference in perception regarding the content of the materials across different visual designs suggests that the affective perception of the visual design was powerful enough to influence students&rsquo; cognitive perception of the content. Overall, students&rsquo; difference in visual perceptions suggests that instructional content should be displayed in multiple different forms to comply with students&rsquo; diverse visual needs.</p><p>

Many new board games are designed each year, ranging from the unplayable to the truly exceptional. For each successful design there are untold numbers of failures; game design is something of an art. Players generally agree on some basic properties that indicate the quality and viability of a game, however these properties have remained subjective and open to interpretation. The aims of this thesis are to determine whether such quality criteria may be precisely defined and automatically measured through self-play in order to estimate the likelihood that a given game will be of interest to human players, and whether this information may be used to direct an automated search for new games of high quality. Combinatorial games provide an excellent test bed for this purpose as they are typically deep yet described by simple welldefined rule sets. To test these ideas, a game description language was devised to express such games and a general game system implemented to play, measure and explore them. Key features of the system include modules for measuring statistical aspects of self-play and synthesising new games through the evolution of existing rule sets. Experiments were conducted to determine whether automated game measurements correlate with rankings of games by human players, and whether such correlations could be used to inform the automated search for new high quality games. The results support both hypotheses and demonstrate the emergence of interesting new rule combinations.

By conducting interviews, prototyping and user tests this thesis aims to explore the question how not-thought-trough interaction design can be improved by implementing thoughtful interaction design. To explore this is a cancer therapy software presented and investigated with the intention to improve the current interface and user experience. The study presents findings based on the methods used that highlights the importance of interaction aesthetics and thoughtful interaction design when designing cancer therapy software. This is followed by the designer implementing improvements based on the feedback from the test subjects. The final results show that interaction aesthetics and thoughtful interaction design is of high importance in designing cancer therapy software.

What makes horror games different from other games is that they bring a special kind of emotion to the player and cause fear in the player. In horror games, players experience great emotional experiences and may experience different emotions such as anxiety, tension, and satisfaction. This paper aims to study and analyze how different players react to and emotionally experience fear, how players derive satisfaction and discomfort from horror games and the reasons that produce these factors. The study uses interviews and biometric data to examine the differences between players familiar with horror games and those who have less experience with this particular type of game. It was concluded that the number of experienced players with horror games also influences the comfort and discomfort, and mood changes players get from the games.

Den här uppsatsen undersöker hur språket kan hjälpa att beskriva den kvalitet hos en produkt som utgör dess identitet, det som ligger inbäddat i formspråk och det en designer gör när hen ger form. För detta har jag tagit avstamp i forskning kring de neurologiska fenomenen synestesi och ideastesi vilka hjälper oss översätta abstrakta koncept sinnen emellan. Mot bakgrund av detta har jag genomfört en undersökning i användande av personliga egenskaper för att beskriva färg samt form och sedan använt datan för att beskriva tre olika designföretags formgivning. Jag har funnit att det här språket inte går att göra objektivt, som en kan använda för att stoppa in data och få ut en färdig produkt, där form a plus färg b är lika med respons c, utan att det krävs en designer som tar subjektiva beslut för att fånga upp de små detaljerna. Samtidigt har jag kunnat se att det verbala språket är en riktigt bra grund för mig som designer att tänka över mina formbeslut och göra mig klarsynt i min process. / This paper investigates how language can help describe the quality within a product that make up it's identity, what's embedded in design aesthetics and what designers do when they give shape to objects. For this I have looked into research in the neurological phenomena synesthesia and ideasthesia which help us translate abstract concepts between our different senses. With this in mind, I have conducted a test in using personal traits to describe colors and shapes, later using the data to to describe three different design companies' design aesthetics. What I've found is that this language can't be objective and therefore cannot be used as a way of putting data in to get a finished product, where shape a plus color b equals response c. All without requiring a designer to make subjective decisions to make sure the tiny details and nuances get picked up. At the same time I've realized that this language is a good foundation for me, as a designer, to stand on and use to reflect on my decisions and give me clarity in my process.

This study explores the conceptual relationship between design aesthetics and Aristotelian rhetoric in the context of information visualisation. Aesthetics and rhetorical theory are traditionally studied as separate discourses, but conceptual links between these fields are identified, specifically in terms of communicative goals and strategies. This study therefore compares selected theories on design aesthetics and Aristotelian rhetoric in information visualisation in order to ascertain whether a combined framework may be feasible. Although information visualisation is traditionally practiced from software engineering disciplines, this study frames the practice within the broader field of information design. The democratisation of the field of information visualisation and the emerging practices that emphasise the aesthetic value of visualisations is explored. In order to understand what is meant by the term ‘aesthetic’, a variety of both classical and contemporary views on aesthetics theory is investigated. Even though the term ‘aesthetic’ is not defined, a broad understanding is created by identifying the main conceptual themes in discourse. A specific focus is placed on understanding aesthetics in a design context, since there are many misconceptions about ‘aesthetics’ in this context. The idea that aesthetics relates to the communication of artifacts is explored, which provides a point of departure in linking aesthetics and rhetorical theory. The communicative nature of information visualisations is thus explored in relation to visual rhetorical theory. Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals, namely logos, pathos and ethos, form the backbone of the visual rhetorical analysis of visualisation artifacts. The aesthetic and rhetorical theories explored throughout the study are compared by applying them to Charles Joseph Minard’s seminal information visualisation of Napoleon’s march to Moscow. This comparative analysis considers the traditional divide between aesthetics and rhetorical theory but identifies sufficient conceptual links between the discourses to suggest that a combined aesthetic-rhetorical framework for information visualisation may indeed be practical. Lastly, the wider implications and potential value of such a combined framework is considered within a broader design context. Copyright / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Visual Arts / unrestricted

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal