This thesis centres on experience design and automotive design. The aim is to investigate the emotional experience of the driving activity. The research question driving the study is: "How can experience design influence the driving activity?" Experience design proposes to explore emotional aspects of interactions in context. A model of the human-product-environment relationship, using activity theory as its foundation, is presented. The model is used to situate the overall experience of driving. An experiment exploring the overall emotional experience in real driving situations was conducted. Participants were required to drive around a specified route while performing particular tasks with the vehicle interface. A data triangulation approach was employed involving interviews, think-aloud protocols and observations. Findings indicate that context together with the emotional state of the driver before driving impacts the overall emotional experience. Positive emotional states before driving with no interaction challenges in high-traffic contexts generated neutral overall experiences. However, positive emotional states before driving with interaction challenges in high-traffic contexts generated negative overall experiences. Negative emotional states before driving combined with interaction challenges in high-traffic contexts generated positive emotional experiences. It appears that positive emotions associated with overcoming challenging interactions in high-traffic contexts reflect positively on the overall experience. Emotions elicited in low and mediumtraffic contexts did not affect the overall experience. Another finding suggests that extended visual interaction with interface in high-traffic context generates negative emotions. It is proposed that vehicle interfaces should adapt appropriately to their surrounding context to support positive (and avoid negative) emotional experiences. In low and medium-traffic contexts interfaces may encourage interactions. In high-traffic contexts, if the driver is in a positive emotional state before driving interfaces may discourage challenging interactions. If the driver is in a negative emotional state before driving the interface may encourage challenging interactions. In conclusion, this study proposes the application of current and upcoming technologies for future automotive interiors to enhance positive (and reduce negative) emotional experiences within the driving activity.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/265165 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Gomez, Rafael |
| Publisher | Queensland University of Technology |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright Rafael Gomez |
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