Emotional Universal Design – Beyond Usability of Products

Universal design aims to promote the quality of human life regardless of the physical, cognitive, educational, cultural, financial, gender and age-based differences. It works to improve the usability and accessibility of products and systems. However, universal design products are often misunderstood as being ugly, stigmatizing and costly. If a product answers aged users' needs and demands, it is assumed to not attract younger users' attention. Similarly, if a product is designed for females, it does not seem to appeal to male users in most cases. Also, a product aimed at blind users does not convince people with normal vision. Apparently, these false conceptions construct a huge obstacle for the successful development of universal design products and methods. While there are many ways to apply universal design methods to the industrial design cycle of products, an emotional design approach can improve such products’ acceptability. It not only enhances the aesthetics of the product, but helps in making the product more intuitive by creating strong motivation to use the product. It is also found that the emotional design can reduce the rate of misuse by creating a stronger connection between the user and the product. This paper discusses how emotional design can support universal design. An example design process by students is shown to demonstrate how emotional design can improve the universality of a product