Cosmetic obsolescence? User perceptions of new and artificially aged materials

This paper presents the findings of a user study which explored tactile and aesthetic responses to new and artificially aged mobile phone cases made from bamboo, walnut, cork, leather, brushed titanium, plastic and rubber. The paper outlines test methods for accelerated ageing of the external enclosures of consumer electronics based on the types of wear experienced in use, and the use of semantic differential scales (SDS) to probe user attitudes to these materials. The results indicate that preferences for the materials tested were extremely subjective, and even a single participant can have conflicting requirements for the characteristics of the materials (for example, sleek and shiny yet easy to grip). Whilst in general participants preferred the new materials and saw the ageing process as negative, there were examples where the aged samples either scored more highly due to durability (titanium) or received positive comments about the aesthetic changes caused by severe ageing (bamboo and leather). This study captured the participants' immediate, visceral response to the materials, which may be very different to their feelings towards materials and objects that they have owned and interacted with for a period of time.

[1]  Marco Aurisicchio,et al.  Materials, use and contaminated interaction , 2016 .

[2]  Yoshifumi Miyazaki,et al.  Effects of contact with wood on blood pressure and subjective evaluation , 2008, Journal of Wood Science.

[3]  Thomas E. Lasswell,et al.  The Waste Makers. , 1960 .

[4]  Owain Pedgley,et al.  Sample libraries to expedite materials experience for design: A survey of global provision , 2016 .

[5]  R. Costanza.  Limits to growth: The 30-year update , 2006 .

[6]  H. Freud.  Emotional Design Why We Love Or Hate Everyday Things , 2016 .

[7]  Rob Thompson,et al.  The Next Generation of Materials and Design , 2014 .

[8]  Bella Martin,et al.  Universal Methods of Design: 100 Ways to Research Complex Problems, Develop Innovative Ideas, and Design Effective Solutions , 2012 .

[9]  Mikael Wiberg,et al.  Interaction, new materials & computing – Beyond the disappearing computer, towards material interactions , 2016 .

[10]  Peter Y. Chen,et al.  Correlation: Parametric and Nonparametric Measures , 2002 .

[11]  David Pye,et al.  The Nature and Art of Workmanship , 1968 .

[12]  Brian Burns.  Re-evaluating Obsolescence and Planning for It , 2016 .

[13]  Brian Henson,et al.  Exploring Relationships between Touch Perception and Surface Physical Properties , 2009 .

[14]  Eli Blevis,et al.  Understanding why we preserve some things and discard others in the context of interaction design , 2009, CHI.

[15]  Hengfeng Zuo,et al.  Tactile Aesthetics of Materials and Design , 2014 .

[16]  Jonathan Chapman,et al.  Meaningful Stuff: Towards longer lasting products , 2014 .

[17]  Geke D.S. Ludden,et al.  Sensory incongruity and surprise in product design , 2008 .

[18]  Peter Domone,et al.  Construction materials : their nature and behaviour , 2001 .

[19]  Wendy Bryce Wilhelm.  Encouraging Sustainable Consumption through Product Lifetime Extension: The Case of Mobile Phones , 2012 .

[20]  Debra Lilley,et al.  Cosmetic wear and affective responses in digital products: towards an understanding of what types of cosmetic wear cause what types of attitudinal responses from smartphone users , 2015 .

[21]  Mark Jones,et al.  Sensory interaction with materials , 2001 .

[22]  C. Osgood,et al.  The Measurement of Meaning , 1958 .

[23]  David Harrison,et al.  A review of product lifetime optimization as an environmental tool , 2001 .

[24]  M. Braungart,et al.  Cradle-to-cradle design: creating healthy emissions - a strategy for eco-effective product and system design , 2007 .

[25]  Tom H. Fisher,et al.  What We Touch, Touches Us: Materials, Affects, and Affordances , 2004, Design Issues.

[26]  Andrew Ortony,et al.  Affect and Proto-Affect in Effective Functioning , 2005, Who Needs Emotions?.

[27]  T. Cooper.  Beyond recycling: the longer life option , 1994 .

[28]  Debra Lilley,et al.  Aging gracefully to increase product longevity , 2015 .

[29]  Shang H. Hsu,et al.  Perceptual factors underlying user preferences toward product form of mobile phones , 2001 .

[30]  H. Schifferstein,et al.  Touching Materials Visually: About the Dominance of Vision in Building Material Assessment , 2013 .

[31]  M. Miodownik,et al.  The use of physical property data to predict the touch perception of materials , 2012 .

[32]  Kieren Mayers,et al.  An investigation of the implications and effectiveness of producer responsibility for the disposal of WEEE , 2001 .

[33]  V. Braun,et al.  Using thematic analysis in psychology , 2006 .

[34]  Giles Slade,et al.  Made to Break: Technology and Obsolescence in America , 2007 .

[35]  Elvin Karana,et al.  A tool for meaning driven materials selection , 2010 .

[36]  Shayne Beaver,et al.  Consumers’ concepts of materials , 2010 .

[37]  Elvin Karana,et al.  Growing traces on objects of daily use: a product design perspective for HCI , 2014, Conference on Designing Interactive Systems.

[38]  J. Schnoor,et al.  E-waste recycling: where does it go from here? , 2012, Environmental science & technology.

[39]  T. Cooper.  The Significance of Product Longevity , 2016 .

[40]  Kazuko Koga,et al.  Psychological and physiological effect in humans of touching plant foliage - using the semantic differential method and cerebral activity as indicators , 2013, Journal of Physiological Anthropology.

[41]  Nicolas P. Maffei,et al.  Historicizing Shininess in Design: Finding Meaning in an Unstable Phenomenon , 2013 .

[42]  W. Stahel.  The Performance Economy , 2010 .

[43]  L. Napolitano.  Materials , 1984, Science.

[44]  William Odom,et al.  Improving with age: designing enduring interactive products , 2009, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[45]  Elvin Karana,et al.  Toward a New Materials Aesthetic Based on Imperfection and Graceful Aging , 2014 .

[46]  Ulrich Eggers,et al.  Materials And Design The Art And Science Of Material Selection In Product Design , 2016 .

[47]  Salvador Soto-Faraco,et al.  Perception of naturalness in textiles , 2016 .

[48]  Elvin Karana,et al.  User-material-product interrelationships in attributing meanings , 2010 .

[49]  Sami Kara,et al.  Assessment of products for optimal lifetime , 2008 .

[50]  Mark Miodownik,et al.  Design tools for interdisciplinary translation of material experiences , 2016 .

[51]  A. Stevels,et al.  A practical approach to the ecological lifetime optimization of electronic products , 1999, Proceedings First International Symposium on Environmentally Conscious Design and Inverse Manufacturing.