Cumulus Conference Proceedings Wuxi 2018 Diffused Transition & Design Opportunities
31st October-3rd November, Wuxi, China
Editors
Zhang Linghao, Lam Yanyan, Xiao Dongjuan, Gong Miaosen, Shi Di
Art Director & Designer
Zhu Qiying
Layout Designer
Yan Chenxi and Song Yuyin
School of Design, Jiangnan University No.1800, Lihu Avenue, Wuxi, 214122 China http://sodcn.jiangnan.edu.cn
Cumulus International Association of Universities and Colleges of Art, Design and Media
Aalto University
School of Arts, Design and Architecture PO Box 31000, FI-00076 Aalto Finland
E: cumulus@taik.fi
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© Copyright: School of Design Jiangnan University, Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture and the Authors
All content remains the property of authors, editors and institutes ISBN: 978-952-60-0092-3
Printed in Wuxi, China. October 2018
Printed by Wuxi Huguang Elegant Print Co.,Ltd ISBN 978-952-60-0092-3 (print)
ISBN 978-952-60-0091-6 (pdf) ISBN 978-952-60-0093-0 (ePub)
Contents
Welcome from Conference Chair
...1
Cumulus Association
...3
Cumulus President’s Message
...4
School of Design, Jiangnan University
...5
Cumulus 2018 Wuxi Conference
...6
International Reviewer Board
...7
1.Emerging design research and practices...10
Academic Papers
Research on the Innovative Mode of Intelligent Integration of Clothing Industry... 12Zhang Xiying and Shen Lei When Fashion Meets Technology—Responsive and Personalized Design for Fashion Bag ... 21
He Shuang Research on sound design for urban rail transit voice broadcasting based on EEG technology...31
SHAO Jiayu, Zhu Wen and Chen wenqing Rethinking Mainland China Educational Systems Through Service Design Approaches 42 Yelena Tsopa and Xin Xiangyang and Vittoria Daiello Study on Materialized Experience of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Museum Perspective: Take the Patterned Band Weaving Handicraft of the Miao Nationality of China as an Example...53
Miao Liu and Eiko Sowa A values-based direction: overcoming an imbalanced relationship between the designers and craftspeople...63
Wanlin Zhang and Stuart Walker Design thinking for public good: moving towards change?...75
Arianna Vignati and Mariana Fonseca Braga Cultural Transition & Design Opportunities: A Research on New Pattern Design of Traditional Chinese Indigo Printed Fabric...88
Dong Li and Fei Shen Relationship Quality in Collaborative Service Encounters: A study of the factors affecting the pleasure of temporary team volunteers... 98
Yang Zi, Gong Miaosen and Zhang Li Transition to Digital Manufacturing: generating product opportunities with authentically ‘post-series’ design...99
Loredana Di Lucchio, Viktor Malakuczi and Alex Coppola Endogenous Creative System Based on Rural Cultural Resources... 125
Youyu Jiang, Xiaolei Min and Tie Ji Research on Interactive Design of Intellectual Training Products for Elderly Based on Multi-sensory Experience... 134
Docu-design : decrypting present-day through design...144 Elizabeth Hale
Designing acculturated phygital experiences...153 Francesco Zurlo, Venanzio Arquilla, Gianluca Carella and Maria Cristina Tamburello Mapping of the Competitive Advanced Models and Services in Cultural and Creative Industries...165
Xue Pei, Arianna Vignati, Renato Ocone, Claudia Pinna and Monica Rossi
Teaching E-learning Advanced Program for Visually Impaired Students...177 Theresa Lobo
Situation-Centered Automotive Cluster UI Design for the ‘Passenger’ in Self-Driving....188 Hyunji Kim and Eui Chul Jung
A Research of Innovation Opportunities in Future Museum Design... 204 Duan Wu, Chenxi Yao
On the Innovation of Design Management in the Internet Age---A Case Study of D9X Social Innovation Lab...220
Chi Zhang and Jiajia Song
Experience-based Co-design for Improving Hospital Experience by Mobile Application229 Wenjie Wang and Dongjuan Xiao
Professional Proposals...240
Facilitating a Growth Mindset of Creativity for Adults Using a Game Design Approach.241Shasha Yu, Elizabeth B.-N. Sanders, Peter Kwok Chan
Research and Application of Peking Opera Costume Craftsmanship——Taking the Application of Scraping Paste Process in Fashion Design as an Example... 248
BiRan and LiWei
Feasibility Research of Business on Community Micro Regeneration, A UniHub Distributed System Perspective...255
CHEN Fan, MA Yu-Hong, QIAN Li
Designing places for cultural landscapes in transition...260 Agnese Rebaglio
Collaboration and Co-creation: A study on the design strategy of the enabling problems of moderate adult intelligence and developmental disabilities...269
Zheng Binbin ,Yang Zi and Gong Miaosen
Study on Interaction Design of Electric Vehicles Based on PACT(A\C) Theory... 281 Weng Chao , Zhang Yelei and Gong Miaosen
"Secondary Design"——Analysis of Methods and Practices in Artist Derivative Design286 YangJIn
The digital experience and sustainability of the museum... 294 Wu Qiong
Extreme tendencies and individual consciousness in Chinese contemporary art jewellery ...302
Zhilu Cheng and Jun Hu
2.Evolution and continuation of design education...311
Academic Papers...312
Study on Multi-specialty Integrated Design Course for Master of Fine Arts of Design Discipline...313Liu Jia and Guo Weimin and Wang Xinyi
Transforming Intercultural Textile Teaching Culture – A Method Approach... 326 Brigitt Egloff and Tina Moor
XU Jiang, Chu Jia Rui, Ou Xifan, Gan Xiang
An Authentic Teaching Strategy of Merchandising-Learning Content to Deliver a
Standards-Driven Design Curriculum...353 Juan Du
Future Pathways for Design-Driven Entrepreneurship Education...365 Rhea Alexander and Vinay Kumar Mysore
A Day of a Blind People——Complexity and Confliction In Design... 379 Xiong Yi and Zhao Quanquan
Integrating ownership and entrepreneurial mindset in design education... 389 Harshit P. Desai
Images of Compromise: investigating the projected identity of UK art schools through visual representations... 402
Yanyan Liao and Tom Fisher
Creativity through interdisciplinary environments–improving innovation in students’ teams ...413
Miguel Salinas
Enhancing student experience in design education through participatory design
methodology... 425 Yang Lili, Zhou Zhiyu, Xin Xiangyang,Yu Chengcheng,Han Yu
Design Thinking as new leverage for Entrepreneurship Education...439 Arianna Vignati and Gianluca Carella
Providing a Project-introduction Design Curriculum... 454 Tianxiao Xie and Qingman Wu
Involving user perspectives in architectural design through scenarios: Lessons learned with students designing a co-working space...461
Valerie Van der Linden, Sarah Flebus, Mauro Poponcini, and Ann Heylighen
Explore Learning by Design (LBD) in Chinese Primary Schools: A Case Study from Beijing, China...475
Liang Yin, Wei Liu, Yancong Zhu, Davide Fassi,Jing Zhao and Anran Qin
Transforming the Traditional Chinese Classroom: A Case Study of Tongji-Huangpu School of Design and Innovation...484
Yubei Gong, Yongqi Lou
Building Up a Mindset of Design for Sustainability...497 Xiaocun Zhu and Pius Leuba dit Galland
Professional Proposals...510
The Proposal of Design Education to acquire Design Thinking using Origami Architecture and Digital Fabrication... 511Tomohisa Gokoh Seiichiro Matsumura Tadashi Sakai
3.The change and certainty of design discipline...518
Academic Papers...519
Form follows experience: Research on product morphological design... 520Yang Lili, Xin Xiangyang, Zhou Zhiyu, Han Yu, Yu Chengcheng
Research on the Construction of Knowledge Map of Design Theory and Method - Based on the Perspective of Natural Science Foundation of China...532
Ou Xifan and Xu Jiang, Sun Gang, Xu Jingyu
Anchoring Design Transitions with Case Studies...542 Andrew Shea
Originality in Design. The needed discipline for Fashion Designers...556 Jewellyn Alvares
4.Interdisciplinary integration and design position...562
Academic Papers...563
Future Retail for Kids: Emerging Changes and Design Opportunities...564Xue Pei, Arianna Vignati, Luca Fois, Renato Ocone and Michele Melazzini
An Parametric Analysis on the Spatial Texture of the Historical Block——Taking Nanjing Lotus Pond as an Example... 573
Zhang Chunxia , Guo Weimin , Xie Jinzhi
Reaching a Million... 589 Ebba Lindgren
Metaphor, Rhetoric, and Design: Creating Meaning through Re-recognition...608 Zhu Liand Xin Xiangyang
Research on intelligent clothing design and sustainable design for the elderly... 617 REN Xiangfang and SHEN Lei
CO-DESIGN: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY-DIALOGUE PLATFORM TO RECONSTRUCT OLD COMMUNITIES... 626
Zhang Bowen and Guo Weimin
From “Cure” To “Take Care”: A Design Interdisciplinary Approach in the Care of Dementia ...637
Silvia Maria Gramegna and Alessandro Biamonti
Research on Creation of Positive Environment Based on Positive Psychology... 647 Liu Runze and Zhou Haoming
Digital Archive as a Creative Booster.Connecting Design Processes to Logistics and PLM Platforms...651
Gabriele Goretti, Elisabetta Cianfanelli and Margherita Tufarelli
Engaging Practitioners in Interdisciplinary Collaborative Design Studio Courses to
Advance Practice and Pedagogy...667 Peter Kwok Chan,Rebekah Lynn
Design-led Interdisciplinary Research for Social Innovation... 679 Lisa E. Mercer
CAMPO: Towards an Open [democratic] and Adaptive User Centered Data Management as an alternative to traditional Market Research in Housing [serial] Design...687
Raiza Barrera Vega
5.Sustainable vision and design challenges... 700
Academic Papers...701
Smart vehicles.A design contribution for the changing urban mobility... 702Elisabetta Cianfanelli, Gabriele Goretti , Margherita Tufarelli
From scarcity-induced creativity to sustainable fashion practices: repurposing the Soviet DIY for today...714
Simona Veilande and Emils Rode
Optimization Strategy of Urban Public Bicycle Service Experience under the Impact of Bicycle-sharing...727
Lou Ming Zhang Ling-hao and Zhang Qing
Nanhai Food Stories. Edible Explorations of a Place in Transition... 737 Serena Pollastri, Maria Alejandra Lujan Escalante, and Tong Meng
From “The Limits to Growth” to Systemic Design:envisioning a sustainable future... 751 Peruccio Pier Paolo, Vrenna Maurizio, Menzardi Paola and Savina Alessandra Analyzing the Creative Element of Upcycling in Design Education...760
Cup-Sharing Service Design Model for Campus Cafés in South Korea to Reduce
Disposable Consumption...773 Eui-chul Jung , Gahyung Song, Youngeun Lee and Minkyung Kim
Time Unbound:Inter-weaving Cultural Craft and Design with a Vision for Sustenance..786 Manpreet Kaur and Ruchira Bahl
Touch of Genius: traditional craft, its relationship to place, culture and nature, and design praxis... 799
Louise Mullagh, Stuart Walker, Martyn Evans
Thermal Comfort Analysis of Winter Micro-environment in Beijing Cuandixia Traditional Courtyard... 812
Zhou Haoming, Nong Limei
Professional Proposals...824
The Respective Roles of the Government, Citizens and Academics in the Sustainable Development of Tamba Nuno...825Eiko Sowa
Research on the Space adaptability Transformation of stilted Building in Xiangxi
Countryside based on the Mode of Family Endowment...830 First Author Lu Yuechi
6.Global transition and local design response... 837
Academic Papers...838
New Nordic graphic design: the balance between Scandinavian traditional crafting and globalization 3.0... 839Margaret Rynning
The Impact of Globalization on Local Scripts...851 Randa Abdel Baki
Research on the Elderly-Oriented Renewal of Traditional Vernacular Dwellings in Xiamen from the Perspective of Social Integration...863
Maiqi Lin and Huifang Shang*
Design Supporting the Regional Transition towards a Circular Economy...875 Maarit Virtanen, Kristiina Soini-Salomaa and Mirja Kälviäinen
Constitution Analysis of the Interior Culture of the Qiang People’s Zhuangfang... 893 Zhou Haoming，LIU Wei
Crossing Design: Italy-China as a Design-Driven Language.Joint research labs in between Chinese and Italian cultures on high-end manufacturing through a design driven
perspective... 898 Gabriele Goretti, Ruquan Yang and Elisabetta Cianfanelli
Research on the Interest of Museum Exhibition Design in Globalization 3.0... 912 Chen Lin
Gene Mapping Design for Ethnic Costume: Taking the Taroko Patterns in Hualien as an Example... 918
Ti Zhou and Hui’e Liang
Design Intervention and Social Innovation Based on Dong Minority’s Food Culture... 928 Yinman Guo, Tie Ji, and Juncai Chen
Notating Engagement in Cross-Cultural Design Activities...936 Nick Bryan-Kinns, Wei Wang, and Tie Ji
Communication as a Driver in Bottom-Up Project Implementation——the Case of Shaxi Low-Carbon Mobility Project...950
Feiye Xu, Xiaocun Zhu, and Pius Leuba Dit Galland
Lan Cuiqin, Zhang Fan, Wei Qinwen
Professional Proposals...985
Future Craft China: Design Education Bridging Local Cultural Heritage and GlobalContemporary Design... 986 David Mocarski, Penny Herscovitch, Dan Gottlieb
Sustainable Development: Creating A Virtuous Production-Consumption Cycle... 997 Jacob Mathew and Fayiqa Halim
Cultivating Conviviality (How to co-create conviviality tools that improve “togetherness” by highlighting specific knowhows of migrants?)...1002
Anna Bernagozzi
Examples of New Sustainable Textiles Production in Finland - Small, Local, Open and Connected... 1007
7
International Reviewer
Board
Adam Thorpe Alessandro Aurigi Andrea Mendoza Anjali Kelkar Ann Petermans Annabel Pretty Armaĝan Albayrak Bao Yixi Ben Sweeting Benjamin Chan Benson Pen Sin. Cheung Brooke Brandewie Bruce Wan Camilla Groth Carla Cipolla Chen Jiajia Circula Chan Claus-Christian Eckhardt Craig Vogel Dong Zhanxun Eun Ji Cho Francesca Valsecchi Gong miaosen Guillerma Mendoza He Jun Heekyoung Jung Hu Weifeng Iceman LEUNG Jeanne-Louise Moys Joon sang baek Junghsen Lieh Kärt Summatavet Kelvin Tam Ka Fung Kristin Hughes Kuohsiang Chen Lam Yan Yan Li Jie Li RuiUniversity of the Arts London Plymouth University Independent Filmmaker Studio for Design Research
Hasselt University, Faculty of Architecture and Arts Unitec Institute of Technology
Delft University of Technology Jiangnan University University of Brighton
The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
Department of Design Faculty of Design and Evironment, Technological and Higher Education Institute
University of Cincinnati Hong kong Polytechnic University Aalto University
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro - DESIS Network Nanjing University of the Arts
Hong Kong Design Institute Lund University
University of Cincinnati Shanghai Jiaotong University
College of Design & Innovation ,Tongji University College of Design & Innovation ,Tongji University Jiangnan University
University of Santo Tomas Jiangnan University University of Cincinnati Jiangnan University
Beijing Normal University - Hong Kong Baptist University United International College
University of Reading Yonsei University Wright State University
Fenno-Ugria Asutus and Estonian Ministry of Education and Research Vocational Education Council
Carnegie Mellon School of Design I-Shou University
Jiangnan University
Centrum voor Wiskunde & Informatica Jiangnan University
8 Liang Qiao Liu Xin loredana Di Lucchio Lyu Xi Marijke Melles Martijn ten Bhömer Martti Raevaara Masahiro Ishii Ming Cheung Mirja Kalcianen Nermin Elokla Nithikul Nimkulrat Partric Lei Peiyao Cheng Peter Chan QIAN Xiaobo Qifu Richard G Rick Ng Satu Miettinen Shen Jie Shi di Shuk-Kwan(Barbara)Wong Sylvia Xihui Liu Sylvia Tzvetanova Yung Teresa Franqueira Virginia tassinari Vittoria Daiello Wai Ching Chu Wang Xi Wei Liu Wei Na Wing C.Lau Xiao Dongjuan Xie wei Xu Juanfang Yen Hsu Yiying Wu Zhang Jun Zhang Xian Zhong Fang Zhou Lin Zhou haoming Jiangnan University Tsinghua University Sapienza University of Rome Sichuan Fine Art Institute Delft University of Technology Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool Univers Aalto University
Sapporo City University Griffith University
Lahti University of Applied Sciences Helwan University
Estonian Academy of Arts Macao Polytechnic Institute Hongkong Polytechnic University Ohio States University
Jiangnan University The Open University of China Delft University of Technology Vocational Education Council University of Lapland Jiangnan University Jiangnan University
Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University Hongkong Polytechnic University University of Bedfordshire University of Averio LUCA School of Arts University of Cincinnati
Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong
Jiangnan University Beijing Normal University Jiangnan University
Department of Industrial Design, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University Jiangnan University
Jiangnan University Jiangnan University
The Graduate Institute of Design Science, Tatung University Aalto University Hunan University Jiangnan University Tsinghua University Jiangnan University Tsinghua University
153
Designing acculturated phygital experiences
Francesco Zurlo1, Venanzio Arquilla2, Gianluca Carella3，Maria Cristina Tamburello4
1Politecnico di Milano, Italy. francesco.zurlo@polimi.it 2Politecnico di Milano, Italy. venanzio.arquilla@polimi.it 3Politecnico di Milano, Italy. gianluca.carella@mail.polimi.it 4Politecnico di Milano, Italy. mariacristina.tamburello@mail.polimi.it
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to highlight the cultural implications that a designer should take into account in designing phygital experiences.
One of the aim of the research was to clarify the broader meaning of culture and the implications and consequences occurring when different cultures meet.
The research was conducted in the three dimensions of interaction: the physical, the digital and the phygital one. In the physical dimension the cultural component evident; in the digital one was strongly reduced; finally, for the phygital dimension the cultural component seems plays and will play a major role.
The investigation leads to notice how a redefinition of products, experiences and processes of interaction is required.
Indeed, as designers, the challenge is to reposition the user at the center of the process. The technology is embedded in products and spaces and takes on different and unexpected combinations when it interacts with users.
The structure almost disappears, the technological components are mostly embedded, and the communicative and interactive elements increase. An era of conversational interfaces, products and spaces is coming. This will use different formats and will follow new rules in relation to a renewed way of use and a different acceptance by users.
Keywords
Phygital design, Interaction design, Cultural design, User experience,Conversational design.
1. Setting the framework
1.1. Acculturation theoryThe first time when the term acculturation born, was in 1880 (Powell, cited in Herskovits, 1938), but the first famous formulation comes from Redfield, Linton, and Herskovits (1936):
“Acculturation comprehends those phenomena which result when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous first-hand contact, with subsequent changes”. Then, in 1954, the Social Science Research Council (SSRC, 1954), defined acculturation “...culture change that is initiated by the conjunction of two or more autonomous cultural systems. Its dynamics can be seen as the selective adaptation of value systems, the processes of integration and differentiation, the generation of developmental sequences, and the operation of role determinants and personality factors”. To define the acculturation is important to define two main factors: the communication one and the psychological one. Looking to the communication perspective, Young Kim is the person who contributed the most extensive into the research to define acculturation under this aspect. “Acculturation occurs through the identification and the internalization of the significant symbols of the host society” (Kim, 1982). In the past, scholars have, for the most part, ignored the communication aspects of acculturation. The psychological perspective and its effects on culture change, were analyzed the most on the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. Berry (1980) identified some psychological variable as cognitive style, personality, identity, attitudes, acculturative stress,
154 and language.
Berry (1994, 1997) later advocates four acculturation strategies: integration, separation, assimilation and marginalization. Integration refers to those individuals who value both cultural maintenance and intergroup relations. Assimilation refers to a rejection of cultural identity and the adoption of the host culture. Marginalization describes those who value neither cultural maintenance nor intergroup relations. The predominant communication researcher in acculturation has been Young Kim. Kim (1988, 2001) developed an integrated model of cultural adaptation. She emphasizes a stress-adaptation-growth dynamic model that features the cyclic tension of constantly moving forward and drawing back in adaptation growth. Her model features the concepts of deculturation, acculturation, and assimilation.
- Deculturation is the unlearning of at least some of one’s past cultural elements. - Acculturation involves acquiring and learning some of the new cultural practices, responding at least partially to the pressure of the dominant culture.
- Assimilation represents the “state of the highest degree of acculturation into the host milieu and deculturation of the original cultural habits”.
1.2. Concept of culture
The word culture, has taken over time significant meanings and facets. However, all its meanings derive from its Latin source, which refers to the tilling of the soil.
The culture is part of a collective phenomenon, because it is shared with and acquired by people who live in the same social environment. It is learned, not innate: each person in the course of his life acquires a culture that is the result of many actions (micro and macro) that take place during their existence. The ways of thinking, feelings and ways of acting of every human being are developed as children, when people are more exposed and prepared to acquire a culture. The culture of a person starts within the family, and then it grows with also the interactions with neighborhood, at school, at workplace and in the living community. The cultural baggage of the individual becomes the essential pillars of every person.
Hofstede said that culture should be distinguished from human nature on one side and from an individual’s personality on the other, although exactly where the borders lie between nature and culture, and between culture and personality, is a matter of discussion among social scientists. (Hofstede G., 1997)
Figure. 1. Hofstede G. (1997). Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. McGraw-Hill. - Identity, it is explicit and it is the answer of “To which group do I belong?” It is often rooted in language and/ or religious affiliation, and it is visible and felt both by the holders of the identity and by the environment that does not share it.
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- Countries also obviously differ in their historically grown institutions, which comprise the rules, laws, and organizations dealing with family life, schools, health care, business, government, sports, media, art, and sciences.
1.3. Concept of interaction
Although we daily experience different level of involvement in interacting with different entities, interaction design, as a discipline, is not easy to define. In part, this is the result of its interdisciplinary approach: in industrial and graphic design, psychology and anthropology, human factors and human-computer interaction.
Interaction, grossly speaking, is the “action that occur as two or more entities have an effect upon one another to produce a new effect (…)”.
“In a true interaction, the process in the machine considers the point of the interaction process in which the user is involved at any given moment, and thus reacts to the user’s actions and vice versa” (Goikolea, 2013)
Designing interactions is largely about the meaning that people assign to things and events and how this process happens in the contact.
Interaction designers design for the possibility of interaction, “defining the behaviour of people, artifacts, environment and systems” in a variety of combinations. It is inherently social, revolving around “facilitating communication between humans through products” (Saffer, 2010).
The assumption makes evident the important role of interaction designers as “co-creator of meaning” and “relationship architects”: they choreograph the interactions.
According to Bill Verplank (2007), the role of the interaction designer consists in answering three questions.
- “How do you do?” refers to the affordances the designer should incorporate in the proposal since he’s designing for people who are doing something.
- “How do you feel?” refers to the emotional consequences of the feedbacks emitted by the systems involved in the interaction process.
- “How do you know?” concerns to the map or a path the designer has to show to the users, in order to help them to know what they are going to do with the product that they are coming in contact with.
Focusing on users, using ideation and prototyping, incorporating emotion, drawing on a wide range of influences, are some of the main approaches that characterize the interaction design process (Saffer, 2009).
Bill Moggridge (2007) explains Bill Verplank’s interaction design process as a four-step process. “First, the designers are motivated by an error or inspired by an idea and decide what the ideal goal for the design should be (motivation). Next, they find a metaphor that connects the motivation to the end goal and develop scenarios to help them create meaning (meaning). Then they work out step-by-step what the tasks are and find a conceptual model that ties them all together and clarifies the modes (models). Finally, they decide what kind of display is needed, what the control are, and how to arrange them (mapping)”.
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2. The implication of culture
2.1. Physical interactionThe Design of Everyday Things, which is the title of the book by cognitive scientist and technology-watcher, Donald A. Norman (1988), represents a milestone in the design field (especially in the interaction design). Norman examines the design of a multitude of common objects.
“Well-designed objects are easy to interpret and understand. They contain visible clues to their operation. Poorly designed objects can be difficult and frustrating to use. They trap the user and thwart the normal process of interpretation and understanding. The fault lies in product design that ignore the needs of users and the principles of cognitive psychology” (Norman, 1988). In designing the interaction, different guidelines should be taken into account:
- Affordances are the perceived properties of an artefact that determine how it could possibly be used. For example, buttons are for pushing, menus are for choosing.
- Conceptual models are mental models of a system which allow users to understand the system, to predict the effects of their actions, and to interpret the results.
- Mappings describe the relationships between controls and their effects on a system. For example, moving a control to the left should move a corresponding display object left.
- Signifier in the design of a system makes immediately evident to users the conceptual model of the system and the actions they are allowed to take.
- Feedback from a system provides information about the effects of users’ actions. In designing a “good-designed” artifacts, Norman (1988) suggests to:
- Make it easy to determine what actions are possible at any moment (make use of constraints). - Make things visible, including the conceptual model of the system, the alternative actions, and the results of actions.
- Make it easy to evaluate the current state of the system.
- Follow natural mappings between intentions and the required actions; between actions and the resulting effect; and between the information that is visible and the interpretation of the system state. In other words, make sure that (1) the user can figure out what to do, and (2) the user can tell what is going on.
In the research, to understand how the cultural factors are relevant and insinuate in the physical interaction, were analyzed a series of values refering to different countries.
- Religion: Besides the different religious beliefs, what most affects the country is the number of believers and how belief crept into everyday life. In fact, even if in the US the majority of inhabitants are believers, religion impacts only on one sphere of life, while in Japan beliefs hover above all entering every side of everyday life and in the way of understanding what surrounds us. The way in which religion influences the Arab world is still different, where religion conforms people in habits and customs instead of permeating them as a philosophy of life.
- Space: Obviously in every country the architectural styles are many and varied, but with the growing urbanization that brings more and more people to live in urban centers, there is an aspect that unites many (except for the Arab ones and for most of the United States ) which is the small size of housing with high rents. Eastern cultures suffer less from reduced spaces, while Westerners, in which the ideal space is luminous and wide, are less resigned to this state
157 of affairs.
- Time: The thing that emerges most analyzing the concept of time in different cultures is that in the West, time is commonly perceived in a linear way: everything takes place with a
continuous progression, differently in the East and in China, in particular, it seems that time does not have the cadences we are used to. For the Chinese, in fact, the concept of time is circular, because it is punctuated by events that follow each other cyclically. The repetition of constantly changing events is able to maintain harmony in society.
- Proxemics: This table is intended as proxemic as the relationship between people. In all the countries considered, with the exception of the Arab world, physical contact between strangers or acquaintances is not welcome and often reduces to a handshake.
Figure. 2. Examples of different culture implications in physical interaction.
2. 2. Digital interaction
The above mentioned Norman’s guidelines (1988), later incorporated into the Nielsen Heuristic for User Interface Design (1995), may be extended also to the digital artifacts.
In this research context, digital artifacts refers to “…a designed thing built around a core of digital technology, embracing digitally coded information content displayed by means of digital media or a combination of digital and physical components. The artifact acts as a materialization of a message, a piece of information, throughout the presentation of information content while enhancing a perceptive experience on side of the user”. (Braman, James, 2009) Digital artifacts are characterized by many factors. It might be “independent of the context, but it has to be evaluated in relation to a situation. (…) It is hardly good design if it is not understood by its users. Outstanding user interface intelligibility is pointless if the basic functions of the artifact fail to satisfy the users’ needs. An intelligent and adaptive artifact with exceptional problem-solving capabilities is worthless if it is too slow. The good of a particular digital artifact also has to be judged in relation to the intentions and expectations present in the specific situation. This means that the artifact users’ competence and skills in judging quality has a great impact on how the artifact is assessed. With a group of novice users, a sophisticated and complex artifact might be seen as bad, while a simple one might be seen as very useful”. (Löwgren,Erik Stolterman, 2004)
The design discipline of human-interaction systematically applies knowledge about human purposes, human and machine capabilities and limitation in order to enhance the quality of the
158 interaction between people and interactive systems.
• Understand the factors such as organizational, social, and psychological factors that determine how people operate and make use of computer technology effectively.
• Develop tools and techniques to help designers ensure that computer systems are suitable for the activities for which people will use them.
• Achieve efficient, effective, and safe interaction in terms of both individual Human Computer Interaction and group interaction.
In the research, to evaluate how cultural implications affect digital interaction, were examined and compared eastern and western digital interfaces and interactive models on the basis of the product’s diffusion and usage.
The case studies investigation, which included digital platforms, websites and smartphone applications, showed how the advent of digital, given also the phenomenon of globalization, have decreed a flattening of the cultural component. Indeed, an uniformization of the interfaces and of the interactive models was noticed.
Moreover, the analysis of digital platforms revealed two different approaches in designing virtual interfaces to the eastern or western market. Translation is just one part of the equation: localisation and adaptation are also key elements in the process. If, on one side, the Uniqlo website (www.uniqlo.com/us/en/home/) represents a case of adaptation, understood as “the translation and cultural adaptation of digital products” (Sch ler, 2007), on the other side, the Panasonic case (www.panasonic.com/it/) shows up the phenomenon of localization. Indeed, design choices, such as the navigation tree and the information hierarchy, witnessed the “process of change in response to a new environment”.
2.3. Phygital interaction
In the world above described made by the presence of the virtual platforms including smartphone applications and websites, wearable technologies and distributed intelligence, the role of interaction designers has been limited by the design of rigid touchpoint available, digital screens. Miming and replicating everything we do in the real world into digital devices has been the practice right now.
Nevertheless, a reverse tendency is prevailing. People are already starting to move away from intrusive digital technologies and kick against digital saturation.
The level of maturity of technological developments, the hyperconnectivity, the intensive research on augmented reality, Internet of Things and artificial intelligence are transforming our living spaces in digitally enriched environments that “blur the distinction between real and simulated” (Gaggioli, 2017). “The virtual is beginning to reveal itself within the actual” (Hostein, 2017).
Phygital – a neologism that result from the synthesis of the terms “physical” and “digital” – “concerns the overall connectivity phenomenon in which everyday objects are interlinked and connected to the environment, collecting information from it and adapting their performances”. (Crick, Jay, Osentosiki, Pitzer, Jenkins, 2011). In the proposed conceptualization, “physical and real do not simply complement but rather reinforce each other” (…).
Since the possible ways in which the physical and digital worlds can be mixed are unlimited, providing clarifying and explanatory examples in not easy. Nevertheless, key characteristics
159 and features of these ecosystems can be identified.
“A first property of these hybrid environments is that they are sensitive to the presence of people and aware of their situational context (context awareness): this is possible due to the integration of miniaturized computational infrastructures in everyday objects (collectors). These embedded sensors are connected via wireless network and can communicate (bidirectional flow) to systems (actuators) able to interpret and process info collected in order to reduce the human intervention, while improving the accuracy and the ease of doing these activities. Another key aspect of phygital environments is that they enable natural interaction allowing people to control them via gesture, voice and movement”. (Gaggioli, 2017)
If in the past, computers were limited by what a human can see and process, which was then translated into word a computer system to understand, today machine learning and
artificial intelligence capture visual data, analyse and act on without needing text inputs. Phygital experiences may also be described as the combination of the key characteristics of both digital and physical realms (Nofal, 2017). Relevant key qualities of the digital medium include:
- Information immersion: digital display technologies allow users to become immersed in the information;
- Personalization of information: digital information can be offered or automatically filtered according to the profile of the users.
In turn, the phygital features combine the key characteristics of the physical realm that include: - Physical affordance: how the physical form demonstrates the possibility of an action on an object or the environment to people;
- Situatedness: how the information relies on the “physical context” to be understood. Varying degrees of situatedness exist, ranging from non-situated entities, such as virtual displays and virtual reality, to fully situated objects like augmented reality, of which the value can only be comprehended by experiencing and interpreting the surrounding context.
- High level of engagement: which is typical of physical experiences.
The scenario proposed implies new challenges for interaction designers. How to design “for no interface” but also for “everything as interface”? (Holstein, 2017)
Conceiving the phygital experiences as “a digital layer of what you’re experience in the real world” (Holstein, 2017) means to stop thinking about technology as the end goal and start thinking and understanding how can the conceived sensors, devices, or whatever, enhance what customers do in their everyday life. Sensemaking is the final output of these new experiences, enabled thanks to an interdisciplinary approach with service designers, industrial designers, interaction designers, architects, ICT experts.
In the research, to understand how the cultural factors are relevant in defining a phygital interaction, were analyzed case studies as best practices belonging to five areas of interest (home&leisure, mobility, bank, retail, office) and were compared eastern (Japan and China) and western experiences on the basis of the product distribution.
The picture proposed below shows the framework used to analyse the products/ systems. Coherently with the theoretical research, four dimensions were identified:
- affordance: ranging from caseshape to traditional; - feedback: ineffective or effective;
- language sharing: including the producer language only to more than 3 possible settings; - minimalism: if balanced or not.
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Finally, it was defined how much the technology, or the shape plays a main role in the products/ systems design.
Figure. 3. Framework to compare phygital product/ system.
As output, it was noticed the dominant role of technology in the definition and design of the product/system. The differences between products coming from different geografical areas disappear, high level experiences in term of affordance, feedback and minimalism are offered. The cultural component seems play and will play a major role.
Figure. 4. The implications of culture on different type of interaction.
In short, it emerges that there are several elements that make clear and necessary a cultural approach to products and services that are mature and technologically advanced. This is important to overcome the 'gadget' and 'technological experimentation' phase, reaching ever more desirable and coherent products and services.
3. Identifying new scenarios
In a world where breakthrough technologies will continue to create new value and transform experiences for business and consumers alike, there are quite few trends that are happening already and that are pointing of taking steps in the right direction. They will unlock opportunities for growth and enable organizations to provide meaningful experiences to their customers, employees and society. Within this context, a redefinition of products, experiences and processes of interaction is required.
On one hand, everything seems to become intelligent (or smart) and digital, on the other new features inherent in products and environments (new materials, new communication systems, technological layers) allow new forms of interaction more physical, with objects that change status and that perform different functions. In this scenario, driven by rapid technological developments, as designers, the topics to address is about how to rehabilitate an “user-centered” approach: “what if” will the designers position the users at the center of the
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process, again? And, what, eventually, are the related implications?
The following graph describes the main drivers and elements to consider in designing a phygital experience.
Figure. 5. Elements to consider while designing a phygital experience.
Indeed, in this scenario, the user, who plays a new role, is required to interact, in a phygital dimension, with spaces and objects changing functions thanks to the possibilities allowed by technological developments.
Indeed, here, the technology is embedded in products and spaces and takes on different and unexpected combinations when it comes into contact, when it interacts with users more and more often through technological components are miniaturized (the engine is in the wheels) and the communicative elements increase.
Conversational products, services and interfaces that use different formats and follow new rules in relation to a renewed way of use and a different acceptance by users.
All this must be designed from an ethical, aesthetic and above all from a cultural point of view. Indeed, the pervasively of the technology with the increasing usage of deep learning machine and artificial intelligence and the growing use of data must take in consideration ethical implications about the users’ awareness and its right to privacy. Moreover, the fact that objects and spaces are changing functions and shape in relation with the technology embedded requires designers to face two main issue. On one side, spaces changing functions entail new habits and behaviour. In the wearable systems (e.g. VR headset and smartwatch), for example, the users interact with an everyday object with added and enhanced functions, whatever they are expected or unexpected, explicit or implicit, intuitive or not. On the other side, technology driven solutions and innovations impact and influence the function- shape relationship.
Autonomously driven cars well represent the case in which the physical object changes morphology to perform new functions and where culturally we move from a concept of possession to that of depersonalized use.
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Finally, as it has been showed, ethical, aesthetic and interactional implications depend on the users’ cultural pattern and framework.
Figure. 6. McKinsey. (2017). Products, services and user experience. Boundaries between products, services, and user environments are blurring.
On one side, traditional product companies are becoming providers of services and ecosystems; on the other, service companies are providing a customer experience integrated with physical products and are investing to create a customer environment where the connection with their products could be realised.
“It’s not just about designing the best product or service but rather about striking the right combination and making sure the integrated customer experience is compelling.” (Breschi, 2017)
Within this context, it is clear the new role of an “improved and updated” product as service enabler. Indeed, services are increasingly characterized and dependent on the products, conceived as asset and interface, while the presence of the user can allow a new kind of interaction.
From this point of view, “it becomes fundamental to have conversational systems” (Hall, 2018). They have to not only dialogue with people but also follow the semantic dialogue patterns to put users at their ease. It is necessary to have responsive or adaptive environments that adjust according to user preferences, not complex systems to be programmed but systems that can learn and improve people's lives.
A concrete example in this direction is Nest, the thermostat from Google that learns the habits of those who use it, automatically adjusting the temperature according to actual needs and turning off the heating in case of long absences.
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Figure. 7. NordiCHI’16conference (2016). Multi-touchpoint experience design builds on UX, Service, and Omnichannel design.
The design training must evolve in this sense giving substance to this system, putting into practice the conversational logic adopting also an operational approach. It is important to have a design with a new look, enabling conversations between users, products, services and systems. Being an element able to instill the right cultural qualities in products and services that go beyond simple translation or localization and that use culture to adapt to users, contexts and their needs.
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