HuValue: a tool to support design students in considering human values in their design
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HuValue: a tool to support design students in considering human values in their design Shadi Kheirandish1,2 · Mathias Funk1 · Stephan Wensveen1 · Maarten Verkerk3 · Matthias Rauterberg1 Accepted: 22 May 2019 © The Author(s) 2019
Abstract Human values play an integral role in any design that aims to improve the quality of human life. However, only a few design approaches concentrate on human values in their design, and there is even very little agreement between them in identifying human values. Considering this, we created a design tool based on a comprehensive value framework to support designers’ addressing human values in their designs. This tool intends to raise designers’ awareness about human values and provide tangible materials to facilitate the use of selected values within the design process. This article investigated whether this tool is applicable and effective to be used in design education. A quasi-experimental study with design students showed that the project groups who were supported with this tool addressed significantly stronger human values in their design concepts compared to the control groups. Results of the evaluation indicated that the tool is not only applicable in a design process but is also effective at enriching design concepts with human values. Keywords Design education · Design process · Design tools · Evaluation · Human values
* Shadi Kheirandish [email protected] Mathias Funk [email protected] Stephan Wensveen [email protected] Maarten Verkerk [email protected] Matthias Rauterberg [email protected] 1
Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
2
Department of Industrial Design, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran
3
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
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S. Kheirandish et al.
Introduction Nowadays, life without technology is hardly imaginable. In this era, technology is interwoven with all aspects of life, and people perceive the world via products. Besides the many papers in the literature that have stated that products influence human behaviour (e.g., Dorrestijn 2012; Lockton 2013; Stanton and Baber 1998), products are not neutral instruments but “active mediators in the relation between humans and reality” (Verbeek 2005, p. 235). Verbeek (2005) argues that products play a mediating role between human beings and the world, anticipating the future in that they co-shape the existence and experience of people—and consequently their lifestyle. As products are not self-formed phenomena, emphasising their role in human life brings to light the responsibility of designers. Supporting this statement, Verbeek recalls the moral responsibility of designers in shaping the future (2005, p. 234). Although design in its origin aims “at changing existing situations into preferred ones” (Simon 1996, p. 111), there is very little agreement on what a ‘preferred/better situation’ means or how to achieve one. According to Rokeach (1973, p. 5
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