EMOTIONAL DESIGN AND QUALITY OF LIFE

Abstract

Lately, the concept of emotional design, which implies the concept of improving the quality of life, happiness and satisfaction of a man, has greatly attracted the attention of the academic community. Since this concept is multidimensional, one of the aspects, which the scientists are particularly focused on, is involvement of man's emotional needs in the process of product design. A successful development of a new product implies satisfaction of customers' requirements to the level of their individual wishes which include emotions as well. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to describe the emotional design, the present state of understanding the concept, its characteristics and aims. Some characteristic examples which illustrate the described concept, and whose design evokes positive emotions, are presented in the paper. The emphasis has been put on the importance of a specific aspect of an emotional approach to design through development of innovative, sustainable products with the aim to increase the quality of life.