Lcpi JDR Rieuf 2016 PDF
Lcpi JDR Rieuf 2016 PDF
Lcpi JDR Rieuf 2016 PDF
is an open access repository that collects the work of Arts et Métiers Institute of
Technology researchers and makes it freely available over the web where possible.
A recent trend in our industrial culture has been the gradual emergence of digital tools in various
fields of human activity. They aim to reduce development time, cost, or to insure a low error, high
quality process. Many fields have been improved thanks to this new computerized approach. This
paper is centered on how industrial design could be assisted by virtual reality tools.
More specifically it presents a new vision of early design methodologies through immersive
technologies. It also presents the results of an experimentation aiming to compare traditional
moodboards with a newly developed immersive moodboard.
When analyzing and comparing the relationship of the industrial designer to a traditional and an
immersive moodboard, our result highlights the fact that immerging the industrial designer in an
immersive moodboard induces a high emotional activity without radically modifying the meaning
of the represented trend. The moodboard data spatialization stimulates and engages the designer
into interacting with the immersive moodboard. The virtual reality system provides the illusion of a
potential reality, which can be used by the designer as a reflection basis for his work. We believe
that delivering this immersive experience during the early design process will help the industrial
designer make style related decisions.
Relevance to Design Practice – We propose and have evaluated immersive moodboards dedicated
to the assessment of a trend during the early product design. We have found that merging the
designers' reality with an imaginary spatialized trend induces a higher emotional impact. We aim to
help early decisions regarding the products' style.
Hypothesis ....................................................................................................................................................... 12
Results ............................................................................................................................................................. 17
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................................... 25
Introduction
In this first section is exposed a knowledge set necessary to the extensive understanding of this
paper. We will first detail our vision of design, the macro models and product design methods we
refer to. To understand the design activity, we have studied the emotional and decisional processes
and their relationship intrinsic to product design. To close the design related chapter, we will present
a description of the inspirational methods, tools and process taking place during the early phases of
design. Finally we will expose the models on which we base ourselves to understand virtual reality
and present an overview of its use in design. This two part synopsis gives us access to the ground
rules of designing an inspirational early design tools using virtual reality as a foundation.
The success of an industrial design product is not a coincidence. A well designed product has
been conceived and carefully studied to correctly fit the market. In order to do this, the designer
must gather information from his environment to inspire his creative process and create an artifact
corresponding to a given lifestyle, ambiance, atmosphere (Caron, 2005).
We call this gathering the "exploration phase" (cf.fig1 Phase1). It is followed by the "generation
phase" (cf.fig1 Phase2) in which the designers will construct formal representations of the product.
We have chosen to focus our research on the early phase of the design process as it highly defines
the nature of the final product.
Conjoint Trend Analysis is a strategic tool for trend identification. It enables the designer
to specify interesting trends by gathering sociological data and contemporary graphical
representations (fashion; architectural; design…) (Bouchard, 2005). When he/she processes these
pieces of information, he/she generates trend knowledge. Only then can this trend be depicted on a
moodboard. And project direction can then be validated or not, with his/her co-workers and clients.
The general goal of this exploration phase (1) is to discover trails and spot emerging trends. It also
helps the industrial design team in their construction by providing additional information. Design
briefs, given by clients, are too often insufficient to start an innovative product design project (3P
Project, 2011, Interview designer Bic). The next paragraph depicts how the lack of information
necessary to build a concept is burdensome since during early design the parameters the designers
Immersive moodboards, a comparative study of industrial design inspiration material 4
work with are of an abstract nature.
In the field of industrial design, we are presently encountering a major orientation. Studying
the pleasure in acquiring and experiencing a product takes a larger part in Design process. Since the
early 1980s' functionalism is gradually being replaced by a more sensorial, emotional and hedonic
take on product design (Childs, 2004). The new considerations are more abstract than the primal
object parameters (form, color, texture). Nowadays researchers have been developing
methodologies on how to design a human/object interaction (Ludden, 2011), emotional impact
(Norman, 2002) (Nagamachi M. , 2002) and sensorial relationship (Bassereau, 2001) (Bonnamy,
2008). Designing attractive products therefore calls for knowledge about the sensation, feelings and
impressions the products evokes (Schütte, Affective meaning: The Kansei Engineering approach,
2008)and this as soon as possible in the design process. We have categorized these characteristics as
high level product parameters in opposition to the low level characteristics being form, color and
texture. (Mougenot, 2008) (Kim, 2011). How can the designer operate these abstract, high level
characteristics?
A promising methodology created in Japan mentions an original way of seeing user centered
design. In this particular vision, the link between a human being and an object is advanced in terms
of designing for emotional impact. This link is referred to as ‘kansei’. We will now define this term,
expose the different methodologies of kansei design and show how these methods could help us
enhance the design exploration phases. The term kansei has been introduced from Japanese culture.
As it has no direct translation, contemporary researches have been made on the term signification
itself. Here are a few of the most referred to definitions: kansei is to be understood as a global and
immediate perception of a person and its psycho-physiological impact (emotion, sensation...). In
other words kansei is the global feeling one has once he/she has perceived an object or environment
through his/her sensory system. (Lévy, 2008) (Harada, 1998). Kansei is the sensory and cognitive
effect of an object, environment or situation on a person (Schütte, Engineering emotional value in
Product Design, 2005). Kansei is sensibility, signification, feelings, aesthetics, emotion, affect and
intuition (Nagamachi M. , 2002).
The usefulness of the term kansei lies in the holistic approach of a human/object relationship. The
duality between Chisei and Kansei evokes the description of the aesthetic judgment by Uhlmann
Immersive moodboards, a comparative study of industrial design inspiration material 5
(Uhlmann, 2008) : as the correctness of a product depends more of a Chisei matter (cf.fig3) the
appeal of a product is closer to the kansei domain. Kansei design is a methodology that centers
product design on kansei analysis. Obviously if one understands the desired kansei relationship
between the user and his product, one is able to define design specifications that will produce the
desired emotions. Kansei design connects specific populations' affective needs with precise
products properties. The next paragraph introduces how emotion and decisions are highly
interrelated during the activity of design.
Our study requires that we understand the connections between the designer and his
environment. Next is a classification of the information necessary to the depiction of a perceptual,
cognitive and emotional model for the designer. A contemporary theory (Damasio, 2005) regards
emotion and cognition as two simultaneous interrelated processes which each take an essential
place in the decision process. For instance, the birth of an emotion is the superposition of limbic
(emotional) representation of an observed object and the neocortical (rational) representation of the
same object. Applied to industrial design, this analysis strongly echoes into Donald Norman's work
(Norman D. , 1988): the limbic path being highly linked with visceral level and the neocortical with
the reflexive level. From a synthesis of psychological, neurological, behavioral and physiological
models we have erected a model of the designer. Our future argumentation development will mainly
be based on this model. As the human/object relationship is difficult to apprehend with metrics, we
will analyze responses of many natures to a given stimulus, and evaluate the relationship by
combining these different measures (Pavlov, 1927). This logic combination allows to bypass the
complexity of control mechanism of human reaction. (Reuchlin, 1997)
A stimulus occurs when the environment changes from an initial state to another. The constant dual
conscious and unconscious analysis of our environment constitutes the decision we take (Pons,
2010), decision about the possible operations and anticipated result (Uhlmann, 2008):
Throughout the industrial design process, the designer assesses his work and his potential
inspiration material. This assessment is part of a cycle use by the designer to solve his design
problem:
Assessment of an input status with regard to correctness and appeal (bipolarity). This input usually
is the output of the previous design action.
Mental anticipation of a new status based on the previous evaluation and anticipation of
operations that could invoke this new status.
In conclusion, the industrial design process is paved with hypothesis and practical decisions
regarding how the industrial designer imagines and represents the future product. The product is
iteratively generated through decisions based on inspirational material. As we know the emotional
brain is involved during the decisions process, thus an early design inspirational tool must engage
and emotionally impact the industrial designer. Such a tool would guaranty fidelity in early
decisions.
Virtual Reality
Another large orientation in industrial design is the computation of the design process in search of
digital tool creation. Digital tools have been used in many fields to reduce development time, cost
or to insure a low error, high quality process (Kim, 2011) (Bouchard, 2003) (Restrepo, 2004). At the
moment, they are not highly present in the early design process but rather more used in the detailed
design phases. However, at the crossing between industrial design and innovative digital tools, we
find virtual reality aided design.
Throughout this paper the term "Virtual Reality” is to be understood in the Fuchs and al. way:
"Virtual reality enables one or more persons to experience a sensor-motor and cognitive [and emotional] activity
in a digitally created artificial world. This world can be imaginary, symbolic or a simulation of the real word."
(Fuchs G. M., 2006).
We consider a virtual system is qualified as immersive when the user accesses a new motor and
perceptual field enabled by a technical device. Immersion can induce the feeling of presence. To be
present into a certain space is simply to localize events and objects from a point of view belonging
to this specific space as the real/technical device rendering the new reality is occluded. It is now
becoming common to encounter innovative products linked to virtual reality on daily basis. Remote
control device with motion tracking features, three dimensional movie experiences via stereoscopic
glasses, augmented reality on cellular phones… and many more application of virtual reality
emerge in every day's life. The standard modern user is ready to accept immersive interactions, and
is often fond of them. In recent researches combining designers with mixed reality, participants
showed enthusiastic comportment towards the use of virtual tools (Lucero, 2005). This echoes in
the virtual reality domain of Serious Gaming. Serious Gaming is a pedagogical tool using
videogame strategies to teach or communicate a message (Alvarez, 2007). As the society evolves,
virtuality takes a bigger part in our everyday life. Evolved man/machine interfaces such as affective
computing (Batliner, 2006) or bodily engagement are more easily accepted. These are satisfying
circumstances to propose a new vision of industrial design in which designer and future products
interact through digital worlds. Virtual reality is not an end in itself but it is a technological
opportunity to answer the designers' needs for new tools.
Virtual Reality Aided Design techniques are already used in some industrially leading
Corporation. Nowadays the major function of V.R is to validate 1:1 scale products by real-time
Immersive moodboards, a comparative study of industrial design inspiration material 9
interaction and replace real models to reduce the projects time and cost. Further than validation, V.R
is also used as a virtual support for product generation in engineering design. Unfortunately, the
more the activity encloses early stage design, like conceptual design, the less V.R tools are
developed and used. A few projects have been exploring three dimensional sketching or virtual
kansei based conception (see§ Industrial Design): Sketch Furniture (Front Design, 2006), Tagged in
motion (Jung von Matt, 2008), Housemall project (Shibata, 2003), Ilovesketch (Bae, 2009). These
approaches tend to explore mechanisms resembling early stages of industrial design. Nevertheless
we have observed that virtual reality is not very implied in the first steps of industrial design.
Woelfel (Woelfel, 2010) explain this absence in the fuzzy front end of the new product development
by comparing the fuzziness of sketching and the geometrical strictness of virtual model data
(Buxton, 2007). The necessity of ambiguous non-restrictive representation techniques in the early
phases can be the cause of the virtual technologies rejection. Fuchs reminds us that virtual reality
techniques can be used to emulate aspects of the real world, but that it can also depict a symbolic
unrealistic world.
"Virtual reality has the potential to go farther than copy […] and to generate imaginary environments out of an
artist's or a science fiction writer. In this case the environment isn’t necessarily a simulation of the real world,
particularly concerning virtual entities laws” (Fuchs G. M., 2006)
Aiming at a numeric design process can also create a dependency to computerized system and
reduce abstraction capacities (Dorta, 2001). If simulation is a cheap and quick way to evaluate a
product design, it is fundamentally different from reality. The perception of an object can therefore
be distorted. For this reason, virtual reality cannot be the only representation type used during the
new product development (Kadri, 2007).
In conclusion, the use of virtual reality techniques occurs scarcely in the early steps of the
design process although it seems that the technological possibilities could enable preliminary design
studies. The sensorial interaction power necessary to an early industrial product evaluation is
available. And the possibilities of keeping the fuzziness required in premature representation can be
obtained in three-dimensional interactive environments.
The design process is dotted with intermediate representations to help evaluation and decision
making. However these representations have limitations and embody only part of the design issues.
The more the representation simulates the final product, the better the represented solution can be
evaluated, the better the strategic decisions concerning the object design can be trusted (Kadri,
2007) . In paradox, these representations need to be ambiguous so that they leave space for design
thinking. As these representations are supports for exploration, they are required to be unfinished
and with a certain degree of abstraction (Buxton, 2007). To sum up, a good design intermediate
representation has a good balance between the information it conveys and the questions it asks
according to its time framing in the design process. Concept and knowledge theory identifies these
spaces as "conceptual space" (questions, expands) and "knowledge space" (answers, sums up)
(Hatchuel, 2009). Representations found in the early design process are more of a conceptual nature
in opposition to late design representations which are proposals.
The designing personnel may rapidly experience the future product through 2D techniques
such as moodboards or drawings (Won, 2001) and as said before, this medium gives the designer
the possibility to think over and into the gaps of his fuzzy representations. On the other hand this
medium gives no dynamic or interactive possibilities; it only gives the option to explore the object
or tread through a fixed point of view. Numeric data and representation enables a certain liberty on
parameter modulation. For instance a color parameter can easily be changed on a digital support.
Another limitation to the 2D representation is the lack of sensorial modality allowed by this type of
representation. The 2D means does not permit complex sensorial interaction. For example, the
moodboard collages only simulates an atmosphere using the visual modality (Bassereau, 2001)
Visuals evaluation mode has a wide monopole over the early intermediate representations. Few are
the haptic, olfactory, auditory... rapid representation made available to the designing team in order
to evaluate what can emanate from the future product. Vividness is the power with which an object
imposes itself to consciousness via emotional images. A vivid message gets more attention because
of the intense emotions it evokes. (Kelley, 1989). A vivid media would exhibits the appearance of
life.
Research Question
As we have pointed out earlier, the designer needs to investigate and define the future products
kansei as soon as possible. Moodboards are the first synthesized representations of the product and
are traditionally the first kansei assessment tools. They assist the designer in the validation of a
specific design attributes and of an overall style and direction for the project.
How can kansei exploration be augmented by virtual reality techniques during early design
phases?
Hypothesis
This question supposes the design of an innovative appropriate early representation enabling early
kansei identification. This representation needs to convey a high kansei impact on the user, appeal
to the designers’ affect, and inform the designer of the interesting trends and of the high-level and
low-level design attributes. At the same time, it should conserve a good abstraction level to give
way to a fertile concept generation phase.
H1: Our hypothesis is that the spatialization of trend data changes the kansei of the trend.
The virtual reality space is collocated with the real space and a motion parallax renders the
experience of this 3D trend environment logical, as the perspective is recalculated in real time. The
3D trends are retro projected on the stereoscopic screen which acts as a window from the real
environment to the virtual trend environment. What originally was a static picture becomes a set of
3D billboards participating in the illusion of a vivid and plausible world. While the perspective is
modified according to the designer's eye position and the rules of realistic perspectives, the
individual perspectives of each billboard picture give an abstract surrealist feel to these worlds.
Using two dimensional images as raw material for the construction of these virtual environments
contributes in keeping this representation a fast and simple tool. The depth axis augments the space
available for trend information; it also enables the designer to see behind an object and bypass
occlusion. In this way the designer is also able to combine different objects in its immediate
eyesight by simply walking from a point to another in the real world. The next chapters will relate
how this new media impacts the relationship between the designer and the trend with an insight on
the scientific methods and protocols we chose to apply.
Experimentation
As affect, feelings and emotions are so volatile and not directly observable objects, we have
developed a method to objectively measure the designers' experience. We observe responses to
controlled stimulus throughout our experimentations. To understand kansei and to triangulate it, we
base our studies on the analysis of physiological, cognitive and behavioral cluster of measured data.
By measuring these various aspects of the human being, it is easier to reach a conclusion
concerning the observed phenomenon between stimulation and response. For instance a
phenomenon visibility is reinforced when two of the measures echo themselves with a strong
correlation. This helps bypassing the inbuilt human reaction control mechanism. By combining
these different data sets, new meaning can be unveiled. To model the emotional arousal response to
a stimulus in a physiological way, we have chosen to use Galvanic Skin Reponses which is an
interesting measurement owing to its advantages, including low price, simplicity of use, high
sensibility, and reliability. It provides continuous information and detects very sensitive amount of
arousal (Kim, 2011).
The cognitive response to the stimulation is measured via semantic differential questionnaires
(Osgood, 1957) (Likert, 1932) (Mantelet, 2006). The first questionnaire is a set of ten opposed
semantic descriptors (we shall call them ‘couples of descriptors’) per moodboard, obtained via
precedent tests through designers’ verbalization, selection and sorting. We use them to understand
the semantics restored by a moodboard to a designer. The next questionnaire is a set of 10 emotional
terms per moodboard, obtained via precedent tests through selection of terms in an extensive list
(Sacharin, 2010). Via this questionnaire, designers are also asked to evaluate the valence and
intensity of their emotional state when stimulated by trend representation (Lang, 1997). As it is
likely the immersive and traditional moodboards only induce secondary emotions during cognitive
emotional evaluation, we have left out the study of dominance often used to assess primary
emotions (Mantelet, 2006) (Damasio, 2005) (Ekkert, 2008).
Behaviors are registered through two major measures: Eye tracking and variation of point of
view or head position in space. When facing a stimulus, the designer is equipped with an eye
tracking helmet indicating where his gaze position is. As three dimensional perceptions are not only
due to stereoscopic view but also to movement in space, the movement is also an indicator of the
users' engagement and desire to experience the virtual reality.
The scheme underneath figure.10 explains the setup of the experimentation. While the designer
is stimulated by alternating 20 seconds of immersive and traditional moodboards, his ocular activity
is measured with the mono-ocular HED, his galvanic skin response is measured with the
amplification unit and a set of two electrodes covered in isotonic recording gel, and his posture is
recorded via depth camera and a motion tracking device composed of six infrared cameras paired
with constellation of reflector spheres.
After the 20 seconds of passive stimulation, the designer is now allowed to answer the
questionnaire displayed on a 9inch touch tablet. This is made so that the cognitive activity of
answering the questionnaire does not interfere with the galvanic skin response and eye-tracking
recording. Between each stimulation and questionnaire phase, there is a relaxation phase of 60
seconds during which the stimulus is replaced by a neutral slightly off-white gradient in order to
stabilize the emotional activity and flat line the electrodermal signal. However it can be 10 to 20
seconds longer if the subject designer isn’t calmed by then.
Each designer is shown a moodboard and equipped with an eye tracking system. He/she can be it in
immersive condition or in non-immersive condition.
This enables comparison of the gaze activity. Four moodboards were chosen out of a panel of
ten moodboards as stimulus materials. All moodboards were designed after a method inspired from
Conjoint Trend Analysis (Bouchard, 2005). They were chosen by eight PhD design students who
were asked to grade how inspiring these trends were. Only the six moodboards that had the highest
inspirational scores were kept. After this first pass, a second selection was made in order to obtain
four trends with no apparent kansei similarities to acquire certain representativity over styles,
ambiance and trends.
These moodboards were then spatialized to obtain their virtual reality double. This
spatialization was made in respect to overlapping and object to object proportions so that if a
designer hypothetically stood perfectly motionless in front of the stimulus, he would observe the
same visual whether in immersive or non-immersive condition. Thus we have created two
comparable conditions: stimulation of the designer with Immersive Moodboard (IM) in comparison
to Traditional Moodboards (TM). One of the intricacies of this study is that we are studying a
complex system in which a designer looks at a trend through a support. Deduction on causalities of
a certain relationship between designer and trend can be unclear due to the fact that subject, object
and media are merged during the experiment. (Bachimont, 2004)
We have categorized the designer population by asking them how frequently they were in
contact with virtual reality devices. This expertise is characterized by three levels:
Neophyte: "I’ve never been in contact with an immersive system before this experimentation”
Initiated: "I’ve been immersed more than three times…”
Expert: "I work with virtual reality”
To spot a potential correlation between the expertise in virtual reality on emotional response, we
performed a linear regression study. No apparent statistical effect of the expertise on the
physiological emotional response was detected. Designers with a high expertise in virtual reality are
as emotionally impacted as neophyte designers. This excludes the possibility that a high emotional
activity is due to the first encounter with a virtual reality technologies. However our expert and
initiated sample size is small with 60% neophytes, 25% initiated and 15% experts.
Results
In this section, based on a comparative quantitative and qualitative study protocol, we intended to
identify what are the modifications in a moodboards kansei when the contained information is
spatialized. The analyses of the results are summarized in the following subsections:
Physiological (φ): comparison of electrodermal activity through analysis of emotional peak rate
and intensity.
(φ): Comparison of electrodermal activity through analysis of emotional peak rate and
intensity.
When analyzing the impact of virtual media on the emotional physiological response through
electrodermal activity, we took particular interest in two specific items: The rate at which a person
emits an electrodermal peak and the normalized averaged intensity of the electrodermal activity.
The peak rate shown in Figure 13 is much higher in three of the four moodboards comparisons. At
the most, the difference of peak per minute is 2.2 points higher in immersive condition for the
"Green-tech” moodboard. The peak augmentation phenomenon is less visible on the "Lactos”
moodboard. This effect can be caused either by the difference in content, in composition or because
of a protocol effect. However we still observe a major tendency for the peak rate to be higher when
a designer is confronted to an IM. Only a rapid change in electrodermal activity, larger than the
largest difference in conductance fluctuation measured during relaxation phase was considered a
peak.
As for intensity in the electrodermal activity, we have shown that the immersive condition
Immersive moodboards, a comparative study of industrial design inspiration material 18
induces a higher intensity response. These two measures the two graphs on Figure 14 express the
same phenomenon, indicating a stronger physiological emotional response while virtually
immerged.
Our first observation of the kansei difference tends to show us that the emotional activity of the
designer is higher when confronted with immersive version of the moodboard.
(ψ): Comparison of the semantic and emotional profiles, of the valence and the intensity of
the designers’ emotional state.
When comparing the semantic profiles of the two types of moodboards, we focused on specific
terms which scored differently when assessed in IM/TM. We also looked at variance of the
designers’ answers to understand if a certain media induced grouped or spread answers. First of all,
on forty couples of descriptors we observe that only a fourth (10%) is significantly graded
differently from IM to TM. This indicates that both IM and TM are semantically evaluated as close.
However we denote a few interesting differences. For instance the couples open/closed;
aerated/confined; organized/disorganized all refer to spatial attributes.
The "GreenTech" IM appears to the designers as open, aerated and organized as the TM is
Immersive moodboards, a comparative study of industrial design inspiration material 19
more closed, confined and disorganized. These semantic changes seem logical, as the spatial
characteristics of a TM are modified to produce an IM. The ambiance and style communicated by
the stimulus can also be affected. Still these differences are only a tenth of the total descriptor
couples. In average the variance of the designers' answers when referred to an IM are 40% lower
that of the when referred to a TM. This strongly indicates that the potential of an IM to
communicate the same semantics to a group of people is higher than that of a TM. In conclusion,
these results show that every designer perceive the same semantics; the immersive moodboards
helps in the definition of a design context, the structuring of anchors for mental representations and
guaranties the use of a formal vocabulary basis for communicating innovating ideas.
In the same way as with the semantic descriptors, we have observed how spatialization of the
trend information impacts the way people asses their emotions. The emotions terms are not
presented with their opposites: no couples of descriptors for this questionnaire but terms proposed
on a one bound scale. Thus when the designers select some terms, we get information not only on
the emotions that are felt, but also on the intensity of their feelings. In a similar way, we extracted
only the significant differences between the IM and the TM emotional profiles. Here are the results
related to this questionnaire study.
The overall phenomenon shows how more attentive the designers are when they are in front of
an IM. Stimulation, thrill, curiosity, interest, inspiration are remarkable virtues for an inspirational
representation. Once again when using an IM, the tool experience is better and more appropriate for
the inspirational phases of the design process. The interactivity seems to focalize the attention
through immersion and playfulness. Seven out of 10 observed differences are in favor of the IM,
indicating that the immersive condition induces more intense emotions while appealing to the
designers. When interrogated on the valence of their global emotional state, the designers qualified
all the IM as inducing a positive emotional state whereas two of the four TM were qualified as
negative: spatialization and interactivity turned two trend emotionally negative experiences into
emotionally positive experiences.
First of all, it is important to understand that in the IM it is possible to look behind an object. The
overall area of a visual is thus bigger than that of a TM. By moving in the interaction space the
designers have access to the side and are able to confront two objects that wouldn’t have been close
in a TM. The first behavioral difference we observe is that the designers have a tendency to
distribute their gaze when in immersive condition. The immersive space is visually apprehended in
a more global and holistic way. This is confirmed by the time per object measure which indicates
how long a designer looks at a particular object depending on its size. Our study shows that
designers spend more time looking at a small number of objects when in traditional condition. The
moodboard is a stylistic space created by the differences between the objects it is composed with.
A media inducing a global approach to style representation should enable a good assessment of the
message and meaning of the represented trend.
Figure.17 Example of gaze position and galvanic skin response peak combinatory analysis
For instance we observe that the human figure and the shelf have a tendency to generate high
intensity peak on the "Greentech" moodboard whether in immersive on traditional condition. For
practical reasons we only show the "GreenTech" bar graph, however the human figure are top peak
inductor in all the tested moodboards. We suggest this result is the consequences of an empathy
Immersive moodboards, a comparative study of industrial design inspiration material 22
phenomenon base on mirror neurons. (Rizzolatti et al., 2007) (Wicker et al., 2003). The emotional
resonance between moodboard and the industrial designer is crucial during the inspiration phase.
The discussion
By adding depth to the moodboard we observe a series of changes in the designer/moodboard
relationship. These changes related to kansei are summed up in the next scheme. Immersive
moodboards induce:
This comparative study observes how a designer reacts when given inspirational trends
information through an original structure. To record the kansei dimension of the immersive
moodboards we chose to narrow the activity of the designer to a simple contact with trend
information. We have thus recorded and analyzed the kansei of a designer looking at a trend and not
a designer using a trend as a basis for conceptual proposition. Still the tested populations are trained
designers and able to contextualize the moodboards retrospectively to their activity.
1. Capitalization data base: Every design taken on the trend representation is recorded and
compiled in an immersive trend database.
3. Structural & Parameter modification: Moodboards can be modified, reused and tweaked
with as the digital support enables a quick modification of the overall ambiance (fog,
color filters…) or of individual image (position, photo editing…)
The clearest effect observed is the emotional boost triggered by the interactive relationship
between the designer and the trend data. As an early representation the immersive moodboard is an
externalization of an ambiance. By externalizing the ambiance, the designer is able to experience
the induced emotions. Thus the designer can understand and emotionally asses his work, involving
the emotional processes of his brain in the aesthetic judgment.
Even before having given body to the product, the immersive moodboards tool validates
guidelines and gives guaranties of design trails and design hypothesis. Augmenting the
communication canal between the designer and his trend externalizations extends the fidelity of the
designer's decisions through a better dialog with his representation.
To obtain valid evaluation of a trend, the system tricks the brain into thinking it is immerged in
a reality. The immersive moodboards are intended so the designer is fooled into enacting with a
virtual universe. When using a traditional moodboard, the designer is supposed to project himself in
the ambiance he has created. Our system liberates the designer from this effort by projecting his
consciousness in the moodboard through bodily engagement, giving a vivid feel to the trend
represented. Exploring the immersive moodboards with one's body gives credibility to the early
representation. The more credible the trend seems, the more truthful the judgments and style
decision will be. The enactive link between consciousness, body, reality and ambiance serves the
design process in trend evaluation.
It is interesting to see that modifying the support of the trend information only scarcely
modifies how the designer attributes semantics and emotion terms to a trend. Our research has
shown that the meaning communicated by a traditional moodboard and its immersive homologue
are fairly similar. Furthermore we have measured that variance between the semantic profiles of
immersive moodboards are 40% lower than that of the traditional moodboards. This indicates that
spatialized virtual environment, as a support for trend information, prevents the semantic erosion
inherent to the transition of a message from one support (moodboard) to another (designer). Using
this tool will provide similar design context, similar mental representation anchors, and formal
The abstraction in early representation is significant because the early representations are an
inspirational basis for the generational phase must question rather than answer the brief. The
immersive moodboard is composed of images coming from very different sources (internet data
bases, design journals, photographs…). Even though these images are close in style, their difference
gives a surrealist feel to the overall composition. This fuzziness opens the possible solution space
and engages the designer to filling the design gap.
Conclusion
The immersive moodboard application is one more application added to the digital design workflow
developed by the New Product Design Laboratory. This experiment gets us one step closer to
understanding how the final product kansei identification can be augmented by virtual reality
techniques during early design phases. Through the exploration and the inspirational phases, the
designer works on the kansei as an object helping to predict the future impact of the product.
Spatializing the trend information and immerging the industrial designer very soon in an early
representation of the final product has proven to be impactful and to augment bodily and emotional
engagement. The immersive moodboard as a tool must be a design proposition used as a basis to
question the impact of the future final product. In so far as a moodboard is shared within the design
studio, having a media that gets the designers to consider the inspirational space with a holistic and
coherent vision in which all composition pieces (individual pictures & billboards) are interacted on
a realistic spatial level, enables designers to share the same references as a project starting point. By
combining the reality of the designer in inspirational phase and that of a set of trend data, the
confrontation is inevitable and the designer is tricked into seeing the moodboard as a plausible
reality. This confrontation emulates the kansei of the future product. The traditional way of having
the designer going towards a non-responsive media is over. The interactivity gives us access to
stimulating and engaging design environments. Acting as an intermediate representation, the
immersive moodboard boosts some characteristics of the traditional moodboards, such as: The
ability to impact, stimulate, thrill, activate curiosity, interest and inspire the designer. This induced
state of mind seems to correspond with the design exploration and questioning inherent to early
design process. Having a vivid representation of the kansei references to the product design project
forces the designer to profoundly confront himself with the environment, ambiance and design set
up he has to work with. We believe that the emotional activity of an industrial designer during the
Immersive moodboards, a comparative study of industrial design inspiration material 25
inspirational and generative act, impacts his production. Rather than centering the design process on
the end user only, we have developed tools and methods taking in account the industrial designer
himself: Shifting the paradigm from a user centered design to a user & designer centered design. We
believe that immersion is a lever towards an attractive, engaging and efficient design process.