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Special issue editorial : Design for subjective well-being

2013; National Taiwan University of Science and Technology; Volume: 7; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

1991-3761

Pieter Desmet, Anna E. Pohlmeyer, Jodi Forlizzi,

Aging and Gerontology Research

In our work as researchers and educators, we have encountered many designers who find inspiration in the idea that their designs could contribute to people’s happiness. In fact, the interest in happiness in our professional community is rapidly growing. We believe that this is not a drifting trend but a lasting development, an effect of the changing world of design. As the discipline of design grows and matures, the model of one designer creating one product is no longer adequate. Design is transforming into a more expansive discipline, one that includes the coordinated design of artifacts, services, systems, environments, human action, and many other resources. This evolving view also reveals that designers are seeking to find meaning in the activity of designing, and to find satisfaction in the knowledge that what we design is improving the world for the people it has been designed for. And user happiness is clearly a truthful measure of any such improvement. We hope that this special issue will provide a framework and a research agenda with which the community can go forward and leverage the momentum that is currently observed in this positive design movement. We use the term subjective well-being to refer to happiness as an enduring sense of appreciation for one’s life (i.e., being happy with one’s life), rather than a momentary feeling. According to this meaning, happiness is neither frivolous nor superficial. Design for Subjective Well-Being supports this definition by presenting itself as the activity of designing with the explicit intention to support people in their pursuit of a pleasurable and satisfying life, and, even more important, in their desire to flourish. Design for Subjective Well-Being is understandably broad. It aims at designing products that contribute positively to the experienced quality of life, in making things that are useful, usable, enjoyable, purposeful, desirable, and even virtuous and ethical. It is an approach that helps designers to think through the values they want to support and maximize in what they design. With the explicit focus on long-term happiness, Design for Subjective Well-Being is a novel approach that deserves the kind of research attention that will advance understanding and practical implications in the field.