The hard science of engineering and the warm fuzzy glow of emotion come together in new European research aimed at designing products that we not only need - but we love.
The University of Leeds' School of Mechanical Engineering is taking part in a project that aims to test our emotional responses to a variety of consumer products; to see how their texture, shape, temperature and colour affect our moods.
The project is led by Dr Vassilis Agouridas who explained: 'It’s about designing for emotion. We are learning how people respond to the design of products, with a view to creating products that people feel happy with.'
The three-year project, funded by the European Commission, deals with establishing a theory to objectively measure, model and predict psychological effects. It involves partners across Europe from neuroscience, engineering, computer science and mathematics.
A team of researchers, including Professor Tom Childs, Dr Cathy Barnes and Dr Brian Henson, will observe volunteers in a special suite to see how they respond to different products, such as office furniture in different colours and textures.
This will allow the team to build a model that demonstrates the relationship between design and emotion. 'It’s an emerging field - and an unusual one for an engineer to be involved in,' said Dr Agouridas. 'On a basic level it’s about why we might prefer a blue chair to a red one; why touching this synthetic texture is preferable to that one.'
Labour pledge to tackle four key barriers in UK energy transition
I'm all for clarity and would welcome anyone who can enlighten me about what Labour's plans are for the size and scale of this Great British Energy....