LOVE FOR CARS “Most kids like to play with cars, but for some it becomes an obsession. This type of person, and there are millions of us, have an unusual pre-occupation with cars. And sometimes it’s not at all rational. Indeed we are talking about people of all ages, and all walks of life, who are certifiably car-crazy. Why are people so car-crazy?” (TV Show The people behind the cars) Passion for the automobile is an inspiring and worldwide phenomenon. What makes a car so special and why is it so much fun? Why do people love cars? What is that experience that car owners have, especially car enthusiasts with their beloved classic car and hobby project? “The real challenges of car design are going to be addressing the future generations’ perceptions of what they want car’s to be in their lives. They are kind of like avatars, how to show myself to the outside world through this car.” (Chris Bangle) HEYNSDYK SPORTS CARS Heynsdyk’s philosophy is developing open 2-seater sports cars based on an existing chassis through traditional production technologies and providing a both raw and pure building and driving experience for the user. Re-using the 944 chassis, powertrain and driveline extends the life cycle of the existing parts and shows that a passion for special cars can very well be combined with a sustainable solution. Heynsdyk offers the client the possibility to participate in the (dis-)assembling process and by working on such a great project, addressing his or her (hidden) creativity. It is about having fun, getting dirt under your nails and experiencing something new. LOVE Love is “a rewarding, dynamic, and long-term relationship people build with special products they own and use” (Russo, 2006). Love is best described as a relationship. How can we inspire designers to design for love and foster rewarding, long-term, affective, emotionally stable and, ultimately, sustainable person-product relationships? Russo identified a number of aspects related to the experience of love that are relevant to the field of design: Components of love: passion, intimacy, commitment Interaction & factors Relationships over time: attraction > building > continuation > deterioration > break-up PRODUCT AND EMOTION Emotion is a central quality of human existence and most of our behavior, motivation, and thought is enriched with and influenced by emotions. A product, or using a product, can elicit a wide range of emotions. Ignoring the emotional side of product experience would therefore be like denying that these products are designed, bought and used by humans. Within the research-pillar of User Experience, research concerning the Design & Emotion and Designing for a Love Experience has led to theoretical frameworks of emotional processes concerning user-product interaction. Understanding how to design for a user-product love experience can provide designers with better communicative tools and insights useful for enhancing product usability and future design projects. The combination of design and psychology stimulates researchers to bridge the gap between behavioral sciences and design practice. Designing products that have an added emotional value requires an approach that focuses on appraisals and concerns. The Appraisal theory uses the factors stimulus, concern, appraisal and emotion. In short, when a person perceives a stimulus (which can be a product) he or she immediately appraises the situation (‘Is this good or bad for me?’) using a stock of concerns. After the appraisal the user experiences an emotion and possibly acts on this (Desmet). A stimulus can be a product or product feature which elicits a certain user-product interaction, after which the user immediately experiences a positive or negative emotion, based on the appraisal he or she has made. This approach provides an addition to the established and conventional ways of designing and engineering. REASON OF EXISTENCE Heynsdyk Sports Cars and Delft University of Technology want to benefit from the synergy of academic theory and automotive practice. My objective is to develop a feasible car concept based on a loveable character. I want the user to be involved with the car from the very start so that he or she can develop a relationship with it in such a way that the car and the user are part of each other’s identity and legacy. DESIGN TOOL Determine the type of relationship you want to design for and you will know the different phases the user will go through with that product. The next step consists of giving qualitative descriptions of the most relevant user-product interactions in that relationship. These descriptions combined provide the designer with the desired list of product characteristics and the desired product character which answers to the user’s concerns and facilitate the love experience: Phase 1: Attraction Context: seeing the car for the first time, knowing it is yours Essence: reflecting approachability Characteristics: familiar, accessible, expressive Phase 2a: Building Context: working together, blood, sweat, tears, perseverance Essence: progressive battle Characteristics: stubborn, confrontational, moldable Phase 2b: 1st Test Drive Context: high expectations of the end-result, inevitable moment Essence: resisted receptiveness Characteristics: strong will, impressible Phase 3: Continuation Context: creating memories, driving intuitively Essence: sincere dominance Characteristics: trustworthy, loyal, honest A LOVEABLE CHARACTER I concluded my research with an analogy that provided me with a character-development or narration: THE DRESSAGE HORSE Phase 1: Attraction Seeing each other for the first time, finding that one horse, soul mate, knowing it is already yours, raw and untouched in the wild, familiar and expressive Phase 2a: Building Working together, blood, sweat and tears, perseverance, confronting you with your pros and cons, formable, recalcitrant, progressive battle Phase 2b: 1st Test drive High expectations of the end-result, inevitable moment, resisting, admissible, strong individual, that long expected first ride on its back Phase 3: Continuation Context: creating memories, driving intuitively driving & owning, winning contests, merged intuition earned each other’s trust: two bodies, one mind