Positive professor visits
Design School Kolding
Pieter Desmet is a professor of "Design for Experience", which means understanding how design can help improve the quality of life for individual users and communitites. Under the headline "Design for Emotion versus Design for Happiness" the professor will explain how positive psychology has inspired him to change the focus of his research from "Design for Experience" to "Design for well-being".
- We may experience elements of happiness when we get a new phone, a watch, or a pair of shoes. But the joy doesn’t last because we very quickly adapt to new products and so, the quality of life only becomes momentary, says Pieter Desmet. He explains that the starting point of the research is creating an understanding of how design can inspire people to engage in meaningful and personally relevant activities in order to achieve a sense of lasting joy – rather than continue to buy new products in search of that “quick” sense of happiness.
Co-founder of international network
Pieter Desmet is famous in the design industry for co-founding the Design and Emotion Society. The society brings together practitioners, researchers and industry with a view to integrating the emotional experience in the design profession. In 2010 the design professor received the Dutch Innovation and Research Award. He is head of the research centre Delft Institute of Positive Design, at Delft University of Technology.
The guest lecture takes place on 19 February from 14.30-16.00 in the Auditorium at Design School Kolding. Department of Communication Design hosts the event.
