Mixed Perspectives and Thematic Analysis in Design Education

Abstract

This research explores the design of products based on users’ emotional requirements and how students can be stimulated to generate novel ideas in design education. In order to achieve these aims, multiple methods were taught to students during an online course. In the first step, the students utilised interviews, questionnaires, and mixed perspectives to design hill censers according to the users’ emotional requirements. In the second step, the researcher conducted a qualitative thematic analysis to study the students’ collected survey reports. The analytic results were then shared with students to help them quickly obtain better novel design ideas. And then, an emotional design appraisal model was built in the third step. The two main findings are as follows: first, creation in light of the stakeholder’s perspective enabled the students to come up with better design ideas quickly. Second, the ‘design method’ and ‘emotional experience’ themes obtained by the thematic analysis were found to be vital for the designers/students. Notably, the ‘design method’ theme can help students generate novel design ideas, and the students can learn the users’ needs from the ‘emotional experience’ theme.