Emotional products exploiting the merger of industrial and engineering design : a case-study for 3D printed prosthetic hands

Abstract

For the last eight years, researchers at the University of Malta have been engaged in understanding the challenges of designing emotionally pleasing products. By performing this work on a number of artefacts ranging from cosmetic packaging for the make-up sector, digital camera enclosures to hand prosthesis, the researchers have been able to generalize an approach they term engustrial design that systematically merges industrial and engineering design. This paper explains this innovative approach by applying it to the design of a prosthetic hand and further argues that a new educational approach is required to help minimize such diverse designer mindsets.