Exploring the fit between materials’ expressive values and the self-expression of the end-user

Abstract

In industrial design, materials selection plays an important role. Being the interface of a product, a material does not only have to meet technical-functional requirements, but also has to include intended experiential characteristics. Unfortunately, there is no one-to-one correspondence between materials and their expressive value, since a material’s perceived character is influenced by multiple contextual factors that are product-related (shape, function), user-related (gender, culture, etc.), and context-related (time, place, etc.). Our current research aims to explore possible relationships between materials, their expressive value and the link with self-expression of the end-user. It defines expressive value in terms of Schwartz end values. Consequently, this paper reveals insight in the expressive values that twelve pre-selected materials evoke in itself and in interaction with different pre-selected forms. Moreover, respondents are classified in meaningful self-expressive categories, based on their value orientation. For each of these segments, the materials and form-material combinations were investigated, both indirectly and directly, in relation to the fit between the expressive value of the material and the self-expression. Relationships were found between the self-perception and a material’s fit with the self-expression, and between materials and their perceived expression of values.