The value of "benefit of inconvenience", which is different from the conventional value of "products and services that require less effort and labor are better", has been attracting attention in recent years. On the other hand, the methodology for creating things with "benefit of inconvenience" is still incomplete. In this study, I organized a new design index hypothesis, "scope of behavior, time and imagination in the use of products" with the aim of developing a methodology for creating products and services with the benefit of inconvenience. This scope is a new index in product design that indicates how much the user's behavior and intention can intervene in the use of a product or service. Then, I tried to confirm the effectiveness of the approach by incorporating this design index into the design practice of university students majoring in product design. As a result, we were able to generate some design ideas with the benefit of inconvenience, and establish a base for theory building.

The integration of interactive systems consisting of humans, artifacts, and the environment requires a precursory image as a prerequisite for the designer's cognitive processes. No concrete model for constructing it has been presented. In this study we proposed and verified a hypothesis for the construction model of system. It is that an organized precursory image involving the system is constructed, part of which are visualized in a sketch. Basho conditions constrain the behavior of an element. As a result, the following three points were confirmed. First, Basho conditions are reflected in text and idea sketches. Second, the system is visualized in the sketch by the abduction of the Ba based on the conditions of Basho. Third, the visualized sketch include this precursory image, system. This means that concrete sketches of artifacts and environments satisfying the conditions of Basho can identify system boundaries, interactions within the system, and interactions between the system and the outside.

In this study, we investigated whether the saltiness and sweetness of food could be enhanced by the material of the bowl in which the food is served. First, five kinds of ceramic with filler bowls and two kinds of metal bowls were used to perform an impression experiment on their appearance, texture, and weight. We then asked participants to taste salt water and sugar water and compare the strength of saltiness and sweetness using a normalized rank method. The results of impression experiment showed that metallic bowls were associated with saltiness, whereas ceramic bowls with iron powder fillers or plant-fiber paper fillers were associated with sweetness. Moreover, it was found that metallic bowls and bowls with a rough rim texture enhanced the sensation of saltiness. On the other hand, the sweetness evaluation experiment showed that ceramic bowls with plant-fiber paper fillers or iron powder fillers and bowls made of pure copper enhanced sweetness. Furthermore, after dividing the participants into two groups based on cluster analysis, the influence of the bowls' features on the evaluation of saltiness and sweetness can be more clearly seen from the analysis results.

The objective of this study is to quantitatively grasp the characteristics of creative policies and systematize them, targeting the basic plan of comprehensive plan in ordinance-designated cities.
We set items and categories of creative policy and aggregated the basic plan. From the emphasized "goal" and "plan", they were categorized into two types: "urban / cultural type" and "industrial / tourism type". In addition, we created a diagram of the relationship between type and population. It was revealed that most of the "urban / cultural type" have a population of less than 1 million, and they were promoted to ordinance-designated cities since 2000, most of the "industrial / tourism type" have a population of 1 million or more, and they were promoted to it during the period of economic growth. From the concrete policies of each type, it was found that creative policies that utilize the culture, industry, and resources rooted in the region are being formulated.

Around 2010, many local characters in Japan were produced and received considerable attention. Currently, there is a movement in many regions to reflect on the effects of this project and reconsider its continued use in the future. In this study, we aim to examine the use and effects of symbolic designs that incorporate unique local resources through case studies and analysis of local characters in local communities. In this paper, based on the results of a questionnaire survey and quantitative analysis of local character management organizations across Japan in 2019, interviews and qualitative analysis were conducted in an attempt to construct a theory about the comprehensive activities of local characters, including their production process. As a result, we found that it is important to: establish an image through strategic management for “externally generated purposes", and flexible use and participation of local residents for “internal generated purposes".

This paper describes psychological growth factors based on proactive behaviors associated with habits (PBH). This was used with the objective of deriving guidelines for designers of goods and services to achieve mental satisfaction. Specifically, PBH that lead from "becoming hooked" to “maintaining obtained habits" are investigated by analyzing the characteristics of the changes in the value of experiences and proposing a model based on these analyses. From the results, we have extracted four psychological states, "elevation," "calmness," "curiosity," and "aspiration," which result from the growth of psychological value associated with habitual behaviors. It also shows that these psychological states progress through the three periods of value realization, value growth, and value maintenance. Furthermore, growth factors for each psychological state enable different types of experiences in their respective periods.

The dialysis machine was developed to provide safe and comfortable treatment to patients and to reduce the burden on medical workers. The design of the machine is a combination of a variety of modules. In this study, we reviewed the module transition of dialysis machines over the last 50 years. Initially there were 7 modules: the Dialysate generation unit, the Electrical components, the Display, the Operation panel, the Condensed dialysate tank, the Dialyzer, the Blood circuit. As the design improved, some modules, such as the blood circuit and dialyzer modules, have been miniaturized and integrated, while others, such as the display and operation units, have become larger and more advanced, and still others, such as the condensed dialysate tanks, have hardly changed at all. The electrical components and dialysate generation unit occupy most of the body and their configuration has remained essentially unchanged from the original design. This unique modular design was originally developed in Japan and is still widely used today.

The purpose of this study was to examine the actual status and design of informed assent materials for pediatric cancer patients, and to identify issues for their widespread use. We conducted a questionnaire survey of nurses working in pediatric wards at 197 hospitals belonging to the Japan Children's Cancer Research Group. Of the 69 hospitals that responded to the survey, only 20% were creating explanatory materials, and many of them were unable to implement these materials due to lack of skills in creating them or increased workload. On the other hand, the nurses who prepare the materials used general-purpose computer software and emphasized the visual design of the materials. There were two types of existing hospital-created materials: the "picture-story" type and the "print" type. The printed type, which has a high adoption rate, is customized according to the age of the patient. However, there were some issues such as the limited amount of information about the disease and treatment, and the lack of direct illustrations to support the simple explanation.

To reduce the bias of choosing a parking lane at a branch point, we elucidated the requirements for display contents that encourage drivers to change their behavior during high user traffic hours, using a variable message sign installed at a SA/PA on an expressway as a case study. The procedure is as follows. We organized the issues of existing information provision in terms of the relationship among driving behavior models, risk-taking, and human errors. We derived the necessary display contents from this organization, and we obtained the effects of the derived display contents through web surveys and analysis. As a result, it was derived that to prevent hazard perception errors and risk-taking and to encourage drivers to select appropriate lanes, it is necessary to resolve the uncertainty of risk estimation and to provide information like the number of cars that can be parked. It enables drivers can select a lane based on comparisons of congestion conditions. In addition, it is effective to supplement it with the following three elements to represent the entire parking lot "abstracted parking blocks", "arrows that indicate the direction to go", and "the current location represented by the shape of a car".

The aim of this study is to understand the effect of anti-realistic images by processing photographic images of figurative subjects. The SD method was used to evaluate the impressions of the original images and the processed images. The following points were confirmed from the results of multiple comparisons of the processed images for each evaluation item. The relative impressions of the processed images to the original images are uniformly "inactive", "dark", "bad", and "hard" for each evaluation factor. On the other hand, the effect of "color reduction with achromatization from full color" on impression change was higher than that of "coarse image processing" based on the difference in impression between the processed image groups. In addition, the following was suggested. Even among achromatic images, "color reduction" may have a higher impact on impression change than "coarse imaging". And the relative impression of the black and white binarized image group to the gray 16-color image group is "bright" and "good".