The dysfunctionality of everyday things : - on stress, design and artefacts
Sara Ilstedt Hjelm · 2003
This paper addresses the increasing issue of stress and burnout in contemporary society and attempts to connect this to product design. Stress can be defined as the reaction of a mismatch between the demands of the world and the needs and capacities of the individual. To what degree does technological products and design artefacts contribute to stress? Research shows that software that is unintelligible and difficult to use increase stress in users. But what are the criteria to be used when we design and evaluate products? The paper presents a survey on the relation between stress, relaxation and products. The answers are categorised and conclusions drawn about when and why artefacts stress us. How people cope with life reminds to a large extend on how they cope with products. Health sociologist Antonovsky has developed concepts for evaluating people’s abilities to handle the strains of life, which he calls the "Sense of Coherence". The paper argues that this can be applied on products to give guidelines on why products stress us, and to create an understanding of how design can be used to increase relaxation. A special emphasis is placed on Antonovsky’s concept Meaningfulness and how this applies in product design.