The EmotiveModeler integrates our unconscious understanding and emotive perception of shapes into a CAD tool that allows both novice and expert designers to use only descriptive adjectives and emotions to design objects whose forms communicate emotive character.
We have an unconscious understanding of the meaning of different physical objects through our extensive interactions with them. Designers consciously understand this language, allowing them to embody meaning in objects through their physical geometries, often using complex CAD tools to develop 3D models of their designs. Despite advances in more accessible design tools, this early part of the design process - where a designer understands what sort of forms will best convey the meaning they want - is still very hard for beginners. The EmotiveModeler integrates this knowledge about our emotive perception of shapes into a CAD tool that allows both novice and expert designers to use only descriptive adjectives and emotions to design objects whose forms communicate the emotive character of the chosen words.
Building on existing research into emotive shapes[1-2,4], forms are broken down into their constituent design elements and mapped onto the circumplex model of emotion[5] and eight primary emotions[3]. This quantitative emotive form design taxonomy is then integrated into the Rhino 3D modeling software. When a designer types a word into the EmotiveModeler UI, the system analyses the emotional associations to the word and combines the relevant design elements to generate a 3D model whose forms reflect the emotive character of even complex emotive adjectives. This suggested design is just the initial inspiration for a creative conversation between the designer and the EmotiveModeler; they can modify the emotions associated with the inputted words and therefore manipulate the resulting forms to reflect their personal interpretation of the emotive character they wish to convey in their designs.
1] Collier, G. L. (1996). Affective synesthesia: Extracting emotion space from simple perceptual stimuli. Motivation and Emotion, 20(1), 1-32.
[2] Isbister, K., Höök, K., Laaksolahti, J., & Sharp, M. (2007). The sensual evaluation instrument: Developing a trans-cultural self-report measure of affect International journal of human-computer studies, 65(4), 315-328
[3] Plutchik, R. (1980). Emotion: A psycho-evolutionary synthesis (p. 440). New York: Harper & Row
[4] Poffenberger, A. T., & Barrows, B. E. (1924). The Feeling Value of Lines. Journal of Applied Psychology, 8(2), 187.
[5] Russell, James A. A circumplex model of affect. Journal of personality and social psychology 39.6 (1980): 1161-1178
Full details about this work contained in my MIT Masters Thesis here