The design studio is a unique environment typically situated at the center of design education. This study explores the transition from a conventional design studio to a real-life design context and examines the changes in the design process adopted by students in such a setting. For this study, 25 interior design undergraduates were included through a convenience sampling technique. The students were exposed to a real-life context where they could engage with contextual scenarios and collaborate with end users whom they encountered in a workplace setting. In the architectural design process, end users are the individuals who will benefit from the design once it has been constructed. The Manin Market in Peliyagoda, Sri Lanka, was selected as the real-life context for this study. Action research methodology was employed, with data collected through naturalistic observation, focus group interviews, and photographs. The data were analysed by using a six-phased thematic analysis. The findings reveal the emergence of the empathizing phase as a critical component, interwoven with all major design thinking phases. Additionally, the study identifies the use of information and communication technology (ICT) tools as essential mediums for design communication throughout the students’ design process in a real-life context.

Several entertaining methods of robot engagement in urban public spaces are reviewed in this article, along with their user experiences. Following the Research-Through-Design (RtD) methodology, the design process accounted for the robot’s look as well as its interaction modes. The UEQ scale and Godspeed are tools for gauging user experience. Data analysis reveals a strong correlation between emotional involvement and both facial expression and gesture interaction, as well as between these two variables and the perception of robot intelligence. In urban public spaces, the findings of the paper show which aspects of HRI could be improved by combining various interaction approaches.

Personal informatics (PI) has gained great attention and become ubiquitous in people’s everyday lives. Although an increasing number of studies set out to explore the social aspects of PI, there remains an unaddressed opportunity for a structured, systematic review to understand why and how the sharing happened, to inform future design and research. This systematic review summarizes the last 13 years of research on the diverse cases of shared PI practice from ACM, PubMed, and IEEE. 100 papers were analyzed, and four types of sharing were identified: Interpersonal targeting, Public broadcasting, Group monitoring, and Community exchanging. Notably, sharing extends beyond data exchange, evolving into a collaborative process across different PI stages. The review offers a taxonomy of shared PI practices and delineates design possibilities, facilitating future exploration in the field. Additionally, it identifies trends and patterns within existing work, suggesting design opportunities for future explorations of shared personal informatics.

Compared to the five basic tastes, smell, as an intrinsic element, is crucial in augmenting flavor and dietary experience within Human-Food Interaction. While much research has explored orthonasal olfaction in olfactory displays, the potential of retronasal olfaction in interaction design is always overlooked and less understood. This paper introduces AromaBite, an accessible, edible, bio-compatible and ingestible odor storage and release mechanism that integrates natural eating behaviors, providing dynamic retronasal olfactory experiences. We detail AromaBite’s design parameters and process and technically test its airtightness and durability. We employ time-intensity (TI), confirming that retronasal olfaction significantly enhances flavor perception and providing a design library mapping form factors to guide natural oral interaction. We envision that AromaBite will augment depth and immersive flavor experiences in Virtual Reality, olfactory training, and personalized dining interactions.

Critical thinking plays a crucial role in children's education for fostering cognitive development, cultivating independent thinking habits, and enhancing their ability to problem-solving. However, the current educational model places greater emphasis on children's understanding of factual knowledge, with relatively less focus on developing critical thinking skills. We present CharacterCritique to support children's critical thinking based on the theory of inquiry dialogue. This tool uses an analytical story as the medium, it encourages dialogue between parents, children, and story characters. Through this process, children continuously engage in interpretation, analysis, explanation, evaluation, and regulation, all of which promote critical thinking and decision-making. Such interaction is supported by multiple agents. In our between-subjects study (n=32), we compared CharacterCritique to traditional storybook reading. The results show that CharacterCritique is more effective at sparking children's interest in deeper discussions. It also better fosters critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and creates more opportunities for parent-child dialogue.

The advancement of wearable intelligent systems presents a unique opportunity to transform how humans interact with digital content. This workshop explores the design of Interactive Multimodal Information Retrieval and Access systems specifically tailored for Heads-Up Computing environments. By leveraging multimodal inputs, such as voice, gaze, and gesture, these systems enable real-time, hands-free access to digital information, facilitating seamless and efficient interaction. The goal is to support tasks requiring rapid information access in dynamic environments while ensuring users remain”heads-up” and engaged with the real world. This half-day workshop will share research outcomes and best practices, foster community building, and facilitate discussions on key challenges. By bringing together researchers and practitioners, it aims to drive further advancements in both research and practical applications within this rapidly evolving field.

Visual synthesis methods, such as sketch-based visual migration models, can generate creative inspiration while visually characterizing the target object. However, the cognitive impact and design performance of synthetic-sketches have received limited attention. This study examines the effectiveness of using synthetic-sketches generated through a visual migration model (Cycle-GAN) as a conceptual support tool in the early design phase. We aimed to understand its strengths by inviting 24 master's students with design backgrounds and digital drawing experience to experiment. The students were divided into two groups: one using synthetic-sketches and the other using product renderings as inspirational stimuli. Results indicated that the group using synthetic-sketches refined original concepts more deeply during concept generation and spent less time on conceptual innovation compared to the group using product renderings. This was attributed to the design behavior of modifying visual features and the perception that synthetic-sketches help test and refine concepts. Synthetic-sketches seem particularly suited to the later stages of individual sketching, aligning with the designer's reconstruction process. This study highlights the potential of synthetic-sketches supported by visual migration models as valuable tools in the early design phase. Further research could explore their wider application and strategies to maximize benefits.

A deep understanding of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) is crucial not only for technological development but also for formulating effective risk response strategies. However, previous studies have mainly focused on how individual factors affect GAI risk perception while the technical functions and features that are the root causes of user concerns regarding GAI remain unclear. To address this gap, the current study, grounded in affordance theory, explored how perceived affordances of GAI influenced user risk perceptions across six dimensions: information, security, technical, social, ethical, and legal. A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted on a survey of 1,031 GAI users to examine the impact of interactivity, agency, and security affordances on these risk dimensions. The results indicate that higher perceptions of affordances such as bandwidth, synchrony, and transparency are significantly associated with lower risk perceptions across all dimensions. Notably, women reported higher perceived risks than men in most categories, whereas age and GAI usage experience did not significantly affect these perceptions. These findings highlight the importance of enhancing user control, transparency, and privacy protections in GAI system design to effectively mitigate perceived risks. This study contributes to the literature by providing a multidimensional analysis of risk perception in the context of GAI, offering practical insights for the development of inclusive, transparent, and user-centered artificial intelligence systems.

A design method card deck helps designers understand and provoke thinking by presenting each method in a simple format and allow designers to switch between methods seamlessly by maintaining the same simple format across the deck. However, recent observations have shown designers hesitate to use a card deck due to the lack of support, while other tools have provided identified support with generative AI. Through a formative study, we identified the specific support designers need when applying the design method cards and intentions in integrating generative AI. Accordingly, we developed the intelligent design method card deck, I-Card, which integrates generative AI to provide applicable design methods, design knowledge and data support, and interactive and dynamic support. A user study demonstrates that I-Card improved the design efficiency and applicability by offering personalized guidance, enhanced decision-making with comprehensive data generation and provided more design inspiration via interactive support.