Conference article

With the changing times; people not only concern about the functions of a product but also focus on the emotional connection with a product. Taking furniture; for example; it is a part of our life because we use and rely on it every day. When people interact with it; an emotional connection is then built up. As a result; it is particularly important that new furniture design can satisfy the emerging needs in emotion. In this study; the authors would catch the idea of ’kidult’; which combines the two words ’kid’ and ’adult’. It means a person who continues to participate in and enjoy youth culture (McFedries; 2002). Nowadays; the ’kidult furniture’ already exists in the market; whereas the definition and the features of this kind of furniture are not clear. Therefore; in this study; the authors used ’Evaluation Grid Method’ to explore the attractive factors of kidult furniture. Then the factors were justified by the discussion of the existing design projects. As a result; this study proposed some important abstract and concrete features for kidult furniture which can be categorized into four categories; i.e. shape; material; multifunction; and interaction. In the future; this finding would help designers to design kidult furniture better.

Emotion; Furniture; Kidult; Evaluation Grid Method; Miryoku Engineering