Design and neuroscience - for an evolution of the product design tools, from UCD to UX

Research starts with retracing the steps that have brought Ergonomics and Human Factors to evolve beyond usability. It addresses issues related to the emotional relationship that can be established between the user and the product, in the User-Centered Design paradigm. Therefore, the Research reviews the literature of the Design Research for Emotional Design, collecting the main tools and methods through which the user's emotional experience is measured in relation to a design product. The emotional response is today also measured with tools and methods of Cognitive Neurosciences, therefore the Research try to get the designer closer to some of the relevant aspect of this emerging field of research, looking at the touching points between Neurosciences and Design. Recent case-studies about Neuroaesthetics, Neuromarketing, and Neurodesign will be reviewed. With the Research Questions, it's stated that the purpose of this study is to explore if Cognitive Neurosciences can represent a shift in the approaches of Emotional Design; therefore, the Research investigates if the designers can interpret emotional responses analyzed by means of Cognitive Neurosciences’ tools. Finally, the study examines if it's possible to create a tool to support the design activity including data obtained from Cognitive Neurosciences. We participated in an interdisciplinary research group composed of neuroscientists, psychologists, communication experts, and bioengineers to explore the Research Questions. With the desk-research and the on-field validation, we found Cognitive Neurosciences to have potentials to represent a shift in the approaches of Emotional Design. To facilitate the dialogue between these two disciplines we defined the tool and method named AlPha Matrix and Cards, with which designers can integrate their specific knowledge and skills with new tools suggested by Cognitive Neurosciences, to understand even better the user's response.