Creating Humane Values in Future Artifacts through Augmented Design

The department of Industrial Design at KAIST (ID KAIST) is a research-oriented design school integrating design with science and technology, aiming to educate human-centered designers playing an active role in the front and the last end of innovation. At the Co.design:Inter.action Design Research Laboratory at ID KAIST, we investigate Augmented Design. In a narrow sense, Augmented Design can be interpreted as a field of research applying Augmented Reality and Internet of Things technology into design. In a broader perspective, we define this field as inquiring about how future smart things can enrich people’s lives and identifying methods that support design activities for the creation of such things. Important questions for Augmented Design include: What are the main drivers of authentic happiness? How can designed artifacts help people achieve such happiness? What impacts do these artifacts have on people’s lives? We conduct two types of augmented design research. The first type focuses on creating humane values in future artifacts. The second involves supporting design activities that aid in creatively thinking about and realizing such artifacts. This talk introduces KAIST Industrial Design department, examples of Augmented Design research and discuss implications for future design.