Online dating continues to be one of the most common ways people meet one another. Only in the last couple of years has information begun to show how these online sites and applications negatively affect their users. This study examines how the User Interface and User Experience (UI/UX) design of the dating app Tinder influences its users and its impact on their mental health and overall well-being. An online survey of 74 Tinder users between the ages of 18 and 35 was conducted, coded, and analyzed. The results of this study corroborate with previous research and claims that different User Interface and User Experience (UI/UX) elements within Tinder do impact and influence their users. The results also substantiate the research and claims that online dating and dating apps do impact their users in a predominantly negative manner. Overall, this study found that while dating apps can lend themselves to helping people find someone, they have the power to influence and negatively impact their users’ beliefs, mental health, and overall well-being.

ABSTRACTThis study focuses on the patient-therapist relationship in the physical therapy and rehabilitative field. It also studies the concept of stigma that users of assistive and rehabilitative devices face intrinsically and extrinsically. Stigma users of these devices face while going through therapy often leads to device abandonment and regression in rehabilitation. The purpose of this study is to identify the most common types of stigma experienced by these users, to evaluate how patients and therapist interact, and what possible gaps in communication they may have, ultimately to explore the potential benefits of incorporating industrial design practices into the physical therapy and rehabilitative field, in an attempt to alleviate the identify pain points in regards to the aforementioned. A mixed-method qualitative/quantitative approach was taken through the use of survey, interviews, and observational study. Weekly, 2-3 hour site visits to SWAN Rehab in Phoenix, AZ were made to conduct said interviews and observation, while digital surveys were dispersed through multiple online channels. Key findings include that common stigmas experienced by device users are being labeled as “other” or being seen as “less than” by others, and that assistive and rehabilitative devices leave much to be desired. Lastly, the implementation of an industrial designer into the patient-therapist relationship is a route that needs to be explored further. Agile design is a facet of industrial design that may prove useful in this field, but require future research to substantiate. This future research may include applied projects involving a patient, therapist, and designer, where assistive and rehabilitative devices are customized specifically for the patient in question. An ethnographic study is also necessary to gain a deeper understanding of what physical therapy truly entails. Keywords: Stigma, Patient-Therapist Relationship, Industrial Design

In today’s interconnected and multidisciplinary design practices, collaboration as pivotal. It’s not only a fundamental aspect of successful design outcomes but also influences the way designers work and connect with others. This dissertation delves into the intricacies of collaboration in design, spanning both educational and professional realms. The research is segmented into four studies, each offering unique insights.The first study, drawing upon students’ experiences with Participatory Design (PD), underscores how the iterative and feedback-driven nature of PD fosters a deeper understanding of collaboration from students’ perspectives. Students transition from mere designers to facilitators, negotiators, and learners, emphasizing the significance of trust, empathy, and empowerment. The second study offers a glimpse into the intricacies of collaboration in strategic design live projects. Here, facilitation and communication skills are pivotal, enabling students to work alongside clients. This study magnifies the importance of a designer’s role in effectively interfacing with clients and understanding multifaceted team dynamics. Moving from the educational realm to the professional domain, the third study delves into the demand for co-design skills in the industry. Contrary to expectations, terms associated with ‘co-design’, or ‘participatory design’ were sparsely present in design job postings, identifying a significant gap between academic collaboration terminology and industry practice, this highlights the need for bridging academic discourse with practical applications. The fourth study presents an exploration of collaboration in professional design practices. It reveals collaboration as a symbiotic blend of diverse skills, knowledge, emotions, and shared objectives. This study addresses the essence of collaboration in design from the professionals’ perspectives and identifies both the barriers and facilitators when designers understand and prepare others in collaboration. Collectively, this dissertation not only provides a comprehensive view of collaboration in design but also seeks to bridge design education with the profession. Recommendations for design education emphasize the integration of real-world collaboration dynamics, equipping future designers to navigate professional collaboration challenges adeptly. By shedding light on how designers navigate their interactions with various stakeholders in both educational and professional spheres, it can provide invaluable insights for design educators and professionals, advocating for an enhanced collaborative ethos in the design domain.

ABSTRACT The catalyst for this research was rooted in a patient satisfaction survey reported the need for an ambient quiet setting. This study used a descriptive comparative design augmented with qualitative data. The sample consisted of 54 participants came from one of three primary care clinics listened to 22 minutes of existing natural clinical sounds while the others listened to therapeutic sound hertz in a treatment room. The survey data correlated identify if an association existed or not to add therapeutic soundscape hertz back into a clinical ambient setting could affect the patient experience and wellness. Rather than, continue with abatement program efforts to remove unwanted sounds or mask the noise. Quantitative data were collected on mood states and biometric measures consisted of respiratory, heart, pulse systolic, and diastolic blood pressure rates. Qualitative data 5-Point Likert scale and open-ended questions determined participants' awareness of ambient sounds within the clinical setting. Data from participants were analyzed and compared separately for each clinic. The metrics were found to be statistically correlated (p<0.05) for the POMS-A survey and biometric measures using a Chi-square test. After the intervention, two clinics reported a 60%, and the third clinic an 80% mood state changes. Clinic 2-M reported the greatest significant mood state change. The t-Test validation biometric measures showed no significant evidence among the test and control groups for Clinic 1-L (396, 417, 444 Hz). Clinics 2-M (528, 639 Hz) and Clinic 3-H (714, 852 Hz) did share significant evidence to respiratory, heart, and systolic blood pressure rates. The respondents revealed 27% had a positive opinion of the therapeutic sound hertz perceived as silent or quiet, 59% had a negative opinion of unwanted sounds included communication as disruptive, and 16% felt the clinic’s physical design was poor. As a whole, this study indicates exposing patients to therapeutic sound hertz had a positive impact on their biopsychosocial wellness states. The value and novelty of this study show by adding selective distinct therapeutic sound hertz levels back into the clinic setting have profound implications for future researchers to build upon how the quality soundscape performance effects on the patient.

Design for sustainability and design to change habits are two areas that have been explored separately. Design for sustainable behavior has started to be researched for different purposes. This research focuses on how we interact with objects to reinforce sustainable actions, focused on low-waste drinking water consumption using Water Bottle Filling Stations. Things do not work the same in different contexts, even if they are targeted at a similar group of people in two different countries. In consequence, the habits around particular objects change as well. This research is part of a bi-cultural study on the relationship between users and Water Bottle Filling Stations in universities, sites where these devices have been installed to promote healthy habits and encourage sustainable practices in their population. This is to evaluate the use of current nudges attached to the design attributes on the artifact.Using mixed methods, this research explored the possibility of using Water Bottle Filling Stations to create and reinforce habits in the user’s routine and the consequences with the aid of nudges. To understand these behaviors, populations from a college in Mexico and a college in the United States were subjects of study to understand the implications of using Water Bottle Filling Stations as a device that, by design, promotes reusability as a circular economy strategy. The following research did not aim to redesign the entire system but evaluate the impact of current nudges and design attributes on the artifact, how habits have affected culture, and supply a list of findings and recommendations.

Food safety incidents have constantly hit society and threatened human health. Hundreds of millions of people become sick after eating contaminated food every year. As the problem continues to emerge, consumers must take action to avoid purchasing risky food products. As one of the solutions, food traceability systems have been developed rapidly in many countries in recent years. More food products can now be provided with traceability information to assist consumers in making purchase decisions. To design services for grocery shoppers to access food information from food traceability systems possibly through modern technologies, this transdisciplinary user research study investigated shopper insights into food traceability information on produce provided at grocery stores, with a fusion of ideas from the disciplines of design and consumer behaviors. Through literature reviews, an online survey study, and an online interview study, this research revealed a series of shopper insights concerning (1) shoppers’ knowledge about food traceability information, (2) shoppers’ behaviors and motivations for using traceability information on produce, (3) shoppers’ perceptions towards providing traceability information on produce to them at grocery stores, (4) shoppers’ perceived important traceability information on produce, (5) shoppers’ behavior intentions of using specific ways to access traceability information on produce, and (6) shoppers’ thresholds to pay for traceability information on produce. Based on the results, this study identified design opportunities for the features, components, and mediums of the service design of future food traceability systems.

People often choose one design over another for reasons of beauty and taste. This is known as aesthetic preference. Over the years, philosophers and psychologists have observed the significant impact of aesthetics on human behavior and sought a deeper understanding of how aesthetic preferences are formed and how they drive behavior and choices. Despite recent advancement in the scientific study of aesthetics with the emergence of neuroaesthetics and evolutionary psychology, the complexity and diversity of aesthetic preferences still pose a significant challenge for designers who design for a mass population. This study proposed and implemented a process through which unique aesthetic indicators were identified, from which distinct aesthetic typologies were then derived. To evaluate the process and generate practical results, a mixed-methods approach with exploratory sequential design was used. First, an online survey and semi-structured interviews were conducted (n=20). These methods were used to refine the survey instrument. Next, an extensive online survey (n=1038) was conducted to identify aesthetic indicators. To produce measurable outcomes and define the typologies of individuals based on their responses to survey questions, cluster analysis was applied to the data. Results indicated a set of unique aesthetic indicators from which distinct aesthetic typologies were derived. This study adds to the vast body of knowledge we can use to explore and improve our understanding of aesthetic preference. With the availability of quantitative data and the robust modeling capabilities of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is not unrealistic that we would be able to model and predict future or unknown aesthetic preferences. Accurate predictions of these preferences can have immense value for the field of design. Aesthetic typologies provide the structure to move design in that direction.

Open Design is a crowd-driven global ecosystem which tries to challenge and alter contemporary modes of capitalistic hardware production. It strives to build on the collective skills, expertise and efforts of people regardless of their educational, social or political backgrounds to develop and disseminate physical products, machines and systems. In contrast to capitalistic hardware production, Open Design practitioners publicly share design files, blueprints and knowhow through various channels including internet platforms and in-person workshops. These designs are typically replicated, modified, improved and reshared by individuals and groups who are broadly referred to as ‘makers’.

This dissertation aims to expand the current scope of Open Design within human-computer interaction (HCI) research through a long-term exploration of Open Design’s socio-technical processes. I examine Open Design from three perspectives: the functional—materials, tools, and platforms that enable crowd-driven open hardware production, the critical—materially-oriented engagements within open design as a site for sociotechnical discourse, and the speculative—crowd-driven critical envisioning of future hardware.

More specifically, this dissertation first explores the growing global scene of Open Design through a long-term ethnographic study of the open science hardware (OScH) movement, a genre of Open Design. This long-term study of OScH provides a focal point for HCI to deeply understand Open Design's growing global landscape. Second, it examines the application of Critical Making within Open Design through an OScH workshop with designers, engineers, artists and makers from local communities. This work foregrounds the role of HCI researchers as facilitators of collaborative critical engagements within Open Design. Third, this dissertation introduces the concept of crowd-driven Design Fiction through the development of a publicly accessible online Design Fiction platform named Dream Drones. Through a six month long development and a study with drone related practitioners, it offers several pragmatic insights into the challenges and opportunities for crowd-driven Design Fiction. Through these explorations, I highlight the broader implications and novel research pathways for HCI to shape and be shaped by the global Open Design movement.

In recent years, with the increase in the number of students studying abroad, the psychological problems of international students have attracted more and more attention. At the same time, due to the stigma and stereotypes of mental illness, international students have encountered difficulties in using campus psychological counseling services of overseas universities. Gamification is a concept that applies the elements of games to non-gaming fields. It is being widely used in various fields. This study aims to conduct user research for designing a better experience and service design for international students using campus psychological counseling by using gamification. The study was conducted using an extensive literature review as well as quantitative and qualitative research methods including a focus group, an online survey, and an interview to explore the main sources of pressure for international students and their perception on-campus counseling service. Furthermore, this study tried to explore the feasibility of online services and how gamification be applied to the services. The results showed that international students have been reported to have psychological pressure on some special issues, and few international students used campus counseling. International students who have used campus psychological counseling services also expressed their dissatisfaction with campus psychological counseling. Additionally, the study showed the feasibility of online services and the acceptance of core drives of gamification. The conclusion can be summarized as a user research for future service design in the campus counseling system, which includes expected functions and some gamified ways of online services. Because the results showed that online services cannot replace face-to-face consulting services, how to combine online and offline services, and how to let gamification reach its full potential will be further discussed.

The main aim of this thesis is to study the Saudi Arabia designers level of awareness about sustainable interior materials and to what extent are Saudi Arabia designers specifying sustainable interior materials in their interior designs? The problem statement relies on understanding how does this may impact the Saudi Arabia environment. In order to comply with these objectives, a telephone interviews were built, to test the designer’s knowledge about sustainable interior materials. The results showed that the Saudi Arabia interior designers are not fully aware of sustainable interior materials and there is a lack of interest in applying sustainable interior materials in their projects.