There currently exists an abundance of materials selection advice for designers suited to solving technical product requirements. In contrast, a stark gap can be found in current literature that articulates the very real personal, social, cultural and economic connections between materials and the design of the material world. In Materials Experience: Fundamentals of Materials and Design, thirty-four of the leading academicians and experts, alongside 8 professional designers, have come together for the first time to offer their expertise and insights on a number of topics common to materials and product design. The result is a very readable and varied panorama on the world of materials and product design as it currently stands. - Contributions by many of the most prominent materials experts and designers in the field today, with a foreword by Mike Ashby - The book is organized into 4 main themes: sustainability, user interaction, technology and selection - Between chapters, you will find the results of interviews conducted with internationally known designers - These 'designer perspectives' will provide a 'time out' from the academic articles, with emphasis placed on fascinating insights, product examples and visuals

Materials are like words. The more materials you get in touch with, the more solutions you can see and express. In traditional design methodologies for product development materials are often considered at a later stage, resulting in only a few “good” materials being considered defined by the limitations of costs and manufacturing requirements. Bringing materials at the early stage of the design process makes it possible to review a bigger variety of materials and explore its qualities. Exploring materials at the fuzzy front end has the character of an ongoing research in understanding the available materials and processes that surround us. Besides the potential to inspire designers with unexpected materials-driven solutions, exploring materials can be an effective tool for business to make more strategic use of materials for future products. This article focuses on the use of materials to inspire ideas (instead of realizing ideas) to make design more creative, more sustainable and more competitive.

If you aim to design a particular user experience, the material properties of the object may play a decisive role in being successful. Would the lightweight car door give you the proper impression of a luxury car? And does a perfectly polished doorknob feel natural? Maybe not. Materials can feel artificial, sound reliable, and (can make a product) look ‘cool’, they can be just pleasant to touch or look at, and cause us to experience disgust, admiration or surprise. In this chapter, we will look into these various ways in which materials can be experienced, ranging from the meanings we attribute to them, the aesthetic pleasure we obtain from perceiving them, and the emotions they may evoke in the context of a designed object. The goal of designing an intended (material) experience must be grounded in an understanding of the processes that underlie people’s material experiences more generally.

Materials Experience 2: Expanding Territories of Materials and Design is the follow-up companion to Materials Experience published in 2014. Materials experience as a concept has evolved substantially and is now mobilized to incorporate new ways of thinking and designing. Through all-new peer-reviewed chapters and project write-ups, the book presents critical perspectives on new and emerging relationships between designers, materials, and artifacts. Subtitled Expanding Territories of Materials and Design, the book examines in depth the increased prevalence of material-driven design practices, as well as the changing role of materials themselves, toward active and influential agents within and outside design processes. The book is essential reading for anyone involved in materials and design, containing 11 authoritative chapters and 18 illustrated accounts of contemporary research projects and practices. - Presents both the knowledge and understanding of what 'new and emerging materials' are, where they come from, and how they can be used effectively in design - Looks at how the professional responsibility of material selection is evolving into a more complex and active role of material 'creation' and 'appropriation' - Explores how an elevated sensitivity to materials influence people's experiences of the designed world

Products are the result of the delicate touch of a craftsperson or demonstrate how a designer has mastered highly mechanized production. There is an opportunity for new material experiences to be explored and defined. Designers can lead this process, combining the technical and emotional aspects of material development, to create richer, more meaningful and future relevant product experiences. This chapter will explore some of the most exciting collisions between design, engineering and material science, whereby the practical and creative aspects of material development are in sync. Nature has been a role model throughout generations of materials development. With advancing technology, it is possible to interact with environments and contexts in new and unexpected ways, redefining our notion of what is manmade.

Novel materials tend to prevent all forms of change in time and acquisition of signs of aging, which may affect their ‘perfect’ aesthetic qualities. It would not be wrong to claim that technological developments, the predominance of automation processes and quality controls have led - and been driven by - a trend favoring the dominance of an aesthetic model tied to perfection in every sphere of human life: the body, the style of life, products, and their materials. Such an aesthetic model tied to perfection can only be obtained with brand-new products and it inevitably encourages the possession of a ‘new’ one even if the ‘old’ one is still fully functional. As stated earlier by the pioneers in the design for sustainability domains, following such an aesthetic model stimulating the possession of the ‘new’ is a great threat to sustainable development. Founded in these discussions, in this chapter we address the implementation of a new approach to material aesthetics, based on imperfection and graceful aging. We discuss how both of these concepts can be used as a medium to express naturalness and uniqueness, and how they can create added values that can evoke longer-term attachment to products.

This chapter will describe an investigation initiated in 1994 into the sustainable development of materials and the design process and show how this led eventually to the natural development of a physical, sustainable materials resource. It will consider the value of materials that are often thrown away and look at the creative potential of these new, less non-renewable, resource hungry materials. Interviews with designers, manufacturers, retail outlets and government from Europe, Asia and the USA form the basis of case studies. These highlight the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and the designers’ involvement in developing markets for these materials, showing how unexpected outcomes have sustained industries and their supporting communities. With the library as an influential resource, it will look at the impact that these new materials are having on the next generation of designers.