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

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

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.

Addressing the growing global concern for sustainable engineering, this title is devoted exclusively to the environmental aspects of materials.

Provides a thorough explanation of the basic properties of materials; of how these can be controlled by processing; of how materials are formed, joined and finished; and of the chain of reasoning that leads to a successful choice of material for a particular application. The materials covered are grouped into four classes: metals, ceramics, polymers and composites. Each class is studied in turn, identifying the families of materials in the class, the microstructural features, the processes or treatments used to obtain a particular structure and their design applications. The text is supplemented by practical case studies and example problems with answers, and a valuable programmed learning course on phase diagrams.

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.