The Process of Providing Integrated Design Solution for Child’s Psychological Reluctance by Multiplication of Matrices

Abstract

Having problems with child's healthy nutrition has significant physical and psychological effects, both in childhood and throughout life. In this study, which results from master degree thesis of Industrial Design, in order to clarify the methodology of industrial design in designing interactions as well as psychological infra-structure of interaction with the child, it has been intended to develop concepts of trends in the field of child design elements and the child’s desire by addressing independent variables determined from the phenomenon. Since emphasis was placed on the psychological dimension of mentioned problem, in this study, the interactions of influential variables in child acceptance of healthy nutrition were examined by means of Causal Layered Analysis (CLA) technique. Then, after recognizing the psychological ergonomic factors, a suitable methodology for child design was presented. In the problem identification phase, independent variables of problem of not being feed 3 to 6 years old children by healthy nutrition (assumed there is sufficient and easy access to resources) were shown. In order to identify the variables related to the problem, in-depth study of keyword-related fields was conducted among previous scientific sources, standards and researches. Also, in order to qualitatively evaluate the phenomenon as a human social experience, valid questionnaires of children’s eating habits and behavior were reviewed and the questions were rewritten under the supervision of industrial design and child psychology experts. Then they were distributed in the form of an open questionnaire with interview support to parents and the answers related to each variable were categorized separately. Then, in order to investigate the extent and manner of effect of dependent and independent variables in creation of the problem, placement of variables in graph space with the matrix vector multiplying act was used. Finally, in order to perform Meaning Driven Design as possible as comprehensive and integrated solution, related parameters in each phase were placed into matrix, and the final trend was defined as an overview diagram. The results of this study showed that the main reason for lack of acceptance of healthy nutrition is in any way, not complying with sensory parameters of aesthetics and psychological ergonomics of child. Also, this issue can be re-studied from the perspective of user experience after studying and determining the integrated design method of those parameters along with training nutritional behavior in the form of controlled feeding process.