Jörn Hurtienne, Professor of Psychological Ergonomics at the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, visits this week to speak in the SWE Colloquium on Thursday 26 September.

Metaphor, intuitive interaction and the design of innovative products

Social psychology has produced a wide range of research into the effects of conceptual embodied metaphor on judgement and decision making. We know, for example, that holding a warm (vs. cold) beverage influences judgements of friendliness and that the weight of a book influences its perceived importance. Starting from the same premises in cognitive linguistics, I have been applying conceptual metaphors to the design of intuitive product interaction—via semantic associations and bodily experiences. It can be shown that image-schematic metaphors contribute to finding innovative solutions for interactive products that are intuitive to use and can be age-inclusive.