Information Tree - Establishment of Lifestyle-Based IT Visual Model

Traditional service channel is losing its edge due to emerging service technology. To establish interaction with the clients, the service industry is using effective mechanism to give clients direct access to services with emerging technologies. Thus, as service science receives attention, special and unique consumption pattern evolves; henceforth, leading to new market mechanism and influencing attitudes toward life and consumption patterns. The market demand for customized services is thus valued due to the emphasis of personal value, and is gradually changing the demand and supply relationship in the traditional industry. In respect of interior design service, in the process of traditional interior design, a designer converts to a concrete form the concept generated from the ideas and needs dictated by a user (client), by using his/her professional knowledge and drawing tool. The final product is generated through iterations of communication and modification, which is a very time-consuming process. Although this process has been accelerated with the help of computer graphics software today, repeated discussions and confirmations with users are still required to complete the task. In consideration of what is addressed above a space user’s life model is analyzed with visualization technique to create an interaction system modeled after interior design knowledge. The space user document intuitively personal life experience in a model requirement chart, allowing a researcher to analyze interrelation between analysis documents, identify the logic and the substance of data conversion. The repeated data which is documented are then transformed into design information for reuse and sharing. A professional interior designer may sort out the correlation among user’s preference, life pattern and design specification, thus deciding the critical design elements in the process of service design. Keywords—Information Design, Life Model-Based, Aesthetic Computing, Communication. I. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND BACKGROUND RCHITECTURE Design refers to a design activity that is specific to the purposes of architecture, including design activities per requirements for the environment, usage, and visualization, and presents specifically historical, cultural and symbolic meanings of architecture. The scope of Architecture Design includes Appearance Design and Interior Design and can be further extended to the relationship between architecture and environment. Interior design is then the recreation of the interior environment of architecture. In the area of residential space design, the style and preference of inhabitants are transformed into design concept and employed in the process of design, thus converting interior space to the value of life, emphasizing the taste of the family and individual, expressing the user’s attitude toward life, and eventually providing a more cozy living space. Therefore, as far as functionality is Chiung-Hui Chen is with the Department of Visual Communication Design, Asia University, Taichung 41354, Taiwan (e-mail: [email protected]). concerned, Architectural Design provides an existing space, yet lifestyle and interior space need to be refined in detailed design. In other words, Interior Design is not only beautification of architectural interfaces, but more like a recreation of interior functionality and space form. Besides, in providing innovative design service of interior design, innovation must take into consideration user’s needs in order to reach consensus with the user. It is believed in this study that users should have access to sufficient information related to design in the course of communication, and they are hence allowed to understand the style elements of their needs and to participate in the provision of innovative service design. The time and the cost of communication can therefore be reduced, and the user may feel the sense of achievement. Therefore, how to build a service platform that can document the process of the user’s joint participation in the design communication and visualize their life model and design requirement is worth of further study and development. Designers need more messages that influence the interaction between the user and design objects in order to produce a design object that complies with the user’s experience and meets his/her expectations. By combining these massages with designers’ expertise and knowledge, the designers not only are allowed to explore the user’s experience and implicit needs which are introduced to design process, but also reap the benefit from exploring innovative design concepts in the early stage of design. For the purpose of saving designer’s time in searching for design data and of emphasizing the method of converting the data acquired from a user’s personal life model, data are visualized into design information that contains specific meaning. After the visualized design information is understood by the interior designer, it is further employed and converted to design knowledge, and eventually applied in the real service design. It is believed in this study a joint design method that involves users and interior designers should be developed to allow users' participation in design process. Users may also participate to the activity of creation through a joint design process, thus achieving the goal of service optimization.