Beyond Kansei Engineering: The Emancipation of Kansei Design

Acknowledging the relevance of kansei engineering both in the industrial and the academic worlds, the current situation in the field of kansei research seems ready for the emancipation of other disciplines that are actually numerous and already significantly active. In this paper, the overview on how the literature describes kansei and kansei engineering points out the reason why other disciplines should expand in parallel to kansei engineering. Then tracing back the academic development of kansei throughout history, the theoretical structure for three domains directly related to the making of physical artifacts are described: kansei engineering (KE), kansei science (KS), and kansei design (KD). Whereas KE and KS have progressively emerged during the last decades, KD is introduced here as a new domain, re-exploring Japanese philosophy as an inspirational means to face current issues addressed by design research. The purpose of this paper is to explore, mostly from a historical perspective, the notions of kansei and kansei research, in order to clarify and to open up new directions for kansei research, especially towards the discipline of kansei design.