Rui Lu

Bond, Emotional Bond
(In a Modular Style)


A long-lasting relationship developed by consumers with their products is not only a tremendously rewarding accomplishment for designers, but more importantly, a move against the environmental damage caused by short product life spans as well. To achieve this, the key is to create an emotional bond between consumers and products. While there are many ways to stimulate emotional bonding, modular design provides a unique opportunity. Being flexible on configuration, modular design allows numerous possibilities in promoting self-expression, social pleasure, a personal sense of accomplishment and a lasting appreciation, which all contribute to a stronger emotional bond. This thesis develops a design strategy to create an emotional bond through modular design, and test it by designing everyday objects that people will refuse to discard.

Bio

After a bachelor’s degree in industrial design and two years as a cell phone designer in China, Rui wanted to take a step further. After two and a half years his foot is finally about to land, and now he’s ready to take the next step.