Design and materials. Sensory perception_sustainability_ project

In today’s world design has to consider not only the technical and functional performance of products, but also the increasingly important cultural issues which make a product acceptable to man and the environment: sensory perception and sustainability. This book presents a method to assess the sensory characteristics and eco-compatibility of materials; designers can use this method as a tool and guide to manage the expressive-sensory aspects and environmental sustainability of the product. It is a multi-criteria tool to interpret the sensory and environmental performance of materials; the tool can be tailored to suit all kinds of cultural contexts based on the premise that it is impossible to talk of eco-compatible or ‘sensory’ materials in absolute terms. Instead it is more important to select materials, or a mix of materials, according to the various contexts of use, useful life, and end of- life of a product.