Abstract
Aesthetics is a central quality attribute of a product. Research into the relationship between aesthetics in human–technology interaction and the well-being of older people is still in its infancy. In care homes, aesthetics can play a major role in creating a ‘feeling of home’, which is important when the transition to assisted living may involve multiple changes and losses that affect an older person’s well-being. This chapter discusses the potential of aesthetic design to address older people’s emotional well-being. Aesthetics in technology and technological environments provides a new ethical way of looking at valuable problems in design—meaningfulness in terms of personal and individual symbolic values and the harmonizing potential of artefacts to create a ‘feeling of home’. Promoting the aesthetic well-being of older people in care homes (and in general) deserves further attention.
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Leikas, J. (2020). Aesthetic Well-Being and Ethical Design of Technology. In: Rousi, R., Leikas, J., Saariluoma, P. (eds) Emotions in Technology Design: From Experience to Ethics. Human–Computer Interaction Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53483-7_10
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