3rd year studio

Design for Happiness Instructor: Elisha Tal

Design for happiness? Why does it matter, and is it even possible?

Aristotle argued that happiness is the ultimate purpose of life. The question of how design can promote happiness is therefore not only fascinating — it's also essential.

In this course, we will delve into the connection between design and happiness, and the ways in which design can promote happiness. Since happiness is a personal experience, we will first explore the topic through ourselves: you will design a personal product and examine how it promotes genuine, lasting emotional wellbeing for you.

Over the past few decades, our material wellbeing has improved significantly — we have more products than ever before, and they're better than ever. The products around us solve problems, make our lives more convenient and safer, and certainly make us feel good. But when we examine levels of happiness and emotional wellbeing (Happiness, Wellbeing), we find a complicated picture — even a decline in happiness levels and a rise in rates of depression and anxiety. As designers, we face a paradox: design promises to improve users' lives, but in practice its effect on emotional wellbeing is usually small and fades quickly.

Can we design differently?

Design for Happiness is an innovative field grounded in positive psychology, aiming to directly influence users' long-term emotional wellbeing. In this course, we'll explore what the science says about happiness, and learn how to translate these insights into more meaningful products and designs.