The Research Of Emotional Interactive Product Design For Empty-Nesters In Rural Areas

With the development of China’s modernization and urbanization, the rural family structureand membership has gone through tremendous cha nges. Nuclear families become more and more,increasingly have replaced the traditional joint family and the backbone of the family, become amainstream family. The development of China’s urban economy led to the trend of migrant workerspouring into the city. A large number of young labors have gone to the city from the countryside toseek development. Thus, there is a new family pattern emerging in the rural community---theempty-nest family of elderly family members. The number of such empty-nest families becomesmore and more. Thus, there are more and more problems of empty nesters followed by which oneof the most prominent problem is the emotional need of the rural empty-nesters. This is a seriousproblem worthy of national and social concernsThis article surveys and analyzes the living status and daily behavior of empty-nesters in ruralareas through questionnaires, field interviews and observations. The results show that the emptynest elderly in rural areas have very serious negative feelings of loneliness, frustration and a lack ofsense of belonging. There is seldom interaction and communication between them and theirchildren, friends, neighbors. This article presents the concept of emotional interactive productdesign, in order to solve this problem. The emotion interactive product is aimed at making therelationship between rural empty nesters and their children, friends and neighbors more close, andcreating more opportunity to interact with each other, in order to help empty-nesters to release thenegative emotions in hearts, to accept positive emotions.This paper presents a new issue-emotional interactive product design, combining the twoareas of product design and emotional interaction. It analyzes the concept of emotional interactionproducts, four functional elements of the product, and five emotional design principles foremotional interaction. It also analyzes the emotional status of the rural empty-nesters, thebehavioral characteristics of the empty-nesters in rural areas, and their real needs. At last, this articlepresents a product design processes and method of emotional interaction design, and puts forward areasonable solution and product case design for the empty nest elderly in rural areas.