Abstract

Many of the methods used in the field of industrial design to define the products features considered the "usage" of these as a unitarian and timeless dimension. This means that the requirements, features and functions (tangible or intangible) raised at this step of the design process often focus only on the main person-object interactions, omitting moments of interaction that could be called secondary, such as the maintenance, installation, transportation, moments of "no-usage", etc. Based on a review and analysis of existing research, this paper presents an initial theoretical proposal to classify interactions based on "Instances and Events" that are repeated throughout the life of objects, often gaining more importance to the user than main functions, and thereby becomes a key aspect of industrial design methodology in a specific way to control the definition of the diverse product dimensions, particularly the emotional aspects that these involve.