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The cards help you effectively design for happiness using five emotion regulation strategies, each with five practical techniques. Based on psychologist James Gross’s “Process Model of Emotion Regulation,” these strategies include: (1) situation selection, (2) situation modification, (3) attentional deployment, (4) positive reappraisal, and (5) response modulation. Each strategy offers five simple, actionable techniques, providing you with 25 tools to enhance user happiness. 

This paper investigates how negative emotions arising from anxious attachment can be effectively mitigated through the design of interactions and how design-supported attachment stabilization can contribute to well-being. Anxious attachment is a type of attachment that is prominent in individuals who are highly dependent on others and have lower self-esteem in interpersonal relationships (e.g., “I need constant reassurance from my partner to feel secure.”). To illustrate how interactions can be systematically designed to alleviate anxious attachment, the paper presents the development of a self- administered interactive device that supports users in the contexts of underachievement, self- depreciation, and future worries. The development process was informed by a diary study with individuals with anxious attachment that explored daily coping strategies, and a design workshop with design professionals that generated a set of design strategies. A ten-day field evaluation study showed the device’s effectiveness in alleviating negative emotions associated with anxious attachment through three aspects: facilitating explicit emotion awareness, encouraging positive self- perception, and introspecting the problems at hand. These positive effects were more pronounced when experiencing moderate and low intense negative emotions. This paper discusses implications for design practice with future research directions. 

When we anticipate enjoyable events or share positive experiences with others we can prolong and amplify our positive emotions. These and other savouring techniques can increase our subjective well-being. Yet, it remains unknown whether practising of diverse savouring techniques adds its own positive effect. In this 1 × 3 randomised controlled trial, 71 participants used a novel, interactive poster to facilitate high vs. low savouring diversity over eight days, or they journaled in the control condition. Unlike other positive psychology interventions (PPIs), the poster was designed to inspire users to self-select their own positive activities. Regression analyses showed that while cognitive well-being increased in the high savouring diversity condition, emotional well-being did not. These results suggested that assigning savouring diversity may have modestly contributed to users’ cognitive well-being. Written responses further convey the poster’s potential effectiveness in promoting positive experiences. Implications for design practice and directions for future research are discussed. 

This two-part article explores the concept of emotional connoisseurship— the art of appreciating lived emotional experiences in emotion-driven design (EDD). In Part 1, we aim to establish and position the concept within the current EDD theoretical landscape. We first review the concept of connoisseurship, its origins, development, and relevance to professional practices. Second, building upon the existing design literature, we scrutinize the relationships between design connoisseurship and design expertise. We then conceptualize emotional connoisseurship as an essential skill that designers aspiring to practice EDD must actively cultivate, along with learning EDD theories, methods, and tools. After that, we reflect on how previous EDD research outcomes (i.e., emotional granularity design tools) can support the development of a designer’s emotional connoisseurship, especially in a schema-oriented or top-down manner, and argue the need for a sensibil- ity-oriented or bottom-up approach. Part 1 sets the stage for Part 2. Part 2 will detail our pedagogical initiative supporting the self-cultivation of emotional connoisseurship among novice designers through a sensibility- oriented approach. 

Nature experiences, especially the visual aspects of nature, have been widely used to facilitate relaxation. Fueled by digital technology, simulated visual nature experiences have gained popularity in creating healing environments that induce relaxation. However, while easily applicable, not all nature-imitating visuals lead to relaxation. How to effectively design relaxing visual nature experiences remains largely unexplored. This paper investigates how different nature qualities facilitate relaxing visual experiences and the roles of two personal characteristics (mood and nature-relatedness) play. Through an online survey and interviews, we assessed 16 nature video clips, representing eight distinctive nature qualities, and compared perceived experiences while considering the influence of personal characteristics. The results indicate four types of visual qualities (engaging, instinctive, ambient, and derivative) underlying nature-induced relaxation, and show that nature relatedness influences the degree to which nature video clips elicit relaxation. We discuss design implications for creating personalized digital nature.