Gravity Sketch Student Ambassador 

Anticipated Physio Pleasure

This vehicle has been designed to provide a very visceral tactile experience.

On the exterior the user will feel the slick polycarbonate shell beneath their fingers, opening it up to enter the cockpit. 

The interior has a variety of affordances that encourage the user to interact with them. The rubberised handlebars, the aluminum mechanical keyboard, the large spinning trackball, the hugging seat. The warm glow of the orange interfaces, and the low hum of good vibrations; the large rubber tires grip the road while the electric motors accelerate with power. 

All these sensory aspects come together to facilitate excitement:  anticipation for acceleration as the vehicle becomes an extension of the user. 

When analyzing the secondary and background emotions, it was apparent that the interaction between the vehicle and its environment would be critical (Poggenpohl, n.d.) to understanding emotional impact beyond the surface of primary emotions. To improve the emotional impact of the design I created this illustration which provides more context, and explored the following: 

Secondary Emotions: 

Socio pleasure 

This bike was designed to show off its functional components instead of hiding them away under fenders. Designed to be seen and understood. To provoke deep thought, ingenuity, and invention in the mind of the beholder. The vehicle computer has an interface to reprogram and modify vehicle performance instead of hiding it away in a black box. Through these design choices it will be a catalyst to facilitate a community of hackers and modders, people who find social value around sharing and developing skills to do with tuning their vehicles for maximum performance.

Background Emotions:

Ideo Pleasure 

This open-box mentality not only facilitates community, but it also aligns itself with ideological values which previously were in conflict with one another. People who loved to modify their classic hotrods could not embrace electric vehicles because current electric vehicle companies lock away all customization from the users. They are anti-modder, and anti right to repair. Despite common knowledge of the issues of carbon emissions, Gearheads are conflicted ideologically when it comes to adopting electric vehicles. 

Imagine a future where ideologies such as “the right to repair”, “you only truly own what you understand”, and modding culture, work in harmony with the electric vehicle values of environmental stewardship. By meeting these ideological values this vehicle can provide a good emotional experience which endures long term.