Benefit of Inconvenience: Revising Human Ability for the Design of Kansei Design

In response to Norman’s argument that human-centred design can be harmful, this paper introduces the concept of Benefit of Inconvenience, and explores the potential of Kansei Design. Benefit of inconvenience is the enhanced user value that is brought about by adding extra effort (and time) to daily activities that aim to achieve certain objectives. The concept identifies its notability in design research and practice due to its perspective that places a user as a constituent factor of a holistic design system for solving a problem rather than regarding the user merely as a recipient of the solution. Subsequently, a possible integration of the benefit of inconvenience, KJ Method and Kansei Engineering (the methodologies that leverage kansei and intellect for structuring meanings of the world and translating the structured meanings into physical specification) that together forms Kansei Design (one of the possible accomplishment forms of design management) is illustrated.