Flux of Light: Experience-Oriented Platform for the Selection of Luminescent Materials in the Product Design Field

Within the context of the digital era, materials have been posed as channels to convey information in products, both related to function and desired emotional values to elicit in targeted users, making their selection critical for the fabrication of thoughtful experiences. Smart materials, such as luminescent ones, are stimuli-responsive materials, distinguished for their capacity to engage in complex sensorial dialogue with the user through the qualities and characteristics of the light they can emit. Nowadays, the demands of the era provide designers with the necessity to understand the full spectrum of properties of this kind of materials, distinguishing their potentialities to guide and support their incorporation into novel experience-oriented products. This work describes the foundation and structure of a decision-making Open Educational Resource (OER) platform aimed to facilitate the selection and information spread of luminescent materials for product designers under both functional and hedonic means. For such an aim, the database framework of the above-mentioned platform has been constructed through a combination of methods, considering the results obtained from several luminescent project case studies, material database analysis, and users' involvement questionnaires.