Designing for positive upcycling experiences with people’s well-being in mind

People’s usual anticipation towards material consumption is that it pleases us, yet consumption experiences are not always pleasurable nor give us long-lasting positive emotional experiences. People sometimes regret their purchase, or the pleasure from material gain may wear off quickly, which does not make people happy in the long run. We propose that upcycling as a do-it-yourself experience could be a promising pathway for individuals to gain long-lasting happiness (throughout the positive experiences in the process of upcycling) as well as resulting outcomes of upcycling which could facilitate further positive use experiences and special meaning (e.g. contributing to reducing negative environmental impact). This chapter introduces how researchers and practitioners in service or experience design and development could use positive emotional granularity (PEG) in order to design for positive upcycling experiences that contribute to people’s well-being.