This project required us to depict the image of services and society, as well as the happiness they bring to individuals. Traditionally, such visualizations were done through videos and posters. However, this project required the following four elements:

+Depicting happiness in an empathetic manner.
+Clearly showing how products and services function so that anyone can understand.
+Explaining the future society intuitively without over-explaining.
+Engaging interest and conveying content quickly.
Considering these conditions, we decided that manga would be the most suitable medium. Manga can:
+Richly depict emotions and gain empathy.
+Carefully illustrate scenes where users use the products in chronological order.
+Incorporate details about the world in the background and small panels.
+Attract attention with its unique style and can be easily distributed in printed form.
Personally, I have been interested in the "power to attract interest" and "ability to clearly depict story arcs" that manga possesses and wanted to utilize these qualities in a project someday. With reference to the method of SF prototyping, we challenged ourselves to visualize happiness through manga for the first time as DENSO DESIGN.

The manga targets various business and research areas of DENSO, considering how DENSOʼs products should evolve to connect to user happiness. We developed the scenarios, and sometimes even the names, and collaborated with manga artists and illustrators for the actual production phase. Although we faced challenges due to our limited experience in storytelling, the new endeavor was rewarding. We were able to proceed with production thanks to the ideas, artistic charm, and high skill in scenario writing of the manga artists and illustrators.

To gather a wide range of opinions on diverse happiness, we first communicated the project internally. We promoted it on the internal website and distributed printed booklets in cafeterias, collecting feedback through surveys from those who viewed them. We found that printed distribution reached more people than web promotion, resulting in numerous inquiries from within the company. This highlighted the need to better utilize the real spaces where over 10,000 people interact closely.

At the same time, recognizing that internal opinions alone are insufficient for considering diverse happiness, we exhibited the manga at the Japan Mobility Show 2023 and DENSO DESIGN OPEN LAB 2023. This allowed us to gather insights from a broader audience, including students, children, and seniors who are not part of DENSO, providing valuable hints for considering diverse happiness.

Related Articles:
[Information] Exhibiting at Japan Mobility Show 2023

Related Articles:
[Works] Happiness Brought by HX Design DENSO DESIGN OPEN LAB 2023

In our surveys, we asked about the degree of empathy and how much respondents would be willing to pay for the happiness depicted in each manga scenario. By measuring whether the happiness is accepted, actively desired, or worth paying for, we aim to understand what kinds of happiness are sought by which types of people and clarify the happiness that DENSO should be involved in providing.

We have currently released six manga, with plans to add three more by the end of fiscal 2023. We hope you will view the updated content and participate in the surveys.

Related Articles:
[Works] Well-Being Research Quantifying Happiness