User experiences with flexible offices

Different office types provide the preconditions for distinct user experiences. However, research evidence on how users appraise flexible offices such as activity-based or combi offices is not as abundant as in the case of the more traditional open-plan and cell offices. Furthermore, the available literature shows discrepant results between flexible offices. The main difference between traditional and flexible offices is that the design of the latter is intended for users to switch between different shared spaces and workstations oriented to support different activities, needs and preferences. This office design may offer new opportunities and challenges for users as their experiences at work may be influenced by design qualities (or constellations of them) that are not present in traditional offices. I study the experiences of users with flexible offices because I want to understand the influences that the design qualities of office artefacts and spaces have on such experiences, as well as their design implications. In addition, I utilise the acquired knowledge to explore design opportunities for positive user experiences with flexible offices. In this regard, the research angle adopted builds on a UX theoretical background and a practical approach with multiple user studies in real office environments. The findings show that user experiences with flexible offices are influenced by interrelated design qualities of the spaces and artefacts in use, rather than isolated qualities. These (tangible and intangible) qualities define the nature of an artefact, a space, or constellations of them that users experience, for instance the qualities of an office chair vs. a meeting room. Experiences are subjective, but relate to both individual and collective experiences, for example using an ergonomic workstation vs. sharing such workstations. The findings also suggest that designing for user experiences with flexible offices is a highly complex endeavour, and that emphasis should be placed on designing for the experiences of pleasure, community, autonomy, purpose, and control over the environment. Utilising this knowledge to develop and test research prototypes allowed for a richer understanding of the experiential process and its relation to more systemic aspects such as the context of use or the temporality of experiences. Derived from these research activities and their findings, I present in this thesis the tentative SEEX (Stimuli-Evaluation-EXperiential outcome) model of how user experiences take place. This thesis contributes knowledge on theoretical and practical levels for academics and practitioners to continue studying office user experiences from a UX perspective, support informed decisions in the planning, operation, and evaluation of offices, and explore design opportunities for office environments

ICS Materials. Towards a re-Interpretation of material qualities through interactive, connected, and smart materials.

The domain of materials for design is changing under the influence of an increased technological advancement, miniaturization and democratization. Materials are becoming connected, augmented, computational, interactive, active, responsive, and dynamic. These are ICS Materials, an acronym that stands for Interactive, Connected and Smart. While labs around the world are experimenting with these new materials, there is the need to reflect on their potentials and impact on design. This paper is a first step in this direction: to interpret and describe the qualities of ICS materials, considering their experiential pattern, their expressive sensorial dimension, and their aesthetic of interaction. Through case studies, we analyse and classify these emerging ICS Materials and identified common characteristics, and challenges, e.g. the ability to change over time or their programmability by the designers and users. On that basis, we argue there is the need to reframe and redesign existing models to describe ICS materials, making their qualities emerge

Design Resources in Movement-based Design Methods:A Practice-based Characterization

Movement-based design methods are increasingly adopted to help design rich embodied experiences. While there are well-known methods in the field, there is no systematic overview to help designers choose among them, adapt them, or create their own. We collected 41 methods used by movement design researchers and employed a practice-based, bottom-up approach to analyze and characterize their properties. We found 17 categories and arranged them into five main groups: Design Resources, Activities, Delivery, Framing, and Context. In this paper, we describe these groups in general and then focus on Design Resources containing the categories of Movement, Space, and Objects. We ground the characterization with examples from empirical material provided by the design researchers and references to previous work. Additionally, we share recommendations and action points to bring these into practice. This work can help novice and seasoned design researchers who want to employ movement-based design methods in their practice.This research was supported by the EU Erasmus+ project Method Cardsfor Movement-based Interaction Design (2020-1-DK01-KA203-075164) IO4: Gathering movement-frst methods for the design of movement-based experiences. This work was also partially supported by the Madrid Government (Comunidad de Madrid) under the Multiannual Agreement with UC3M in the line of Research Funds for Beatriz Galindo Fellowships (MovIntPlayLab-CM-UC3M 2021/00050/001) in the context of the V PRICIT (Regional Programme of Research and Technological Innovation), and by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 101002711; project BODYinTRANSIT). We would like to collectively acknowledge all the people and institutions that have made possible the individual projects featured in this paper: ACHIEVE, KOMPAN Workshop, Astaire, Super Trouper (Vetenskapsrådet grant number 2017-04880), Magic outFit (Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación, PID2019-105579RBI00), Sense2makeSense (SpanishAgencia Estatal de Investigación, PID2019-109388GB-I00), LearnSPORTtech, Tangibles, DigiFys (Sweden Innovation Agency Vinnova grant number 2016-03777), Diverging Squash, GIFT, and Online Course in Embodied Interaction

Customer buying experience in multichannel retailing : Transition fluency during customers’ interactions with click-and-mortar furniture and interior design retailers

Meaningful, memorable and unique customer experiences are proved to influence customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, creating value for companies. However, due to changing multichannel environment and the lack of common understanding of customer experience phenomenon, many retailers struggle to provide their customers with exceptional experiences. This study took on a challenge to conceptualise customer buying experience in multichannel context. The aim of this study was to explore what relevance experience of the multichannel customer during his/her transitions between online and offline retail channels has in customer buying experience. The focus was placed on customer interactions with click-and-mortar furniture and interior design retailers. Multi-method qualitative research design was chosen to explore the phenomena and seek the support for the conceptual framework developed in the literature review. Qualitative data was collected through ten individual semi-structured interviews with consumers and two consumer focus groups, which resulted in 7 hours 12 minutes of audio material. Despite the challenges of approaching such an intangible topic, both data collection methods gave useful insights into the topic of customer buying experience formation. The data was mainly in line with the suggested theoretical model, but also succeeded to develop the model further, bringing the components of customer buying experience closer to service quality components, and emphasising even more the role of channel integration and omnichannel strategies. Basing on the results of this study, several hypotheses for future quantitative research can be proposed. The managerial implications of this study may be useful in the field of specialised multichannel retailing

Designing Inclusive Playscapes Across Sensorial + Socio-Spatial Boundaries

Our emotional experience in public environments is considered to be superficial, although their configurations impact how well we can see, hear, move around, and interact in them daily. ‘Lonely, but not alone’ describes many of today’s urban dwellers. For some people, participation in civic life can be challenging, especially since the barriers (physical, psychological, etc.) faced by some are not always apparent to others, even to designers. This Major Research Project explores the relationship between the level of playfulness expressed in an urban space and user experience. Along with case study investigations and the Delphi method, 42 citizens (estimated to be 21 years of age or older) participated via interviews in Toronto, Canada. An urban design framework of 64 playful design features called The Multi-Playscape Toolkit, which can be used by urban designers and architects, has been developed and now contributes to the knowledge base. Using the Toronto context, recommendations are provided to promote more urban playfulness, more lenient policymaking, and more inclusive design practices in our public spaces

Employing Mixed Reality Applications : Customer Experience Perspective

The study analyses twelve empirical cases employing different Mixed Reality (MR) applications: 1) 360-videos, 2) augmented reality (AR) mobile applications, 3) augmented virtuality (AV), and 4) AV+AR. The empirical data in all cases consist of observations of users’ and potential customers’ experiences with different MR applications followed by qualitative interviews. The study assesses how various MR applications can create experience-centric services. The research focus is in service and sensory design as well as in customer experience management. The study results suggest that MR can provide new opportunities for prolonged customer experiences in terms of new encounters and cues, different sensory effects and improved social interactions among business representatives and fellow customers. Furthermore, MR experiences can generate positive word-of-mouth especially in cases with dramatic structures. Finally, the results suggest that the customers' willingness-to-interact with service personnel increase after a MR experience.The study analyses twelve empirical cases employing different Mixed Reality (MR) applications: 1) 360-videos, 2) augmented reality (AR) mobile applications, 3) augmented virtuality (AV), and 4) AV+AR. The empirical data in all cases consist of observations of users’ and potential customers’ experiences with different MR applications followed by qualitative interviews. The study assesses how various MR applications can create experience-centric services. The research focus is in service and sensory design as well as in customer experience management. The study results suggest that MR can provide new opportunities for prolonged customer experiences in terms of new encounters and cues, different sensory effects and improved social interactions among business representatives and fellow customers. Furthermore, MR experiences can generate positive word-of-mouth especially in cases with dramatic structures. Finally, the results suggest that the customers' willingness-to-interact with service personnel increase after a MR experience.Peer reviewe