Which senses dominate at different stages of product experience?

In the area of product design, sensory dominance can be defined as the relative importance of different sensory modalities for product experience. Since product experience is multisensory, it is interesting to know which sensory modality plays a leading role in a particular experience, so that designers could concentrate on the creation of the most relevant product properties. It is often assumed that vision dominates other senses. In the present study, we investigated the importance of different sensory modalities during various episodes of product usage. We asked 120 respondents to describe their experiences with consumer products in the following situations: while buying a product, after the first week, the first month, and the first year of usage. The data suggest that the dominant modality depends on the period of product usage. At the moment of buying, vision is the most important modality, but at later stages other modalities become more important. The dominance of a particular modality may depend on its appropriateness for the particular task. During long-term usage, modality importance depends on product functions and the characteristics of the user-product interaction. We conclude that to create a long-lasting positive product experience, designers need to consider the user-product interaction at different stages of product usage and to determine which sensory modality dominates product experience at each stage. Keywords: Sensory Dominance; User-Product Interaction; Product Design</p

The bodily basis of product experience

Based on the work of Lakoff and Johnson, this paper argues that part of our product experience is rooted in bodily interactions between people and their environments. Lakoff and Johnson convincingly demonstrated that repeated bodily interactions of a similar kind lead to the formation of image schemas guiding our understanding of verbal expressions. Here, it is proposed that the same underlying principles also govern our understanding of the expression of products. If correct, product expressions theoretically structured by the same underlying schema must be highly related. An experimental study involving chairs partly confirmed this prediction. The paper closes with a tentative discussion on how a chair's perceived expression could be related to the embodiment of schemas in its spatial and material features

Factors contributing to product experience: The cases of 'warmth' and 'freshness'

Designers can manipulate physical properties of a product: they can change its colour, texture and smell. But can we also predict people’s product experiences such as ‘freshness’ and ‘warmth’? We collected 10 smells and 10 colours for freshness, and 10 textures and 10 colours for warmth. Participants evaluated the freshness of 20 stimuli for a softdrink and a dishwashing liquid, and the warmth of 20 stimuli for a scarf and a tray. The results showed that sensory experiences (freshness and warmth) include affective components (pleasantness and comfort) and depend on the product. Our findings imply that ‘freshness’ and ‘warmth’ are complex product experiences that integrate sensory, affective, and semantic components. To predict users’ reactions to products we need to take into account all three components of these experiences

Positive AI: Key Challenges for Designing Wellbeing-aligned Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the world as we know it, implying that it is up to the current generation to use the technology for ''good.'' We argue that making good use of AI constitutes aligning it with the wellbeing of conscious creatures. However, designing wellbeing-aligned AI systems is difficult. In this article, we investigate a total of twelve challenges that can be categorized as related to a lack of knowledge (how to contextualize, operationalize, optimize, and design AI for wellbeing), and lack of motivation (designing AI for wellbeing is seen as risky and unrewarding). Our discussion can be summarized into three key takeaways: 1) our understanding of the impact of systems on wellbeing should be advanced, 2) systems should be designed to promote and sustain wellbeing intentionally, and 3), above all, Positive AI starts with believing that we can change the world for the better and that it is profitable

Towards an HCI model for eudaimonic growth - A phenomenological inquiry into travelers' serious leisure pursuits and cultivation of character strengths

Many people strive for a life characterized by self-growth and meaning, considered to be innate needs, by actualizing their authentic potentials during their lifespans. Positive psychology (PP) has termed this self-development process as eudaimonia—to live a virtuous life. From this perspective, such a life can be attained by individuals through cultivating key character strengths. On the other hand, the fields of leisure and tourism regard eudaimonia as the sustained pursuit of leisure activities that involve specific skills, knowledge, and experience. This study combines these two bodies of knowledge to propose a human-computer interaction (HCI) model that can facilitate individual eudaimonic growth through the serious pursuit of leisure activities applicable to the eTourism platform. By integrating concepts reported in the current literature with the results of our phenomenological investigation, we highlight three key findings to support the development of this model: 1. Individual eudaimonic development can be appreciated from both cross- sectional and developmental perspectives; 2. In addition to performance seeking behavior, individual satisfaction and fulfillment can emerge from the process of exercising one’s character strengths; 3. Goal formation and introspection are specific aspects that contribute to the meaning of an experience. The proposed HCI model comprises two interrelated components: a strength-based recommender system and personal reflective journaling informatics. The HCI model assumes that eudaimonic growth can occur when both systems are in action

The beauty of balance – an empirical integration of the unified model of aesthetics for product design

The Unified Model of Aesthetics provides a comprehensive theory on aesthetics of product design. It posits that aesthetic appreciation derives from the reconciliation of the needs for safety and accomplishment, which manifests itself through the principles of unity-­‐in-­‐variety, most-­‐advanced-­‐yet-­‐acceptable and autonomous-­‐yet-­‐connected. The present study considers the empirical integration of these principles, using a survey that scrutinizes aesthetic preferences of 300 respondents for 20 products. The principles are scrutinized separately, after which we conduct an integrated test to examine their combined effect and relative importance for aesthetic appreciation. We find that the perceptual qualities of unity and variety strongly affect aesthetic appreciation, but the typicality of a design becomes of little importance when taking into account perceptual and social measures

BALANCING INTUITION AND RATIONALITY FOR IMPROVING INNOVATION DECISION-MAKING: THE ROLE OF DESIGN CONSULTANCIES

ABSTRACT To contain risks and increase the profitability of innovation efforts, firms frequently engage in joint innovation activities with external sources of knowledge, like design consultancies. Innovation literature has given limited consideration to the strategic role that design consultancies can play in the innovation efforts of their clients. A plausible explanation reside in the difficulty to assess and quantify the quality of their output, given the intangibility of the output itself and the difficulty of connecting a knowledge-intensive output to clients&apos; performance indicators. By analyse the data from 7 dyadic case studies, we examine design consultancies&apos; impact on their clients&apos; strategic decision-making as a way of capturing their strategic role in clients&apos; innovation efforts. We conclude that design consultancies can influence clients&apos; strategic decisions by enhancing the two main strategic decision-making mechanisms identified by the literature -rationality and intuition. Design consultancies&apos; impact on strategic decision-making is then transferred to some indicators of innovation performance. Early involvement in problem definition and long term relationships with clients seem t.o strengthen design professionals&apos; influence

Design for behaviour change as a driver for sustainable innovation : challenges and opportunities for implementation in the private and public sectors

Over the last decade, design for behaviour change has become increasingly recognised as a strategy for enabling social change. Despite this, we are far from understanding its implementation, especially through the private and public sectors. This study has surveyed private and public sector stakeholders with regard to their current knowledge of, and approach to, design for behaviour change. The aim was to identify the challenges for professional stakeholders in understanding, accessing and implementing design for behaviour change. Underpinned by a literature review of design for behaviour change theories and approaches, an online survey and two focus groups with private and public sector stakeholders were conducted with particular focus on small and medium size enterprises (SMEs). The results identified that there is a significant disconnect between available theoretical knowledge of design for behaviour change and its practical implementation. Reasons for this include a lack of awareness and common language, of evidence based examples, and of evaluation methods and inter-sector collaborations. In response, a set of recommendations has been developed to propose ways forward for the wider understanding and application of design for behaviour change