Topic
The consideration of experiential and emotional aspects has recently become central to our understanding of
interaction with technology. Today, user experience (UX) and user affect are considered as essential factors in
the interaction with technology in terms of delivering experiences and providing value for the users. They are
also acknowledged important for increasing a product’s market success.
The field of UX has arisen from a need to take a more holistic approach to design and also from the observation
that a focus on traditional performance and task oriented usability cannot account for everything. UX has been
approached and defined in many ways but most approaches consider UX to essentially consist of emotional,
sensual (visceral or physical), behavioural, ideological (reflective or cognitive), and social levels (e.g. Battarbee,
2004; Jordan, 2000; McCarthy & Wright, 2004; Norman, 2004). Also, product features (form, function and
interaction), user’s characteristics and interpretations (such as past experiences, current emotional state, etc.),
context of use including spatio-temporal viewpoints are considered central aspects of UX (e.g. Forlizzi & Ford,
2000; Vyas & van der Veer, 2006).
Emotions are recognized as a central factor affecting UX and human motivational behaviour in general
Researchers see emotions as complex psychological, physiological, and social phenomena. They involve
concurrent changes in experiential, behavioural, and physiological systems that organize human motivational
behaviour (e.g. Keltner & Gross, 1999; Mauss et al, 2005). Thus, research on emotions is a wide field ranging
from laboratory studies measuring physiological responses to sociological studies of emotions in interaction.
Within HCI, the field of affective computing has shown promise for significantly improving both cognitive and
emotional aspects of human-technology interaction (Picard, 1997; Klein et al., 2002; Partala & Surakka, 2004)
However, the research so far has been described as technology-driven and focused on individual reactions
(Hassenzahl and Tractinsky, 2006; Boehner et al, 2007).
A design perspective could help in recognizing the social and cultural aspects of emotion. For example, Desmet
(2002) has suggested design that aims at evoking specific emotions in users and Jordan (2000) has proposed a
framework for designing pleasurable products. The approach of funology aims to extend design from usability to
aesthetic attractiveness and enjoyment (Blythe et al., 2004). These factors are especially important for products
used outside work context.
The goal of the present workshop is to discuss how UX and emotions should be studied in different contexts and
for different goals (e.g., basic research versus informed design). In the process, research approaches and methods
(e.g., laboratory experiments and field studies) for studying UX and emotions will be critically reviewed. This
includes envisioning what kind of approaches future research on the area should employ.
The workshop focuses on discussing the following questions:
- What are current research approaches and methods to understand UX and user affect?
- What value existing research methods of UX and user affect have?
- Are the existing methods appropriate to reflect everyday UX with technical system
interactions?
- How different reserach methods, focusing on pieces and whole, can benefit the understanding
of UX? How the role of fine details, like design elements, could be understood as a part of
whole experience in the holistical macroscopic (e.g. qualitative and/or long-term field) studies?
In contrast, how microscopic controlled studies focusing on very spesific details could reflect
UX as a whole?
- What implications can we draw from the research of UX and user affect on the design and evaluation of
interactive technology products? Can we design products in order to elicit specific emotions and
experiences?
References
Battarbee, K. (2004). Co-experience: understanding experiences in social interaction.
Academic dissertation, Publication series of University of Art and Design Helsinki, A51.
Blythe, M.A., Overbeeke, K., Monk, A., and Wright, P. (2004). Funology: From Usability to
Enjoyment, Kluwer Academic Publishers, the Netherlands.
Boehner, K., DePaula, R., Dourish, P., and Sengers, P. (2007). How emotion is made and
measured. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 65, 275-291.
Desmet, P. (2002). Designing Emotions. Doctoral Thesis, Delft University of
Technology.
Forlizzi, J. and Ford, S. (2000). The building blocks of experience: an early framework for
interaction designers. Proc. of Designing Interactive Systems, DIS’00, 419-423.
Hassenzahl, M., & Tractinsky, N. (2006). User experience – a research agenda. Behaviour and Information
Technology, 25(2), 91-97.
Jordan, P. (2000). Designing Pleasurable Products: An Introduction to the New Human Factors. Taylor and
Francis, London.
Keltner, D. and Gross, J.J. (1999). Functional accounts of emotions. Cognition and Emotion, 13, 5, 467-480.
Klein, J, Moon, Y, and Picard, R.W. (2002). This computer responds to user frustration: theory, design, and
results. Interacting with computers, 14, 119-140.
Mauss, I. B.; Levenson, R. W.; McCarter, L.; Wilhelm, F. H. & Gross, J. J. (2005). The tie that binds?
Coherence among emotion experience, behavior, and physiology. Emotion, 5, 2, 175-190.
McCarthy, J. and Wright, P. (2004). Technology as Experience. The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Norman, D. A. (2004). Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things. New
York: Basic Books.
Partala, T. and Surakka, V. (2004). The effects of affective interventions in human-computer
interaction, Interacting with Computers, 16, 295-309.
Picard, R.W. (1997). Affective Computing. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Vyas, D. and van der Veer, G.C. (2006). Experience as meaning: some underlying concepts
and implications for design. Proceedings of the 13th European Conference on Cognitive Ergonomics,
ECCE’06, 81-91.
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