Special issue on interaction and experience design

interactions, 1996

At the heart of interaction design are the people who explore, learn from, play with, and respond to products. Their experiences, as they use a range of products, from off the shelf software to websites, from electronic games to medical diagnostic equipment, are what effective interaction design is all about. This article focuses on the design of electronic products, but it is also relevant to all sorts of objects and places with which people interact: from potato peelers, shampoo and snowboards to gardens, buildings and cities-and to the experiences they provide.

DRS2018: Catalyst, 2018

By 2050 there will be more people over age 65 than under 5 in developed countries (United Nations, 2015). The question is not "are you disabled" but "when will you be disabled." Simultaneously, we are seeing a shift away from the precepts of Universal Design toward a more flexible and inclusive paradigm. Sometimes labelled "design for one," the latter builds on the heritage of barrier-free design, but aims not for design for all, but one size fits one. Our research methods should acknowledge these changes. While differentiation and customisation to individuals-via emerging technologies such as Machine Learning-is increasingly the "new norm," our current user-centred design tools presume user abilities in vision and motor dexterity. They lack inclusion. This Conversation will begin by assessing and discussing existing usercentred design methods in relation to users with disabilities. This Conversation will then broaden the discussion to consider Universal versus Inclusive Design. More specifically, how does our reconsideration of user-centred methods reflect a larger shift toward designing for unique users? What impact do emerging technologies like Machine Learning have upon these approaches? How can adaptive strategies for codesign be applied to a range of users that fall upon a spectrum of impairment?

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2009

Design and development of new instruments requires much attention with respect to safety, performance and comfort. Introducing new technology is a matter of taking care of past user experience on current technology and anticipating possible user experience on prototypes incrementally developed. The intricate spiral combination of prototyping and formative evaluations provides excellent support to include end-users in the design and development process. Human-centered design is also a combination of both analytical and user-centered (experimental) approaches. We cannot get rid of analyzing human-machine interaction using methods such as GOMS for example, and neither using professional design expertise. These methods provide an envelope of usability and usefulness issues; some are directly applicable, others issues require an experimental user-centered evaluation, i.e., real professional users are needed. Usability engineering is now very much used in industry and provides good results. Crucial problems are not technical any longer; they are financial, legal, social and finally relational. The various actors who will have an influence on the product being developed should participate. Participatory design enables to improve awareness of product attributes, i.e., what the product is really for, and how it should be made and used. A running example of the design of a new flight attendant panel to be included in the cabin of commercial aircraft is presented to support methodological claims and demonstrate approach soundness.

Traditionally, mass-produced products are designed to satisfy a majority of potential users, however, individual needs and preferences are not in focus. There is a trend of products that can change certain aspects in order to improve the fit to the individual user. They are, in that sense, personalizable. However, there is a lack of knowledge whether this approach can accommodate the demands of both automobile users and the traffic environment. A user-centered research through design approach is followed in order to explore the design space of personalizable vehicle user inter- faces to progress the understanding of interaction between user and system as well as to explore potential benefits with such a system. The research approach involved following a design process with different steps to get a holistic view of the matter: user needs in automobiles are explored, acceptance of new technology and the users emotional bonding to the product is studied, guidelines for in-vehicle interaction and information display design are reviewed, and finally, working system prototypes are iteratively designed and evaluated in a simulated traffic environment in order to gain knowledge on user experience and behaviour. Personalizable vehicle user interfaces have the potential to satisfy several of the identified user needs in automobiles and are predicted to be well accepted among users. Nearly all who tested a prototype ver- sion stated that they would like to have such a system in their cars and could see the usefulness of adapting the system to the user. It was generally believed among study participants that personalizable vehicle interfaces have the potential to make the best out of the drivers’ abilities and thus make driving better, safer, and more enjoy- able. No negative effects on driving performance were found, however, the long-term positive effects on traffic safety needs further study. The personalizable systems were experienced mostly in a positive manner, where functional and aesthetic approaches as well as emotional bonding with the product were found important. This knowledge can be used by vehicle designers and developers to build user interfaces that uses the full potential of computer technology in cars to facilitate safe and pleasurable vehicle interactions where the end-user get the power to take part in the design of his or her own user experience.

Procedia Manufacturing, 2015

This paper discusses the User-Centred Design approach. It presents UCD assumptions and concepts, the benefits for users of the products developed under it, and the complications that this practice can bring, since implies in constant iterations and user omnipresence. As a result, we discuss a possible increment of time and budget as well as reviews on this approach front to the market urgency of technology and innovation. It can be seen that although each situation deserves appropriate adjustments for the profile, the best design is still the user-centred. Examples of this approach application with children enhance the discussion over its flexibility and the gains of design projects oriented by user needs and desires.

Design Management Journal (Former Series), 1997

Applied Ergonomics, 2009

This paper introduces research that investigates how human experience influences people's understandings of product usability. It describes an experiment that employs visual representation of concepts to elicit participants' ideas of a product's use. Results from the experiment lead to the identification of relationships between human experience, knowledge, and context-of-use -relationships that influence designers' and users' concepts of product usability. These relationships are translated into design principles that inform the design activity with respect to the aspects of experience that trigger people's understanding of a product's use. A design tool (ECEDT) is devised to aid designers in the application of these principles. This tool is then trialled in the context of a design task in order to verify applicability of the findings.

IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 2004

Proceedings of the 15th European conference on Cognitive ergonomics the ergonomics of cool interaction - ECCE '08, 2008

In this paper we explore the concept of experience and develop premises for the design for experience. In industrial practice designers frequently lack sufficient expertise to design for experience. We provide a view on how to support the design for experience in those cases where a single designer or a design team is not fully equipped to do the job without help. We will illustrate and validate our approach with a design case study from practice.

2005

Traditionally, the ergonomics input into the design process has focused on the physical and cognitive effort placed on the user; increasingly, designers are being encouraged to take an inclusive view of the individual by attempting to understand their emotional and ‘pleasure ’ needs as well. Few of the methods that have been developed concerning user pleasure are available to the designer at an early stage in the design process, or in a format easily accessible to them with respect to their background and current working practices. In this paper the development of RealPeople; a DVD based ‘pleasure resource ’ for designers is described; it is designed to inspire and inform the designer in the early stages of the design process; highlighting the key ‘pleasure ’ needs of the target market and promoting greater empathy with the user. The resource that is being developed allows designers to specify a user group by selecting certain variables, and view statistically validated information ...