Experience Design

A more recent work is "Experience Design: Technology for All the Right Reasons" by Marc Hassenzahl from 2010 [Has10]. Hassenzahl comes up with a different understanding of designing for experiences than McCarthy and Wright. In his design approach he puts the experience first, "The experience approach to designing interactive products, thus, starts from the assumption that if we want to design for experience, we have to put them first, that is, before the products" (p. 2-3 in [Has10]). Therefore, the focus is on experiences, whereas technologies serve as "...creators, facilitators and mediators," (p.9 in [Has10]) of experiences. Hassenzahl argues for the possibilites of creating experiences through interactive products, because, "Although interactive products are not considered as experiences in themselves, through their power to shape what we feel, think, and do, they will inevitably influence our experience" (p. 9 in [Has10]).

For designing experiences through interactive products Hassenzahl highlights crucial aspects, which are described in the following.

Hierarchical Goals in Experience Design

Human-computer interaction (HCI) is understood by Hassenzahl as, "...goal-directed action mediated by an interactive product" (p.11 in [Has10]). It is upon goals of action that he sets up a

Figure 2.3: The hierarchy of goals (cf. Figure 2.1 on page 12 in [Has10]).

hierarchical model for the designing of interactive products, which describes the interplay of an actor and the world through different levels of goals.

The model is divided into three levels (see Figure 2.3). The middle level contains the do-goals (the

WHAT level), which define WHAT an actor wants to obtain. Hassenzahl explains the do-goals by example of "making a telephone call," which can be performed through different technologies, for example with Skype, with a cell phone, or with a landline. These do-goals exist only because of the underlying technology, without the invention of communication technology no one had the do-goal of "making a telephone call."

The bottom level is the level of motor goals (the HOW level), which describe HOW an actor performs the do-goal, decomposed into sub-goals, like taking the handset, pressing the buttons, or reading letters from a display. These motor goals differ from the underlying technology. Hassenzahl discerns that the HCI focuses on the middle and the bottom level (the WHAT and

HOW levels), which clarifies WHAT an actor obtains through interacting with a product and

HOW an actor performs this action. But his hierarchical model of goals contains another level on top, the be-goals, which constitute the WHY level. Examples given for be-goals are, "being competent," "being admired," "being close to others," "being autonomous," and "being stimulated" (p.13 in [Has10]). This layer is more self-related, as seen in Figure 2.3, than related to the outside world. The be-goals motivate the action, like "being close to each other," in the example

Need Description Autonomy-

Independence Feeling like you are the cause of your own actions rather than feeling thatexternal forces or pressure are the cause of your action Competence-

effectance Feeling that you are very capable and effective in your actions rather thanfeeling incompetent or ineffective Relatedness-

belongingness Feeling that you have regular intimate contact with people who care aboutyou rather than feeling lonely and uncared of Selfactualizing-

meaning Feeling that you are developing your best potentials and making life mean-ingful rather than feeling stagnant and that life does not have much meaning Security-

control Feeling safe and in control of your life rather than feeling uncertain and threat-ened by your circumstances Money-

luxury Feeling that you have plenty of money to buy most of what you want ratherthan feeling like a poor person who has no nice possessions Influence-

popularity Feeling that you are liked, respected, and have influence over others ratherthan feeling like a person whose advice or opinion nobody is interested in Physical

thriving—bodily Feeling that your body is healthy and well-taken care of rather than feelingout of shape and unhealthy Self-esteem-

self-respect Feeling that you are a worthy person who is as good as anyone else ratherthan feeling like a "loser" Pleasure-

stimulation Feeling that you get plenty of enjoyment and pleasure rather than feelingbored and understimulated by life

Table 2.1:List of Psychological Needs (from p. 46 in [Has10]).

of the do-goal "making a telephone call." Through this motivation the do-goal of "making a telephone call" becomes meaningful. Thereby the be-goals clarifyWHYa user wants to act, i.e. interact with a product. Hassenzahl’s three-layer model clarifies, "...that experience [is comprised] of perception, action, motivation, and cognition—it emerges from the simultaneous activation of those sub-processes represented by the three levels and integrates them into a meaningful, inseparable whole" (p.13 in [Has10]). For the designing of experience, what is called Experi- ence Design by Hassenzahl, all three layers of this model have necessarily to be taken into account.

Psychological Needs in Experience Design

In order to benefit in Experience Design from the extended view of the be-goals, that is theWHY

of an action, Hassenzahl introduced a non-hierarchical list of psychological needs (based on [SEKK01]). This list categorises and clarifies the motivations expressed in be-goals (see Table 2.1). It defines the core of each experience, which occurs in an infinite number of variations. The addressing and fulfilling of the psychological needs in the interaction with the product create positive emotions, and thus meaning. To fulfill a psychological need through interacting with a product, the product should be able to "create or shape the experience as desired" (p.57 in [Has10]). Therefore, psychological needs are used as an important tool to help to focus the design

of an interaction product.

The Story: The Experience Before Product in Experience Design

The story is a decisive tool in Experience Design, one that puts not the technology but the human into focus. Hassenzahl goes so far as to say that, "An experience is a story, emerging from the dialog of a person with her or his world through action" (p.8 in [Has10]). He argues to set up a story of an experience before considering how to recreate that story, which is the experience, through technology. In a story "...emotion, cognition, motivation, and action are inextricably intertwined" (p. 3 in [Has10]), hence in creating the story and thus representing the experience, this intertwining has to be taken into account. To do so Hassenzahl argues that it is important for designers to overcome the focus on the tangible aspects of the experience and for engineers to avoid the focus on technical solutions. He claims that only when the story is set straight can one think about how to recreate this story through a product. It is in doing so that the design goes beyond functionality, content, presentation, and beauty. These aspects have to go in line with the experience being designed.

Experience Pattern in Experience Design

An experience pattern describes a human practice that leads to a positive experience. It condenses the complex nature of a positive experience to a minimal set of crucial insights, which explains why people enjoy experiences of that kind (cf. p 45 in [Has10]). Furthermore, experience patterns become a blueprint of various experiences and present a modeling form for shaping a specific experience, hence providing "...a way to reduce the gap between needs and a specific product" (p. 70 in [Has10]). Hassenzahl also asserts that these patterns should relate to a psychological need, for example, "Autonomy patterns are about creating and maintaining individuality, relatedness pattern about deepening interpersonal relationships, and so on" (p. 71 in [Has10]). There is a minimal set of requirements for experience patterns; they should consist of a clear scope (i.e., not too broad), plausibility (i.e., face validity), and resonance as a feeling of recognition and affirmation by the pattern’s user (p. 71 in [Has10]). Furthermore, he claims to avoid patterns that appear to be outlandish. The quality of a pattern is given when the pattern is, "...[proven] applicable (i.e., there are domains/products which benefit from the insights captured by the pattern), generative (i.e., able to inspire designs), and successful (i.e., produce superior products)" (p. 71 in [Has10]).

Discussion of Experience Design by Hassenzahl

Hassenzahl explicitly puts the human in the centre of design. His focus on the experience can already be detected from the placing of "experience" first in the naming of his approach "Experience Design." Also, in the hierarchical model of goals Hassenzahl brings the user to the fore by describing the experience in terms of how emotions are created with the help of psychological needs. It is building upon this WHYlevel, which describes the user’s motivation, that the experience is translated into technology through theWHATandHOWlayers of this model.

Discussion of the Two Approaches

McCarthy and Wright’s approach of "Technology as Experience" puts technology before experi- ence, which can already be detected in their approach’s naming, where "technology" stands before "experience." In this approach, the four threads of experiences combined with the six sense-making processes provide factors to focus on during the design of a product. The authors analyse the ex- perience in detail (with their four threads of experience, see Figure 2.1 and the product in the experience context (with the six sense-making processes, see Figure 2.2 in detail. Yet, the way they describe how experience arises is centered on technology and not on the human, and they do not explicitly design experiences with all their complexities. Moreover, as McCarthy and Wright view each experience as unique and irreducible, it becomes impossible to purposefully design ex- periences.

Hassenzahl, on the other hand, regards the experience from the human point of view and focuses the design thereupon, only afterwards thinking about the technology. In contrast to McCarthy and Wright who analyse the experience as a result of using technology, Hassenzahl begins the Experi- ence Design with the user and their needs and emotions. In accordance to the hierarchical model of goals the design is here started at the WHY level, thus, from the outset Experience Design relates to the user’s motivation and explains, with the help of psychological needs, how positive emotions appear. Within an experience, the user’s action is thereby linked to motivation and emo- tions, whereas McCarthy and Wright do not take these aspects explicitly into account (see also p. 3-4 in [Has10]). The moving away from the product to the user (through the WHYlevel of the goal model) makes the user the focal point of Experience Design, thus fostering customer focus. The goal model further helps to design concrete interaction steps (through the HOW level) and function (through theWHATlevel). Thereby, Hassenzahl clearly approaches the product from the experience. The product itself still stays in consideration, as Hassenzahl states, "It is through the product’s functionality, content, presentation and interaction with people that designers create par- ticular experiences. An easy, simplified product, reduced to core functionality, is unlikely to create sustained competence or even stimulation experiences" (p.49 in [Has10]).

In summary, Hassenzahl’s focus on the experience before the product radically puts the human in the centre of the design and enables to design an outcome experience instead of a product. The hi- erarchical model of goals helps to make the interaction with the product meaningful by addressing the be-goals (motivations and emotions with the help of psychological needs) in the design. On the contrary, out of McCarthy and Wright’s approach no direct design implications for experiences follow, as the dividing of the experience into the threads and the sense-making processes make it difficult to define steps that lead to explicitly designing experience. All this considered, the ap- proach of Experience Design proves to be more strict to the designing of experiences. For these reasons and for the practical nature of Hassenzahl’s approach, Experience Design is used through- out this work as approach for designing experiences beyond driving in the automotive domain.