1. INUSE seminar 26.9.2011
Long-term user experience and
user involvement
Sari Kujala

2. Contents
• What is the role of users in design?
• How about in industrial context?
• In designing for user experience?
• How to involve users if there are millions of them all over
the world?
• Long-term user experience

3. User involvement approaches (Kujala,
2003)
User- Participatory Ethnography Contextual
centered design design
design
Emphasis Usability Democratic Social Context of
participation aspects of work
work
Typical Task analysis Workshops Observation Contextual
methods Prototyping Prototyping Video- inquiry
Usability analysis Prototyping
evaluations

4. User involvement in industrial contexts
• The aim is cost-efficient product development and
commercially successful products
– As broad user group as possible – involved users should be
representative
– Users may not be motivated to participate if the role of the
product is small in their lives
– Users are unaware of implementation constraints and design
practices
– Also remote methods needed to reach an international audience
of users
– Success may not depend on used methods – users as
information sources and mere direct links are enough

5. Designing for user experience?
• The aim is that using the product feels good
– Stimulation – product is challenging and novel
(Hassenzahl, 2004)
– Identification – product communicates the user’s personal
values (Hassenzahl, 2004)
– Rewarding (van der Heijden)
– Surprise (Derbaix and Vanhamme, 2003)
• Are users able to design pleasurable feelings?
– Talking about pleasure is not socially accepted
– Users may not be aware of their personal needs, values and
emotions
– People have difficulties in remembering emotional experiences
and they easily use generalizations

6. Example: A hidden need

7. Psychological values
• Describe what is important to a person in life
Social relatedness Esteem, status, achievement,
conformity, equality, helpfulness
Emotional and Aroused feeling or affective sates,
hedonistic pleasure, fun, sensory enjoyment
Growth and self- Independent though and action:
actualization choosing, creating and exploring
Universal Protection of the welfare of all
people and for nature

8. User values
• User values are their personal values that
affect their views about what is important in a
certain product
– Connection to product preference
– Essential in persuading users

9. Sentence completion
• is a combination of a questionnaire and a projective
technique
– Used in psychology and consumer research to reveal inner
thoughts
– Respondents’ are asked to complete given sentences
• first reactions and associations
• using own words
– Less likely to be culturally biased

10. Sentence completion is revealing inner thoughts
(Hoyer and MacInnis, 2007)
• People who don’t smoke are...
….happier
….wise
• Teenagers who start to smoke are….
….crazy
….foolish

11. Sentence completion for identifying user values
General The most important thing to me is…
It is important in my children’s spare time
activities that…
Social relatedness When my child exercises, other children…
Emotional and The emotion my children’s exercising
hedonistic arouses…
My child’s best experience was…
Growth and self- Exercising helps my child to….
actualization

12. Sentence completion for evaluating UX

13. Sentence completion for evaluating symbolic
meanings
13

14. Long-term user experience
• How the user’s experience and relationship with a product
evolves over time
– from early learning and enthusiasm to becoming a part of daily life

15. UX Curve method

16. Results: Mean attractiveness curves
Facebook Mobile phone

17. Competing factors improving and
worsening long-term user experience

18. Conclusions
• User involvement has different approaches suitable to
different situations
• Designing for user experience requires new approaches
– Users may not be aware of their needs, values and emotions
– People rationalize and avoid talking issues that are not socially-
accepted
– Designing for experience takes many forms and is challenging,
often easier to start with evaluation