From a Morning Forest to a Sunset Beach: Understanding Visual Experiences and the Roles of Personal Characteristics for Designing Relaxing Digital Nature

Nature experiences, especially the visual aspects of nature, have been widely used to facilitate relaxation. Fueled by digital technology, simulated visual nature experiences have gained popularity in creating healing environments that induce relaxation. However, while easily applicable, not all nature-imitating visuals lead to relaxation. How...

Blueprints: Systematizing Behavior Change Designs-The Case of Social Comparison Theory

To improve people's lives, human-computer interaction researchers are increasingly designing technological solutions based on behavior change theory, such as social comparison theory (SCT). However, how researchers operationalize such a theory as a design remains largely unclear. One way to clarify this methodological step is to clearly state...

Commensality or Reverie in Eating? Exploring the Solo Dining Experience

Commensality, the act of eating together, is commonly associated with many benefits. Dining solo, in contrast, is frequently connected to adverse effects on a person. There is a growing interest in human-computer interaction (HCI) and design in how innovations can enhance eating experiences by, for example, facilitating commensality. The...

Mattpod: A Design Proposal for a Multi-Sensory Solo Dining Experience

The consumption of a meal is not just a bodily requirement but can also carry significant symbolic meaning. Solo dining is often contrasted to a shared eating experience and portrayed as an inferior way of eating a meal due to lacking essential social and normative qualities. Human-computer interaction research increasingly explores different...

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<br/>this, we are far from understanding its implementation, especially through the private and public sectors. This study has surveyed private<br/>and public sector stakeholders with regard to their current...

Surprise and humor in product design: Designing sensory metaphors in multiple modalities

When information from two or more sensory modalities conflicts, this can evoke a surprise reaction as well as feelings of amusement, interest, confusion or disappointment. In concurrence to joke theory, we argue that people appreciate and enjoy appropriate incongruities that can be related back to the product, whereas they are confused by and...

Beyond surprise: A longitudinal study on the experience of visual-tactual incongruities in products

When people encounter products with visual-tactual incongruities, they are likely to be surprised because the product feels different than expected. In this paper, we investigate (1) the relationship between surprise and the overall liking of the products, (2) the emotions associated with surprise, and (3) the long-term effects of surprise. We...

Should Mary smell like biscuit? Investigation scents in product design

In attempt to influence how a product is experienced, designers can manipulate all aspects of a product, including odor. The effect odor has on a consumer’s experience of the product is still not yet understood. Two experiments were conducted in order to shed more light on the influence odor has on consumers. In Experiment 1, differences in...

Sensory incongruity and surprise in product design

People continuously experience the world and the objects in it through all their senses. Product designers can influence the way people experience products by paying attention to the multiple sensory aspects of product design. Designing sensory experiences can be aimed at communicating a consistent message to all sensory channels, making this...

Surprise as a design strategy

Imagine yourself queuing for the cashier’s desk in a supermarket. Naturally, you have picked the wrong line, the one that does not seem to move at all. Soon, you get tired of waiting. Now, how would you feel if the cashier suddenly started to sing? Many of us would be surprised and, regardless of the cashier’s singing abilities, feel amused. The...

Effects of visual-auditory incongruity on product expression and surprise

Product experience is influenced by information from all the senses. Our experiments provide insight into how sounds contribute to the overall experience of a product’s expression. We manipulated the sounds of dust busters and juicers so that they either did or did not fit the expressions of the products’ appearances. In some, but not all cases,...