UPREN USED – User, product and environmental influences on usability and emotional product design

• Applicant: Professor Dr.-Ing. Sandro Wartzack
• Subject Area: Engineering Design, Machine Elements, Product Development
• Term: since 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 398054801

This research proposal describes the planned continuation of previous project. In phase 1 of this research project, a method to derive tangible product design recommendations regarding physiological and attitude-based user needs was developed. The need for a well-structured and objective method to ensure a subjectively user-friendly and at the same time physically suitable product design is necessary due to existing imbalances between usability and emotional product design. Especially products for disabled users often focus on a product’s usability without taking the subjective needs of the users into account. As a result, there can be negative product-related user stigmatisation leading to rejection or non-use of the product. One fundamental challenge in dealing with imbalances are the conflicting goals they contain. While a thin and slim design of a smartphone would associate elegance, for instance, a more robust and thicker housing would be more beneficial for ist usability. To ensure a pleasant user experience, product developers have to make a user-oriented decision in such conflictual situations. This requires reliable knowledge about whether an emotional or usable design is perceived as more important from the user's perspective, allowing to focus on the more important aspect. In this research project, the impact of external influences (e.g. user, situation) on the weighting of usability and emotionality will be thoroughly investigated in order to facilitate conflicting design decisions in the tense field of dual user integration and to further advance the interlocking of technical product development and user experience. Therefore, a method will be developed to consider specific user, product and environmental characteristics as external influencing factors on the weighting of usability and emotional product design, whereby relevant influencing factors will first be identified in a structured manner on a theoretical level. A quantitative empirical study of them follows in order to fundamentally explore and model the strength and/or significance of individual factors on the relationship between usability and emotional product design. The newly acquired knowledge ultimately provides the basis for developing the intended method. It will then be integrated into the existing approach from phase 1 as well as evaluated.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants