INTRODUCING PRODUCT

EXPERIENCE
PAUL HEKKERT AND HENDRIK N.J. SCHIFFERSTEIN

People live in a world in which they are surrounded by designed artifacts and services,
products that were created by (other) people to serve some purpose: To get from one
place to another; to clean the house; to cook; to feed and protect oneself; to contact
someone; to have fun; to retrieve information; and so on. As a result, we have cars and
bicycles, tissues and vacuum cleaners, shopping malls and living rooms, mobile phones
and weblogs, computer games and festivals, archive systems and SMS messaging, and to
use these products we need to interact with them. Notwithstanding the fact that the way
in which people interact with a product is clearly product-dependent, they always use
their senses to perceive it, they use their motor system and their knowledge to operate or
communicate with it, and during the interaction they process the information they per-
ceive, they may experience one or more emotions, and they are likely to form an affective
evaluation of the product. Thus, although the interaction may be product-specific, the
processes that are activated during the interaction are similar over products. As a conse-
quence, it should be possible to develop an overall theoretical framework that guides the
study of how people experience products. In the current book, we bring together exist-
ing work from several different research areas, and make a first attempt to integrate this
work, as the starting point for the development of an overall, encompassing framework
of product experience.

Theoretical views on product experience

Before we can develop a conceptual framework, we first need to define the concept
that we are interested in. In this book, we define the field of ‘product experience’ as
the research area that develops an understanding of people’s subjective experiences that
result from interacting with products. By focusing on products we restrict ourselves to
physical objects or non-physical designs that have a utilitarian function, thereby exclud-
ing works of art and other non-utilitarian artifacts. Building on our previous definitions

Product Experience
Copyright © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. 1
2 Product Experience

(Hekkert, 2006; Schifferstein and Cleiren, 2005), we define the subjective product expe-
rience as the awareness of the psychological effects elicited by the interaction with a
product, including the degree to which all our senses are stimulated, the meanings and
values we attach to the product, and the feelings and emotions that are elicited. It can
be debated whether these psychological consequences are always affective in nature.
According to Russell (2003), core affect – the combination of pleasure and arousal – is,
to varying degrees, ‘involved in most psychological events’ [p. 148, emphasis added].
Not all authors in this book embrace our definition of product experience. Some
hold a different view and explain in their chapters where their definition originates from,
and why they think it fits their research purposes better. These different perspectives
from various fields of scientific endeavor add to the richness of our understanding of
the concept. Our definition of product experience is quite broad compared to the defi-
nitions adopted by other authors and, thereby, generally encompasses their definitions.
Therefore, in our view, all these authors investigate some aspects or antecedents of ‘prod-
uct experience’, even though their reference frame may be narrower than ours.
For example, Carroll and Mentis (Chapter 21) give an overview of how research
on user experiences that emerged in the field of human–computer interaction yielded
new insights that enriched research on product usability in the area of human factors.
Battarbee and Koskinen (Chapter 19) use a designer’s perspective on product experience
and stress the importance of social interaction in the formation of experiences. Cupchik
and Hilscher (Chapter 9) explicitly limit the term ‘experience’ to special life events. They
state that ‘experience refers to uniquely meaningful life events with both cognitive and
affective qualities’ [emphasis added].
The contrast between Cupchik and Hilscher’s definition and ours becomes explicit
in the two ways in which the term ‘experience’ can be translated into German or Dutch.
All experiences, including very common, day-to-day experiences, are referred to with the
German word ‘Erfahrung’ (Dutch: ‘ervaring’), whereas experiences of special, memora-
ble events are better captured by the word ‘Erlebnis’ (Dutch: ‘belevenis’). The Erlebnis
definition is closest to the views found in business literature on the Experience Economy
(e.g. Pine and Gilmore, 1998). According to Pine and Gilmore, ‘an experience occurs
when a company intentionally uses services as the stage, and goods as props, to engage
individual consumers in a way that creates a memorable event’ (p. 98). Pine and Gilmore
suggest that producers and retailers need to create special experiences for their custom-
ers, beyond simply offering good products. Their notion of experience thus resembles
the uniquely meaningful events Cupchik and Hilscher refer to. Such experiences can
occasionally be bound to individual products, but will more likely arise from designed
spaces, installations, and attractions typically encountered in exhibitions and amusement
parks. The design of these kinds of overwhelming and compelling events is often denoted
as ‘experience design’.
Designers and marketers may wonder whether it is always necessary to create an
‘Erlebnis’, or whether it will be sufficient to deliberately create, alter or improve the
‘Erfahrung’ that people have when they interact with products. According to Schmitt
(1999), for example, the ultimate goal of experiential marketing is to create a desirable,
coherent, and consistent customer impression that enhances the brand image. For com-
panies it may be worthwhile to create possibilities for potential consumers to explore
their products in a specific context, as part of a branding strategy. When people repeat-
edly encounter a particular brand within the context of a pleasant experience, they are
more likely to develop a favourable attitude towards this brand. In addition, charac-
teristics of the atmosphere during the experience (e.g. modern, fresh, impressive) may
become associated with the brand.
Introducing product experience 3

The approaches sketched above, by Pine and Gilmore and Schmitt, were developed
from a marketing perspective, in which the purchase and consumption of the product
plays a central role. This deviates from the user perspective that is employed in most
chapters of the current book. Many everyday experiences involve people who simply
use and enjoy products. These everyday experiences are central to the book: The desire
when seeing the new Apple iPod; the comfortable feel of a screwdriver in your hand; the
awareness of the friendly whistle of a teapot; the frustration over the poor quality of an
online help system; the delicious smell of a freshly baked apple-pie; the relief of smoothly
parking your car in a narrow space. Understanding such experiences will allow designers
and companies to ‘design for experience’.

Human–product interaction
As argued at the beginning of this chapter, a product experience or ‘Erfahrung’ always
results from some interaction the user has with a product. This interaction is not neces-
sarily restricted to instrumental or non-instrumental (e.g. playing with your pen) physical
action, but may also consist of passive (often visual) perception, or even remembering or
thinking of a product (e.g. anticipating using your new stereo) (Desmet and Hekkert,
2007). Furthermore, the experience does not only result from the interaction, but also
accompanies and guides the interaction, and thus affects the interaction. In sum, experi-
ence and interaction are fully intertwined and in order to explore people’s experiences
of products, we need to thoroughly understand the constituents or building blocks of
human–product interaction.
Figure 1 provides a model of human–product interaction. In trying to obtain an
overview of the literature covering the field of product experience, we got the impression
that most scholars tend to approach human–product interaction from one of three pos-
sible perspectives. These three perspectives form the basic structure of the present book:
The human beings with their systems and skills (Part I); the interaction itself with its dif-
ferent components (Part II); or a product (domain) with its specific properties (Part III).
Independent from their surroundings and social context, humans are biologically
equipped with a number of systems that make it possible for them to interact with their
environment: A motor system to act upon the environment; sensory systems to perceive
changes in the environment; and a cognitive system to make sense of the environment
and to plan actions. Products are part of this environment. The motor capacities are
needed to explore products, interact with them, and operate them. Sensory systems allow
people to perceive a product and assess what kind of product it is. They provide feed-
back on people’s actions. Furthermore, they ‘tell’ a person whether a sensation (visual,
auditory, tactual, olfactory, or gustatory) is pleasurable or should be avoided. Cognitive

HUMAN PRODUCT

Sensory Structural
Motor system Motor skills properties properties
Sensory systems Sensitivity Possibilities Materials
INTERACTION for Composition
Cognitive system Cognitive skills
behavior
Technology
Instincts Concerns
Functionality Labels

FIGURE 1 Model of human–product interaction.

4 Product Experience

capacities link perceived information to stored knowledge to interpret the incoming

information; they elicit memories of previous usage and evoke associations with other
products. Finally, people are born with a limited set of instincts, which make them
explore the world to try to satisfy basic needs.
Through interaction with an environment, all these human capacities gradually
develop into skills, expertise, and concerns (such as goals, intentions, and preferences).
Skills and concerns can only be defined in relation to an outside world: We have skills
in something, sensitivity for something, a preference for something, and our goals and
intentions are directed towards something. The chapters in Part I of this book start out
from one or more of these systems or skills, and try to explain experiential effects (and
limitations) of human–product interaction on the basis of the specific qualities of these
human capacities or characteristics.
Analogously, a product perceived in isolation has (only) a number of structural or
formal properties, such as its size, weight, and shape. Physical products are made of
materials with specific technical characteristics (e.g. chemical constitution, heat conduc-
tivity, elasticity). Furthermore, products have a composition relating the various constit-
uent parts to the whole. In addition, more and more products make use of embedded
technology (electronics, sensors, and other digital components) to operate them. Finally,
all kinds of labels (e.g. brand name, usage information, price information) may be
attached to the product.
It is, however, in the interaction with people that products obtain their meaning:
On the basis of what is perceived sensorially (e.g. softness, freshness, loudness) prod-
ucts reveal cues of how to use them, and they reveal their function. Perceived product
properties will only be of interest to an individual if they are somehow instrumental in
fulfilling needs; only in relation to people we can determine what behaviour a product
allows for, and what its primary or secondary functions might be. Studies that start out
from the product (Part III) typically focus on one particular (set of) products and on how
their product- or domain-specific characteristics affect people’s experiences. Often they
include case studies of, for instance, how people experience household equipment, office
interiors, or computer games.
Product experiences depend on the way in which a person interacts with a prod-
uct. Although phenomenologically experienced as a whole, at least three major compo-
nents can be distinguished in product experiences (Desmet and Hekkert, 2007; Hekkert,
2006). The aesthetic response is characterized by feelings of (dis)pleasure that are based
on the sensory perception of the object; the object looks beautiful, feels pleasurable, or
sounds nice. In addition, people try to understand how a product must be operated or
which actions it affords, and people attribute all kinds of expressive, semantic, symbolic,
or other connotative meanings to it. The interactions with a product can help a person
to reach a goal or can obstruct him or her in attaining that goal, and thereby lead to
various emotional responses. Together these components shape the overall product expe-
rience. The chapters in Part II focus on one of these components of the experience, or
they study a specific experiential state typified by a term like (dis)comfort, engagement,
quality, or attachment.
Finally, the way an interaction unfolds depends on the context in which this inter-
action takes place. This context can vary from the physical circumstances literally
surrounding the interaction, such as the lighting conditions under which a product is
perceived or the qualities of the space in which a meal is consumed, to the activities or
experiences that have preceded the interaction at stake, and to the broader cultural and
social situation that determines how people interact with and experience products (see
e.g. Chapters 14, 24, and 26). It is clear that driving the same car may be experienced
Introducing product experience 5

completely differently when on holiday, in a hurry for an important meeting, testing it in

order to make a purchase decision, or with the love of your life sitting next to you.

Empirical approaches to studying product experiences

Given that product experience is defined as the awareness of the psychological effects
elicited by the interaction with a product, it is not surprising that most research in this
area typically assesses people’s subjective reports of their experiences with products.
In the majority of studies, products or product parts are varied or manipulated under
naturalistic conditions, and the effect of the manipulation on the subjective reports is
assessed. In experimental studies the manipulations are typically done in a more or less
systematic way, in order to isolate various underlying factors. In case studies and design
projects, on the other hand, the manipulations are determined by wishes, demands, and
limitations given by the product and its usage context, company goals, and designer
capabilities. These two approaches yield complementary outcomes that both contribute
to our knowledge on product experiences. The subjective reports may consist of either
qualitative (e.g. in-depth interviews, diaries) or quantitative (e.g. responses on rating
scales, preference rank orders) data. The ensemble of approaches used in these studies
assures the ecological validity of the outcomes.
However, subjective responses can only be obtained through introspection, and can-
not be assessed objectively. Therefore, in several chapters self-reports are related to more
objective measures, such as physical characteristics or instrumental measures of prod-
ucts, measures of information processing or decision making, consumer choice data, or
psychophysiological measures and brain imaging data (see Chapters 1, 3, 18 and 20).
Adding more objective measures and analyzing the relationships with subjective meas-
ures enables an internal validity-check on the subjective reports.

An overview of contributing scientific disciplines

Research on product experience is situated at the intersection of several scientific
(sub)disciplines. Because product experience research focuses on subjective experiences
of people, all product experience research falls within the discipline of psychology.
However, due to its multi-faceted nature, experience research crosses borders between
several sub-disciplines of psychology that are usually distinguished, such as psychol-
ogy of perception, cognitive psychology, and psychology of emotion. Acknowledging
these different sub-disciplines, many questions can be asked concerning the interaction
between a person and a product. How do people use their senses in experiencing prod-
ucts? How do people understand how to use a product? Why are people attracted to
some products and not to others? On what grounds do people perceive a product as
smart, solid, stupid, or splendid? Which memories, associations, and emotions does a
product evoke? Why do people develop a bond with a product? These are the kinds of
questions that will be addressed in this book.
Although the contents of some chapters are clearly linked to one of these sub-
disciplines of psychology (e.g. Chapters 1–5 to perception; Chapters 7, 8, and 12 to cog-
nition; and Chapters 15 and 16 to emotion), other chapters build on all sub-disciplines,
and cover an applied field of knowledge. Most of these applied disciplines have their
tradition in the social and behavioural sciences, such as psychological aesthetics, human
factors, marketing, and consumer science. Others, however, have their roots in the tech-
nical sciences, such as mechanical and material engineering, and human–computer inter-
action (HCI). Analogously to how all these disciplines together contribute to and define
6 Product Experience

FIGURE 2 Disciplines contributing to the field of product experience.

the multi-disciplinary field of industrial or product design, they also converge in this rel-
atively new domain of research: Product experience (see Figure 2). We now discuss each
of these contributing disciplines briefly, and we indicate which (often new) areas or fields
of study within each discipline ‘move’ into the emerging domain of product experience.
Philosophers and psychologists have extensively studied people’s responses to works
of art. From the field of philosophical aesthetics, the work of John Dewey has been most
influential to the domain of product experience. In his ‘Art as Experience’, Dewey (1934)
analyzes people’s involvement with artworks from a phenomenological perspective (see
Chapters 9, 13, and 19). Ever since psychology was founded as a field of science, psy-
chologists have had a keen interest in aesthetic experiences and evaluations of ‘objects’,
such as simple patterns, faces, paintings, and landscapes (see e.g. Berlyne, 1971; Fechner,
1876). In their studies they generally looked for the principles governing people’s per-
ception and appreciation of these manifestations by applying more general theories of
perception, motivation, cognition, and emotion. More recently, psychologists have dis-
covered products as an interesting subject area to investigate these aesthetic or pleasure
principles (e.g. Crozier, 1994). Most of this work fits perfectly in the domain of product
experience (see Chapters 10 and 11).
The discipline of ergonomics or human factors traditionally focuses on the usability
of products (in itself already an experiential goal). For a long time, the discipline lim-
ited itself to the perceptual and cognitive processes involved in product understanding,
and to the physical or motor skills and processes enabling (or limiting) product use. In
the current book, the perceptual systems and the way they operate in interaction with
products are covered in Chapters 1–6, while the cognitive abilities and skills and their
Introducing product experience 7

effects on the interaction with products are covered in Chapters 6–8; human motor abili-
ties and skills affecting interaction are predominantly discussed in Chapter 6. One of the
ways in which products can be made easy to use is by making it self-evident how a prod-
uct should be operated (see Chapter 12). However, this perspective has been expanded.
At the end of the twentieth century the ergonomic discipline increasingly began to focus
on other subjective experiences arising from the use of products, including research on
satisfaction, pleasure (e.g. Jordan and Green, 2002), and comfort and convenience (Vink,
2005, see Chapter 18).
Mechanical and material engineering have developed from having a singular focus
on the technical/physical properties of artifacts and their effects on the durability, reli-
ability, production, and (technical) performance of products, to studying, quantifying,
and modeling the relationship between such properties and sensorial and other subjec-
tive responses in terms of meaning and aesthetics (e.g. Ashby and Johnson, 2002). This
movement is most prominently seen in Kansei Engineering, a branch of engineering that
started in Japan in the 1970s (see Chapter 20 for an extensive account of this approach).
Technology-driven research focuses on how products can be created with new tech-
nologies that may be beneficial to potential users. The majority of this research consists
of studies on the application of digital or smart technologies in human–computer inter-
action. Designers are interested in exploring new functionalities and interaction pos-
sibilities that can be created with these new technologies (see e.g. Moggridge, 2007).
Because these technologies are applied in more and more everyday products, the findings
obtained in the field of human–computer interaction become increasingly relevant for
the entire product spectrum. In addition, within the HCI field we also see a shift from
usability research to user experience research, variously looking at experiences such as
presence, fun, trust, or engagement (e.g. Blythe, Overbeeke, Monk, and Wright, 2003).
Various issues of user-product interaction with respect to digital technology are dis-
cussed in Chapters 7 and 8. In addition, the experience of functional interfaces (Chapter
21), intelligent products (Chapter 22), and computer games (Chapter 23) is extensively
treated in Part III of this volume.
The field of marketing studies how products find their way to customers.
Traditionally, the marketer can make use of the four instruments in the marketing mix
to bring the product to market in a profitable way: product, price, promotion, and dis-
tribution (Kotler, 1984). Research on product experience will typically be focused on the
subjective evaluation of a physical product or service. This may concern a first encoun-
ter with the product in a store (Chapters 25 and 27), or a repeated encounter during
product usage (Chapters 16 and 17). Also in the field of consumer research, research
attention has shifted from information processing approaches with a focus on utilitarian
value and price, to the emotional experiences associated with product consumption (e.g.
Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982).
In summary, the field of product experience research encompasses research from
each of these disciplines. However, to fully understand human product experience, we
need to use approaches that allow us to build bridges between these various fields of
expertise. In our final ‘reflections’ we will further elaborate this view on the future of the
research domain. People’s experiences with products are by definition subjective; prob-
ably no two experiences are alike. Individual differences in terms of, for instance, gender,
age, expertise, and (cultural) background may account for the variety in people’s experi-
ences, and some of these differences are discussed in this book. Finally, this book is not
only about understanding product experience: We want to understand this phenomenon
in order to contribute to ‘design for experience’. Hence, many authors address the design
implications of their theories and findings, and they provide directions or guidelines to
8 Product Experience

increase the likelihood that a particular designed interaction will lead to the intended
experience.
Given that there are many scientific areas relevant for the study of product experi-
ences, it is no surprise that the authors who contributed to this book differ consider-
ably with respect to their scientific background and expertise. To preserve the coherence
in the book, we have stimulated all authors to link their views and research to other
related areas, to combine theoretical overviews with empirical studies, to provide concise
descriptions of the methods they used, and to describe how their results may be used
in design practice. It has proven to be a hard task for many authors to leave the field
of expertise in which they feel comfortable, to explore largely unknown, but nonethe-
less fascinating, neighboring areas. This additional effort has made this book a unique
collection of chapters that try to build bridges, for example, from neurophysiology and
traditional psychophysics to product semantics, from universal aesthetic principles to
design applications, and from human physical capabilities to product and consumption
emotions. With this collection of chapters we hope to lay down the basics for the field of
product experience research.

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