Posts tagged ‘field research’

Identifying needs: Qualitative field research

Monday, March 29th, 2010

In the introduction to his book Designing Pleasurable Products Patrick Jordan writes:

Usability-based approaches 1 to product design tend to view people as users, while products are seen as tools with which these users complete tasks. Because of this usability approaches to user requirements specifications can be limited, tending to emphasize the practical aspects of interacting with products, while paying little attention to emotional or hedonic aspects of interaction.

This builds on Jane Fulton’s idea that simply eliminating deficiencies in products is no longer enough to satisfy users. Products must elicit positive emotions when experienced, both psychologically and physiologically, thus forming a powerful emotional attachment between the user and the product (Fulton 1993).
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