Positive Experience Design Strategies for IoT Products to Improve User Sustainable Well-Being

Abstract

Although the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) technology has benefited the progress of social life, the relentless pursuit of technological advancement cannot definitely lead to a sustainable increase in customer pleasure and happiness. During the design phase, happiness is often overlooked. Therefore, the objectives of this study are as follows: (1) to provide a comprehensive overview of the importance of sustainable happiness for the IoT product design and to propose 15 positive experience design strategies that can improve user happiness; and (2) to apply the 15 design strategies to the IoT product design practice and validate whether they can effectively guide the designers’ work. The research procedure consisted of four steps. First, qualitative data for developing the design strategies was collected through bibliometrics and expert interviews. Second, the propositions of the design strategies were reviewed, analyzed, and constructed using the qualitative research software program NVivo 20. Third, two researchers categorized the 15 strategy concepts into the four directions of positive experience design approaches for the IoT products. Fourth, we conducted a two-week design workshop to validate the feasibility of the design strategies. The results indicate that the 15 design strategies can effectively guide designers to create ideas that prioritize user well-being and allow for creative exploration in various directions. This paper enriches the IoT product design methodology, which can enhance the users’ sustainable pleasure, future goal achievement fulfillment, and social relationship well-being in the IoT era.

How to Keep Balance between Interaction and Automation? Toward User Overall Positive Experience of IoT-Based Smart Home Design

“…For example, the factors that influence a workspace are different from a leisure space, the factors that influence a medical product are different from a household product, and the factors that influence an educational system are different from an e-commerce system. There are certain common factors between domains that, if researched for a specific domain and taken into consideration, can be more effective in improving the overall user experience [50]. As mentioned earlier, there is a lack of research on positive user experience in the smart home, where the unique automation experience of IoT products is usually mixed with ordinary products, in addition to describing the factors and specific manifestations that influence positive user experience in the smart home.…”

“…Product flexibility can be defined as the degree to which the system responds to the multidimensional user needs as well as future changes in the product [69]. Smart home products based on IoT technology could supply a wide range of functionalities that can flexibly meet user needs in multiple scenarios and serve multiple purposes [50]. In other words, the flexibility of smart products could enhance positive experiences by providing more choices and control [70].…”