Experience

Driven
Design

Experience-driven Design
Collaborative and Industrial
Design Programme

Experience-driven Design
Collaborative and Industrial Design Programme,
School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Aalto
University
Editor
/ Jaeyong Lee

Teachers
Virpi Roto
Research Fellow
virpi.roto@aalto.fi
+358 50 592 4031

Yichen Lu
Researcher/Doctoral Candidate
yichen.lu@aalto.fi
+358 50 436 7566

Haian Xue
Researcher/Doctoral Candidate
haian.xue@aalto.fi
+358 45 162 8532

Contents
What? Why?

How?

Projects

VTT

KEMPPI

10

ROLLS-ROYCE

12

ROLLS-ROYCE

14

FASTEMS

16

KONECRANES

18

VALMET

20

Company feedback

22

What?
Why?

XD Methods & Techniques

Experience goals

The main aim of the course is to familiarize

students with the concepts of User Experience (UX) and Customer Experience (CX),
and to practice Experience-Driven Design
approach. In addition to students from the
department of design, we warmly welcome
USchool students to attend the course.
There is also a 5cr version of the course,
but the experience-driven design approach
is best learned in practice, by working on a
company assignment in the full 10cr version.
Each company partner provides a unique
design case where the core is to design
for a positive experience. Student teams
work on one of the cases each, following
the experience-driven design approach.
Typically, teams provide both an incremental and radical design solution to the given
task. The outcome is a concept description
or a functional prototype, accompanied with
a final report. Every team member makes a
legal agreement and the companies will own
the rights to the results.

Vision in Product design (VIP)

Positive design
UX evaluation methods

Company Collaboration
Teamwork assignment
Company visit

Field studies in target contexts

Legal agreement

Experience-driven Design 2015

XD position
Period IV
10cr (or 5cr)
Design and Uschool students
Prerequisite: UID or similar

Core Concepts
User experience (UX)
Customer experience (CX)
Brand experience (BX)

Activities
Lectures
Company assgignment
Homework: Individual reading
Homework discussion sessions
Team tutoring sessions
Teamwork diary
Final reporting

Experience-driven Design 2015

How?
The 10cr course consists of lectures,
Individual reading, teamwork, team tutoring
sessions, teamwork diary, and final
reporting. The most intensive task for the
students is the teamwork around the
company assignment. Each company case
may be different, but the common phases
during the work include familiarization to the
target context and stakeholders, setting
experience goals for the design,
transforming the goals to design ideas,
representing the ideas via a concept
description or a functional prototype, and
evaluating the design against the
experience goals. To be able to accomplish
all this within seven weeks, we expect fulltime commitment from the students.

Field
Studies

Experience
Goal

Concept
Generation

Concept
Evaluation

Final
Concept

Experience-driven Design 2015

In spring 2015, the course was conducted in

collaboration with metal and engineering industry
companies Fastems, Kemppi, Konecranes, with
Valmet Automation, RollsRoyce Marine, and VTT
Technical Research Centre of Finland. The as-

VTT: UX Brunch

signments and results are reported on the following

pages. Most teams produced two concepts: one
that delivers what was asked and another that goes
beyond.

Experience-driven Design 2015

UX Brunch

Task: Evaluating the state of user experience-driven

mindset
Design team: Katrin Riisla, Kristiina Suominen
The VTT UX Brunch is a brunch event where VTT
invites companies to evaluate their state of the
UX-driven mindset within their organisation. The
new concept, VTT UX Brunch, provides a more
comprehensive experience on UX evaluation by
concentrating on the overall participant evaluation
experience instead of focusing only on the evaluation
moment and momentary experiences. The concept

Experience-driven Design 2015

begins with a formal invitation that serves as a warm

up to the event. During the event, the participants will
have multiple discussions to determine the state of
their UX mindsets with the help of discussions cards.
The experience is finalised with a detailed analysis
prepared by the VTT experts sent afterwards to the
participants.

The VTT UX Brunch Space follows the line of thought

of the previous concept. It is also built on a comprehensive experience but is in a more digitally interactive environment. All the key ideas remain the same as
its comprehensiveness starting with the introduction

and invitation, evaluation methods and delivering the

analysis afterwards. The space utilises virtual and
interactive walls, discussion tables and activated
footsteps.

UX Brunch Space

Experience-driven Design 2015

Task: Pleasurable welding training application

Design team: Jaeyong Lee, Nan Yang
In welding industry, the need for virtual training tools
is getting more important: delivering realistic experiences without consuming materials. At the same time,
the skills and knowledge of welding cannot be easily
acquired because the profession requires advanced
manual skills in numerous tasks with countless
variations depending on the materials, environment,
and purpose. Based on this background, KEMPPI, a
world-leading manufacturer of arc welding equipment
and a provider of productive welding solutions, sought

Welding Training App

10

Experience-driven Design 2015

to develop a pleasant-to-use welding training application as a result of Experience-driven Design course in

Aalto University.
Our project was mainly focused on figuring out the
impact of experience-driven design in this specific
context, and on evoking experiences of pleasure,
self-motivation, and pride, which would encourage
welders to practice more for the improvement of their
competence as a consequence. We also intended

Exhibition Event

to enhance KEMPPIs positive brand image as more

than just a provider of high quality welding machines
and welding solutions for customers, but also considering the environment of the welding industry from
new perspectives, we strove to build more concrete
relationship between KEMPPI and its customers. Customers should feel proud and excited when working
with KEMPPI in a ripple effect through these experience-driven design outcomes.
The project consisted of two different ideas of a smart
phone application for welding training, and an exhibition event that could open further possibilities for
KEMPPI, and welders in the future.

A mobile application helping novice welders to

practice without high-priced welding devices, would
lead to pleasant experiences, intrinsic motivation
and pride, which would lead welders into the basis practice - to be professionals. On the other hand, the
exhibition event was designed to highlight possibilities
from a new point of view. Through the event, welders
can have experiences of being real value-creators,
and KEMPPI would gain more businesses opportunities, through contacts with potential future customers, as well as using it as apart of creative marketing
strategies.

Experience-driven Design 2015

11

Portable Tugboat Simulator

Task: Ultimate user experience of a portable tugboat

simulator
Design team: Thomas Wahl, Zhenzhen Gu
The project assignment given by Rolls- Royce
Marine was to design an ultimate user experience of
a portable tugboat simulator that could be carried
by one individual, and the design target was the
sales representatives of Rolls-Royce Marine. After
understanding the targets people and their work
by face-to-face interviews, the students set the

12

Experience-driven Design 2015

experience goals as sense of directing, expertise and

proudness.
Finally, one conservative concept and one radical
concept were developed. In the conservative concept,
the students designed a visualized sales tool
integrated in the simulation system. The system was
controlled by the tablet so the sales people could

easily bring it to the meeting place with customers.

When the sales people use the touchscreen of tablet
to simulate the tugboat operation, they can see the
front view of the levers from the table, and also the
whole view of movement from the screen of the
laptop. In this concept, the easy way of carrying the
simulation set-up, the use of the tablet as controller
and the clear visualized sales process in the
simulation system, all contribute to the experience
goals, in a long-term way.
In the radical concept, the students designed a
simulator vehicle which is targeted to be used in

seminars and meeting with schools. In the seminar or

meeting, the sales people would drive the simulator
vehicle into the meeting place, and the vehicle acted
directly as a stage for presentation. The real levers
integrated in the vehicle, were used to show how the
operation would affect the movement of the tugboat.
In this concept, the way of driving the simulator,
standing on it as at the center of the meeting room,
and using the real levers with reaction movement,
create feelings for the sales representatives that are
in line with the experience goals.

Simulator Vehicle

Experience-driven Design 2015

13

Task: Creating proudness from success

Design team: Anu Nokua, Lucia cosma, Saudamini
Tambay
The given assignment for this project was to design
new methods to create the feeling of pride amongst
employees, by informing them of the received orders,
and to find new ways of celebrating success within
the company. From our observation we noticed that it
was important for us to improve internal information
sharing and to create a space to encourage
employee interaction.

Wall of Communication

14

Experience-driven Design 2015

Relatedness and self-esteem were our two UX goals.

The first with the meaning of creating possibilities for
the employees to spend more time together in the
work environment which makes information sharing
more meaningful. The latter will help to emphasize
the excellence and self worth of the employees and
create a feeling of pride for belonging to a successful
company.

New Space for Celebration Event

Engineers
Sales
Project Management

The concept Wall of Communication is a magnetic

board, which has tangible words and symbols placed
on it. The wall represents information of the top orders
and allows the employees to interact around it. It
located in common areas of the office such as the
coffee room.
Our radical concept is composed of two key elements:
a new space and an event.
The space will serve as a canteen but also as a
coffee area for their breaks. There will be a space to
showcase the company awards and also the prizes
that the employees collect in different company clubs

during their spare time. The event will be a monthly

lunch with the purpose of celebrates the best
orders received during the previous month. Each
table will have reserved seats for people from the
different departments, and people can only sit in a
seat that corresponds to the colour allotted to their
department. During the lunch there will be two main
activities: the Project Competition and the Guess
who game, both of which are aimed at helping the
employees know each other better and get a chance
to be involved in the current activities at the Rauma
office.

Experience-driven Design 2015

15

Fastems Innovation Hub

Task: From training center to experience center

Design team: Martina Dellepiane, Jenni Huttunen
The brief for the project was to explore future
possibilities for the companys Training Center: from
training facility for students to Experience Center for
new potential customers.
As we adopted an experience-driven approach we
redefined, at the very beginning, Fastems experience
goals to better fit the center: energy for wow,
participation for proudness, simplicity for trust and
humanity for difference.
Thereafter we created a concept for what we
called the new Fastems Innovation Hub: a center

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Experience-driven Design 2015

around which Fastems life revolves and evolves;

a focus of activity, business, learning, research
and collaboration. The hub delivers a memorable
experience to all stakeholders: an empowering
environment for students, the possibility for potential
customers to participate in the configuration of their
customized solution and the chance for Fastems to
reinforce their relationships with existing customers.
The space is developed in two directions: the
ground floor for students, researchers and product
developers to work with the machines and test new

Innovation Hub: Interactive Table

products; the new glass meeting room on the second

floor dedicated to business activities. Communicating
Fastems businesses, products offering and training
activities as one entity means communicating a
future-oriented, transparent, trustworthy brand.
The novelty of the new meeting room is Fastems
Interactive Table. Customers, together with Fastems
representative, will be able to physically place the
different components of the system on the table
to create preliminary sketches and to compare
different possibilities. A library of reference cases,

with productivity and service satisfaction reports,

would also be available, as reference visits at
existing customers factories had proved to be on of
the key points in the decision making process. The
new Innovation Hub enables many different uses
for the space that can and should be created with
a collaborative spirit. The model of the space was
therefore given to Fastems as a tool to discuss and
keep on developing the concept.

Experience-driven Design 2015

17

Get-Together with Crane

image would be delivered on 13th of June

Task: Experiential touch points between Konecranes

Design team: Arto Kuusisto, Hanfei Xu, Guo Yunhe
The task what our team dealt with Konecranes was
creating experience touch points on waste-to-energy
plant.
The final concept is about bringing people together
in a casual way. The event takes example from the
naming of the cruise ships. It aims to have impressive
impact on the end users and make them feel cared,

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Experience-driven Design 2015

but at the same time present them information

about the waste-to-energy plant map and the people
involved. The concept presents simple ways of
achieving the experience goals. Key thing is about
organizing the interaction with different members and
roles involved, but also giving an identity to the crane.
The concept presents the waste-to-energy plant map

in exciting and compelling way.

The idea of the crane having an identity is introduced

in the event. Mood sphere displays the cranes status
and responses to the end users emotional reactions,
records them and works as a communication tool
between the end user and Konecranes. The concept
is an interaction work tool for the end user. It takes
the status of the crane and turns it into a concrete
object that the end user can communicate with. The
concept aims to make the end users interact with
the cranes status so that their experiences meet

the experience goals and include Konecranes. The

mood sphere responds to different kinds of gestures.
The user chooses when to interact with it. The mood
sphere is available there, it is the end users decision
if they wish to interact with it. The user carries a
badge with them. It works as a contact between the
user and the mood sphere. The badge it-self also has
the functionalities of the mood sphere that one can
interact with. The mood sphere recognizes the user
from the badge and so creates an individual timeline
of the users reactions.

Mood Sphere

Experience-driven Design 2015

19

UX Playroom

Task: Develop a concept for facilitating R&D storytelling

Design team: Juha Johansson, Katrine verlie Svela
Our project started with the question How to facilitate storytelling,
as well as saving and presenting stories in Valmets UX playroom?
The UX playroom is a space for sharing stories, imagination and
speculations around Valmets products and services. The room
can be used by R&D for innovating future products, but also as
a showroom for existing products. In this project we focused
on enabeling stories for R&D purposes, and the direct special
apperance of the room was left out.
To make the UX playroom relevant and meaningful to the
employees, it was important that the way of sharing stories felt
motivating. Through research from work psychology, similar concept
rooms and game design theories, we explored the concept of
motivation. The exploration resulted in the two experience goals
inspiration & pride.
Both pride and inspiration is tightly connected to the feeling of
competence and accomplishment. Pride drives from personal
status and accomplishment, as well as a sensation of attachment
and belonging. Key components of inspiration are optimism, and
also a relevant topic. Applying user-centric methologies, we found
together with our users that direct end-user feedback, witnessing
positive experiences and see the design in real use, was the most
interesting and inspirational for the R&D users of the room.
The final use scenario has been built around a future UX Playroom
System, which gives access to direct communication between end
users of Valmets products and Valmets R&D. This allows for real
user stories to be told and explored in the room, as well as real time
data collection that helps the R&D to decide what stories to focus
on. This concept opens up to a future oriented co-design thinking
and drives inspiration and pride through direct interaction with real
users.

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Experience-driven Design 2015

Experience-driven Design 2015

21

Using stories as sources of inspiration and

visualizing the development steps behind UX
decisions in a development project were good ideas.

The student teams deliverables were creative and

concrete, showing true out-of-the-box thinking.

The ideas and material that the students came up with

will surely be utilized at Konecranes in the future.

22

Experience-driven Design 2015

The final concept students created was both inspirational and experiential, and took us a large step forward in developing our service further.

Results exceeded our expectations and during the

journey we got plenty of totally new, out-of-the-box
ideas about Fastems Experience Center.

The background studies, employee interview

summaries and the design process itself provided
already indispensable information for us. The end
results were the cherry on the cake!
Experience-driven Design 2015

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