Emotional Interaction in Product Design
Xuesong Yang 1, Cheng Chen 2
School of Urban Design of Wuhan University, Wuhan, P.R China
littlechan860216@126.com
Abstract
In the process of using products, customers get
acquainted with the features and properties ofproducts
through interacting with them, and become emotionally
involved at the same time. Thus, great importance
should be attached to emotional interaction in product
design, i.e. products should be able to interact
emotionally with users besides displaying themselves.
This paper analyzes the emotional issues in the process
of interaction from the perspective of interaction
design" such as personal relevance, cultural
conceptions and the realization of self-worth, etc. and
studies the design philosophy of emotional interaction
from three levels-reactive, behavioral and reflective,
more specifically, utilizing the perceptual senses to
achieve reactive interaction; employing the cognition
and experience in the process of using products to
attain behavioral interaction; designing meaningful
form which encourages the user to evaluate, associate
and reflect to accomplish reflective interaction.
Keywords: digital age, interaction design, product
design, emotional interaction.
1. Introduction
Product Design features diversely in different periods
of human history. In the agricultural age, it existed
mainly in forms of arts and crafts, while in the age of
industry, mechanical function design took the leading
place. When the digital age begins, with economy
becoming the first concern, millions of digital products
function as the media of transmitting complex
information, and links between users and products,
between human and internet are built up through
interaction. As products are endowed with the capability
of "interaction" in digital age, product design inevitably
moves towards interaction design. Bill Moggridge, the
founder of IDEO, brought forward the conception of
interaction design in the 1980s. He believes that
products should have the function of interaction, which
means in the using process, users can get emotionally
involved through the exchange of information with
products, and that designers are supposed to adopt the
978-1-4244-3291-2/08/$25.00 ©2008 IEEE
method of interaction design to work out a "simple,
useful, and enjoyable interactive product".[l]
2. Emotional interaction with products
Products and the artificial environment composed of
products are the external world of customers' lives, and
designing, examining and product using make up of the
interaction between customers and products. In the
process of interaction, users experience three
psychological processes, that is, the perception of the
outside world, the cognition of the using process and the
awareness of product reflection. Perceptions result in
corresponding psychological changes, namely,
emotional changes or emotional experiences. Just as
external perceptions can directly cause emotional
changes, internal consciousness can also inspire
corresponding emotional experiences. Thus it is clearly
seen that emotion penetrates in the whole process of the
interaction between users and products. While
interacting with products, people experience the features
and properties of them, and obtain corresponding
emotional experience, which in tum, influences the
interaction process. For instance, products bringing
positive emotions are easier to use, whereas those
causing negative evaluation may affect the using process.
Similarly, people prefer to live in pleasant environments,
while those making people nervous and anxious keep
them away. [2]
3. Trends of emotional interaction
"Compensatory high emotion is needed everywhere.
The more high technologies exist in our society, the
stronger we will be eager for a high emotional
environment. Thus it becomes a must for us to learn
how to balance between technical miracles and
emotional needs."[3] With the economic take-off and
cultural affluence, what people are pursuing today is
trying to meet their spiritual needs rather than get mere
material satisfaction, so as to ease senses of emptiness
generated in this competitive and stressful society.
Naturally, products tum to a real "character" in daily
life rather than a mere "tool". They are not only
appliances but necessities in human life, and also friends
that interact with people through establishing
increasingly closer relations with them.
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 Nissan PiVo 2 in the 2007 Tokyo Motor show,
regarded as the cutest conceptual car, is exactly such a
high emotion product designed with high tech. PiVo 2
takes the idea of environmentally friendly electric urban
commuter vehicles, delivers fun and functionality, and
builds a unique relationship with the driver. It is round
and cute, which seems to be specially designed as a
model for "Doraemon". Each of the four wheels is
powered by Nissan's advanced electric In-wheel 3D
Motor and can tum through 90 degrees, making it
possible for PiVo 2 to drive sideways as well as moving
forwards, and the cabin, which revolve 360 degrees,
cutely looks like a big egg on four wheels.
Figure 1. Nissan PiVo 2
The robotic assistant set up in the console is quite
sweet as well. It will become the best company of
drivers with its cute figure as a little head (Fig. 2).
Further more, the robotic assistant has cameras in his
eyes to monitor the driver constantly. When the driver's
exhaustion is caught, a voice prompt will be heard:
"You look tired. There is a cafe on the left turning 500
meters ahead. Let's have a rest there." Similarly, if the
driver is in bad mood, it will shake its head to cheer him
up. As is stated by the chief designing officer of Nissan,
PiVo 2 is created not only to make the drivers' minds at
ease but also bring joy to those meeting it on streets.
Figure 2. Robotic assistant
It is said to be an innate human tendency to personify
objects. They are used to resting emotions and beliefs
on products and likewise, personified responses can
easily bring great pleasure to customers. If products
perform stably and meet their expectations, the users
will be satisfied and sometimes praise the products, or
even attach to them emotionally during the long-time
interaction with them; contrarily, if run-time error
occurs or the products reject correct operations, the
users will get indignant or even disgusted.
Nowadays, the consumption style of pursuing fashion
has gone; instead, the desire of self-consumption has
f>2
wakened up [4]. Psychologists believe that the values of
modem consumers' can be divided into two categories:
the instrumental value and the ultimate value. People no
longer purchase goods only for the usability but pay
more attention to the psychological and social attributes
to have their self-identities and worth realized. In
addition to the function and usability, they expect a
product that will bring them unique experiences and
resonate with their psychological needs, which means a
consumption that is not simply a reception of products
and services as before, but an interaction process,
through which the users get self-realized rather than
receive the simple varieties of products. [5]
Swatch is an outstanding representation of that. They
transform the watch to a fashion, believing people
should wear various watches to match their mood,
clothes, activities and even different times of a day, just
like they have various ties and shoes. It is stated on their
website that, " the surface and belt of the watch can
reveal the most original imagination, the most unusual
mind, the clearest color, the most exciting news, arts
and comedies, dreams of today and tomorrow, and even
more." As Designer DelCoates states in his book, "it is
inappropriate to design a watch that only can tell time.
Even if we do not know anything else, we should be
able to imagine the age, gender and viewpoints of the
wearer through the design of the watch or any other
product he owns."[6]
Figure 3. Swatches
A person's choices of products, living places, tours,
behaviors, etc. are powerful representations of himself.
Such external representations are sometimes
compensations of the deficiency of people's self-respect,
as is said that people are always pursuing others' desire.
They are eager for other people's recognition, and hope
for a recognition that can be appreciated by themselves.
Therefore, products with certain properties are not only
consumable; they have also become a language, a non-
verbal self-expression, and a kind of social exchanges.
[7]
3. Levels of emotional interaction

Human beings live in an external world consisting of
the nature and artificialities. They contact with the
artificialities through using and appreciating them,
which inevitably results in emotional interaction.
According to the degrees, three levels can be found:
reactive interaction, behavioral interaction, and
reflective interaction.
3.1. Reactive interaction
Reactive interaction is instinctive. Intrigued by sense
stimulations, it includes seeing, hearing, smelling,
touching, tasting, etc. The users receive sense
stimulations, directly respond to them, and then obtain
diverse emotional interactions. It is a primary level, but
a level that is the most direct and irresistible.
Philips, for example, has now produced a new lamp
called Light Chimes. With the concept of outdoor
lighting, it can detect changes of breeze and temperature;
correspondingly, shift between lightening styles. When
the wind blows, it passes through the hole in the middle
of the circular LED, and the Light increases in
brightness. Meanwhile, it can react to the temperature
by changing colors accordingly, providing an indication
of weather conditions outside.
Figure 4. Light Chimes
(If the user huffs to the lamp, the light and color would
also change, which brings great fun.)
3.2. Behavioral interaction
The behavioral interaction grows from the cognition
and experiences during the using process. It is the
functionality and the usability that provide users
emotional interactive experience. [8] Firstly, usability
induces pleasure. With the flourishing of digital
products in the information age, most designers have
focused on exploring versatility, making it an
uncommon skill for people to use a product. In order to
improve the usability, products ought to have the same
mental model as users, which mean the designers should
sufficiently understand the users and their use context,
including their ages, culture backgrounds, aesthetic
preferences, etc., so as to design proper products fitting
for the users.[9] Besides, customers' understanding of
products is equivalently important to increase the
usability, which can be achieved by establishing a
proper conceptual model, i.e. what the product is and
how it runs; meanwhile, it is better for products to offer
sustaining feedbacks, informing the user of what is
going on, which operation level it has arrived, and
whether it is running steadily. [6] Only in this way will
the customers sense the pleasure of using a product. One
of the 2006 KOKUYO DESIGN AWARD working
"blooming period" is a good example for this point. The
designer combines origami flowers with tea bags. When
making teas, the origami will gradually unfold itself like
a bloom by absorbing the steam. Moreover, it can be
easily distinguished whether your tea is in fifth, seventh
or ninth infusion through different colors of the bottom
of the paper flower, which helps you choose different
taste easily and quickly. In that way, the designer plays
an interactive game with customers, and customers
enjoy themselves a lot by experiencing a whole
blooming period as well as drinking the tea.
Figure 5. Blooming period
On the other hand, with the increasing robotization
of products, the whole operation process could be
finished by pressing a single button. However, the
pleasure of touching, feeling, or moving real products is
lost. Designers could increase the sense of the usability
and reality of products in the interaction through
enriching the use process, such as increasing interaction
elements on the interface, emphasizing some key actions,
etc. An American designer, for example, once designed
a telephone book. Looking like an opened book, it can
be turned over and switched between different functions
through the block of the book. That design returns to the
form of personal notebook from aspects of either the
shape or the interaction mode, showing the multi-level
and turning-over features of notebooks, and providing
the users with the feeling of turning over a book and
getting informed.
The key point of emotional interaction is the
participation of users. Only when the users take part in
the funny using context could the emotional resonance
between the users and the products be achieved.
3.3. Reflective interaction
Reflective interaction concerns knowledge, culture
and evaluations of products. The users interact with
products through comprehending, associating and
reflecting "the meaningful form" of it. As an example,
53
the chair shown in picture 6 is a Leonardo Dining Table.
Made by Leonardo, it is a work between art and
function, which is not about physical comfort but about
intimacy, love and passion. From the first sight of the
romantic name, a sweet memory might come to your
mind, the time when you and your intimate lover were
whispering at table, like a photo, a witness of a story.
Figure 6. Leonardo dining table
Reflective interaction is related to personal memories
and experiences, coming from the long-term interaction
with products. If a person cherishes a product, it usually
means that the product establishes a framework of
positive spirits and has become the symbol of happy
memories. Those products always imply a story, a
memory, or something associating the user with a
specific thing or event. If a product is of personal
relevance, the owner would be attached to it. It is the
relationship between the user and the product and the
meaning it represents that we are relying on, but not the
goods themselves. Meanwhile, the products that people
cherish represent their identity, class, profession,
preferences, tastes, etc. They are reflections of personal
images. When the prestige and rareness of a product
upgrade the image of the owner, they will become more
attached to it.
In the process of the long-term interaction with
products, people build close relationships with them,
and gradually, happy memories come into being. People
are happy to own them, satisfied when using them,
proud to show them, and the products represent and
define them in return. Reflective interaction is kind of
self-actualization on a high level.
The three levels of emotional interaction ascend from
low to high. The front is the foundation of the back, and
the back is a sublimation of the front. They interact and
54
infiltrate with each other. Sometimes they might be hard
to distinguish, but always cooperate with each other and
accomplish the interaction with the users. Hence, the
only way of having customers buy a product and
appreciate it is to bring them multi-level emotional
interactions from different aspects.
4. Conclusion
Today, the consuming conception has turned to high
self-actualization. Emotional interaction in product
design focuses on personal experiences and puts
emotional elements into products, endowing products
with the ability to communicate with people. Thus
designers should study the society we live in and the
customers they design for, becoming totally customer-
oriented, providing them emotional care through
reactive, behavioral and reflective interaction to
emotionally support the nervous, stressful, mentally
vacant people in this high technology society.
References
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