DRS2012 Bangkok Proceedings Vol 4 - Design Research Society

User Anticipation
Thedy Yogasara, Vesna Popovic, Ben Kraal, and Marianella Chamorro-Koc
When imagining outcomes of a future event, one can palpably experience positive or
negative feelings and emotions as if the outcomes have already taken place (Huron,
2006). These feelings encourage behavioral adjustments which can increase the
possibility of future desirable outcomes (Baumeister, et al., 2007; Huron, 2006). Likewise,
Elster and Loewenstein (1992) conclude that we are able to derive positive utility from
anticipating favorable events and to sustain emotional consequences from envisaging
future negative experiences; thus, we can repetitively experience the hedonic effect of
future events before they actually happen. These findings, drawn from the anticipatory
behavior perspective, confirm that people are capable of vividly envisioning and presently
feeling their future experiences. We hypothesize that the findings also apply to
anticipating experiences related to human-product interaction.
In the design domain, the importance of user anticipation has been acknowledged. As
Desmet and Hekkert (2007) assert, human-product interaction includes not only
instrumental and non-instrumental interactions, but also non-physical interaction which
refers to recalling, fantasizing about, or anticipating product usage. They point out that
potential outcomes of the interaction can also be imagined, anticipated, or fantasized
about, which, in turn, may evoke emotional responses. Karapanos, Zimmerman, Forlizzi,
and Martens (2009) set anticipation as an additional component of the dynamic of UX
over time. This component represents users’ anticipation of an experience that leads to
the formation of expectations before any actual user-product interaction occurs. Equally,
in the Experience with Technology Framework (McCarthy and Wright, 2004), anticipation
is integrated as a constituent of the six sense-making processes. It refers to the
possibilities, expectations, and ways of making sense that are related to relevant past
experiences. Mäkelä and Fulton Suri (2001) also claim that users’ expectations and past
experiences influence their current experience, and the current experience, in turn,
generates modified expectations and more experiences.
Despite the recognition of the role anticipation plays in UX, very few studies focus on
AUX. Heikkinen, Olsson, and Väänänen-Vainio-Mattila (2009), for example, use
scenarios of product usage instead of prototypes to study users’ expectations of the
experience of haptic interaction with mobile devices. However, they concentrate on
identifying users’ needs and important factors in designing haptic technology, not on how
potential users anticipate their experiences with the designed system. Moreover,
Chattratichart and Jordan (2003) propose the Virtual Immersion technique which requires
designers to imagine themselves as their target users and to live the users’ experience in
their mind. In other words, the designers try to anticipate their users’ experience through
empathizing with them. Again, Chattratichart and Jordan’s (2003) aim is different to the
aim of this study. Besides, in their method, the process of imagining or anticipating is not
performed by the users themselves. In short, how users anticipate their experiences with
interactive products is not yet thoroughly understood. This study, therefore, addresses
this gap by investigating and developing an AUX framework.
Research Method
The key aim of this study is to gain a better understanding of anticipated UX (AUX) to
support UX assessment in the early phases of product design. A qualitative approach
was employed as it is capable of drawing on users’ prior experiences and of capturing
their imagination and anticipation of future experiences and emotions with respect to the
use of interactive products.
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