Probing Experience: From Assessment of User Emotions and Behaviour to Development of Products

This book adheres to the vision that in the future compelling user experiences will be key differentiating benefits of products and services. Evaluating the user experience plays a central role, not only during the design process, but also during regular usage: for instance a video recorder that recommends TV programs that fit your current mood, a product that measures your current level of relaxation and produces advice on how to balance your life, or a module that alerts a factory operator when he is getting drowsy. Such systems are required to assess and interpret user experiences (almost) in real-time, and that is exactly what this book is about. How to achieve this? What are potential applications of psychophysiological measurements? Are real-time assessments based on monitoring of user behavior possible? If so, which elements are critical? Are behavioral aspects important? Which technology can be used? How important are intra-individual differences? What can we learn from products already on the market?The book gathers a group of invited authors from different backgrounds, such as technology, academy and business. This is a mosaic of their work, and that of Philips Research, in the assessment of user experience, covering the full range from academic research to commercial propositions.