Differentiating positive emotions elicited by products; An exploration of perceived differences between 25 positive emotions by users and designers

This paper reports semi-qualitative research on emotions from the perspective of users and designers. Twenty-five positive emotions were ranked regarding four relevant issues for product design: frequency of experience, preference for experience, preference for elicitation, and difficulty in elicitation. Based on the results from this research the emotions that users frequently experience and prefer are: satisfaction, inspiration, confidence, joy, amusement, and relaxed. These emotions ranked high also among those that designers prefer to elicit. Emotions that are infrequently experienced and not preferred by both users and designers are: lust and worship. In relation to the difficulty of eliciting positive emotions through durable products, the conclusion is that it is a challenging task and little knowledge exists to support designers. The knowledge developed through this project is expected to be useful for designers and researchers to understand the role of positive emotions in product design.