Extreme-User Experience Framework
While concepts like inclusive design and universal design have been studied for decades, design researchers have recently started to recognise the potential of extreme-user needs in addressing the latent needs among the general population users.My research built a systematic application framework to adopt extreme-user experiences alongside the 4D’s Design Innovation (DI) process model shared below.
Who are extreme-users? Extreme-user populations comprise the group of users whose needs are different from that of the general population of users of a product, service, or system (PSS). They experience needs that are latent among the general population and have the potential to inspire design professionals (Liikkanen, 2009; Raviselvam et al., 2019). For example, the older adult users and users with reduced physical or cognitive abilities would be examples of extreme-users for a product that primarily focuses on the mainstream general population users.
What is extreme-user experience? The Cambridge English Dictionary refers to experience as the process of getting knowledge or skill from doing, seeing, or feeling things (Cambridge University Press, 2021). Extreme-user experiences refer to the process of getting knowledge or skill from doing, seeing, or feeling things inspired by adopting extreme-user perspectives.
The key goal of this research is to understand ways to adopt extreme-user experiences as a tool for user-centric PSS design.
The proposed framework was applied for design innovation and creativity in domains like medical device design, cyber-security and privacy in mobile phone interface, and general education.
Research Approach:
Designers often design for people unlike themselves, especially extreme-users who experience some form of physical or cognitive challenges. My research focused on wearable simulations as a design approach that aids designers with such circumstances. Although never a substitute for real users, simulated experiences allow the designers to experience a perspective that is less likely to be accessed otherwise and significantly help improve designer creativity and empathy.
This study comprised 80+ participants who participated in three different extreme-user experience workshops. This project was in collaboration with ETCH Empathy (https://www.etch.sg/) and funded by the National Youth Council Singapore (https://www.nyc.gov.sg/en).
Outcomes:
Through this research, I:
- Tested the influence of extreme-user perspectives on designer empathy and creativity.
- Presented a psychology inspired metric to evaluate the Empathic Similarity attained by applying the extreme-user perspectives.
References:
- Raviselvam, Sujithra, Katja Hölttä-Otto, and Kristin L. Wood. “User Extreme Conditions to Enhance Designer Empathy and Creativity: Applications Using Visual Impairment.” ASME 2016 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference. American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
- Raviselvam Sujithra, Sanaei Roozbeh, Lucienne T. Blessing, Katja Hölttä-Otto, and Kristin L. Wood. “Demographic Factors and Their Influence on Designer Creativity and Empathy Evoked through User Extreme Conditions.” ASME 2017 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference. American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
- Poster Presentation: Raviselvam, Sujithra, Karen Sng, and Kristin Wood. “Design Knowledge and Impact on Simulation Induced Creativity and Empathy.” DS86: Proceedings of The Fourth International Conference on Design Creativity, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA. 2016. [Received Best poster award]
- Raviselvam, Sujithra, Hwang Dongwook, Bradley Camburn, Karen Sng, Katja Hölttä-Otto, and Kristin L. Wood. (2021). “Extreme-user Conditions to Enhance Design Creativity and Empathy- Application Using Visual Impairment.” International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation.
Design methods that contribute to the framework
Reference:
- Raviselvam, S. (2021). Designing with the Extreme-user Experiences (Doctoral dissertation, Singapore University of Technology and Design).