Human factors for pleasure in product use

Traditionally, human factors have tended to concentrate on making products 'usable'--focusing on utilitarian, functional product benefits. This paper reports an interview-based study looking at the issue of 'pleasure' in product use. The study was a 'first pass' at addressing the hedonic and experiential benefits and penalties associated with product use, and at identifying the properties of a product that influence how pleasurable or displeasurable it is to use. Feelings associated with using pleasurable products included security, confidence, pride, excitement and satisfaction. Displeasurable products, meanwhile, were associated with feelings that included annoyance, anxiety, contempt and frustration. The properties of products that were salient in terms of influencing the level of pleasure/displeasure with a product included features, usability, aesthetics, performance and reliability. Responses to questions investigating behavioural correlates to pleasure in product use suggested that pleasurable products were used more regularly and that future purchase choices would be affected by the level of pleasure in product use. It is concluded that the issue of pleasure in product use involves more than usability alone. As the user's representative in the product creation process, the human factors specialist should consider many other factors in order to ensure that the user's experience of product use is maximised.