Abstract

This paper traces the roots of theories on experience and experiencing in the history of science of the 19th and 20th century. From the concepts of Wilhelm Dilthey (1833–1911) and others, a phenomenological model of experiencing has been derived for industrial design around 1990, which is to be published internationally for the first time in this paper. From a current view, this model does not provide new opportunities on designing or evaluating user experience. However, it can be used to bridge theories and findings from the late 19th and early 20th century with current models of user experience, which are more comprehensive and can be used beyond the description of experiencing. These models also offer methods for designing, evaluating and even quantitatively measuring user experience, or have a stronger focus on emotions.

Keywords

product experience; experiencing; history of science

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Share

COinS
 
Jun 17th, 12:00 AM

Experience – A Central Concept in Design and its Roots in the History of Science

This paper traces the roots of theories on experience and experiencing in the history of science of the 19th and 20th century. From the concepts of Wilhelm Dilthey (1833–1911) and others, a phenomenological model of experiencing has been derived for industrial design around 1990, which is to be published internationally for the first time in this paper. From a current view, this model does not provide new opportunities on designing or evaluating user experience. However, it can be used to bridge theories and findings from the late 19th and early 20th century with current models of user experience, which are more comprehensive and can be used beyond the description of experiencing. These models also offer methods for designing, evaluating and even quantitatively measuring user experience, or have a stronger focus on emotions.

 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.