Keywords

1 Introduction

In 2008 the advent of the iPhone refreshed the definition of mobile phones, more importantly it enlightened business practitioners around the world to re-understand the concept of user experience. According to the demands of user experience research and design in business practice, ISO 9241-210 standard defines User eXperience (UX) as “customers’ impression and response to the use or expectations on the product” [2] that is, whether the product is simple to use and how it feels like while being used. From the definition, it is not hard to find that UX is more about subjective feelings customers have when using the product. The advent of first iPhone has passed ten years, now we have entered the era of experience economy [3]. The salient feature nowadays is that the pursuit of perceptual stimulation and pleasure, it means that the need of extreme experience has increasingly become the essence of consumption [4,5,6]. Observing the concept of user experience against the background of the entire history of human consumption, we can easily see that it is just recent decades that the concept is established and becomes popular. However, the facts of experience have existed for a long time. Since the birth of the first product in the world, this subjective feeling from the use of the product is already made no matter whether the issues on user experience can be clearly recognized.

For a long time, due to limitations in the productivity and industrial technology, products our society supplied have not yet been able to fully meet the customers’ needs for basic functions and aesthetics. For the fact, the society environment at that time is not helpful to understand the concept of user experience. It is noteworthy that by the 1990s, the productivity level had risen significantly compared to the early days of the Industrial Revolution [7]. In this context, Donald Norman introduced and promoted the concept of UX in the mid-1990s [8]. In addition, Allan Cooper discussed the issues such as goal-orientation and user’s mental model at a similar time [9]. In essence, their work makes great contributions in the study of user experience. However, they fail to make the concept of UX popular.

There are two possible reasons. First of all, customers lack of adequate understanding of the experience values in the consumer market. In the second place, UX researchers, like Norman and Cooper, may have no personal experience in making a product which offers high-quality experience as the Apple Inc. did. But with either the continuous improvement of the overall productivity and purchasing ability all over the world or the contribution of Norman and Cooper on UX study, they are pushing the global consumer market to a threshold of opening an era of experience economy. Apparently, the Apple Inc led by Steve Jobs was aware of these changes in the consumer market in a sensitive and timely manner, so they can constantly invent popular electronic products with obsessive experience to gain advantageous in the competitive market. Due to the global influence of Apple brand and its product, their innovative products greatly catalyze the further cognition and demand of experience values in the market. The formal start of experience times can be attributed to the creation of iPhone in 2008. Compared to previous mobile phones, iPhone offers novelty and extreme experience for customers [10]. Therefore, the values of experience have been greatly realized by customers. It is the smart iPhone which started the Pandora box of making customers, and it explicit the needs on product experience. From then on, more and more companies and customers put their focuses on the values of experience. To date, user experience was first appeared and developed in the electronic industry and internet technology companies, but now it can be found in various industries, such as cars, home electronics and traditional food-making industries and a number of service companies. Many companies even believe that offering products with high quality of experience is a strategy to be competitive.

2 Problem

User experience has received large supports from many business, however, until now it is quite difficult to generate a product offering extreme experience. There are two possible reasons.

Firstly, from the perspective of industry performance, new values are indeed provided to the market with the help of big data and various existing methods on user experience. However, there are two problems in these methods. One is that compared to the overall research and study, those can indeed suit users’ needs are less than 5%. Recall the past few years, a large number of concepts gaining popularity in the market jump into the consumers’ sight, but soon most of them fade away because they do not fit the actual needs of users. The other thing is that after Steven Jobs passed, it is hardly to find any company or individual that can create products like iPhone providing such unbelievable experience.

Secondly, in terms of practice of user study and design, many professional and large entrepreneurs set to work seems using the systematic processes in a logic manner. In fact, almost all steps in the process require insight, inspiration and intuition or nature factors to get involved. This makes uncertainty as a property for user experience. It also makes the project failed on the half way so that the designed products iterate with a low efficiency in two ways: one is to revise the design scheme according to the feedback from customers or their expectation. The other case is if customers dislike the product, the company has to try another insight, inspiration and intuition to test their luck. It is approved that these two practices fail to be helpful on establishing high quality of user experience.

In the background, since 2016, some employees and researchers began to reconsider the problems in the popularity of user experience. While business put more emphasize on the value of experience, they lack of basic and deep studies on user experience. This makes the logical refection less possible for those who work in the field of user experience have problems to solve. Thus, they have to put their expectation of being successful into the product iterations, which may never end. In order to improve the efficiency of user experience in practical design, it is an urgent need for researchers to establish a professional and systematic theory that can effectively guide the practice for the purpose. As one study requires defining the objectives in the first place, it is also true in user experience study. Its goal is to establish a concept to cover all experience types. More specifically, a comprehensive classification of use experience is required. However, to date, either in the experience industry or among scholars, there has been no definite consensus on such a classification. This prevents practitioners from looking at the full elements of experience to examine the experience values of a product and the long-term strategy in designing a product.

3 Related Work

Existing concepts on user experience classification come from the source of history reasons. Usability test was firstly introduced to electronic products design through understanding and thinking of the technology-centered [9]. Enjoyment experience firstly appeared in the methodology of design thinking proposed by the department of design at Stanford University [11]. Aesthetic experience and brand experience were originated from the traditional marketing. In terms of guiding experience study and practice, the concepts discussed above have two problems: (1) Current definition of experience are not independent with each other, in other words, they have somehow overlap. This leads to ambiguous borders. It also brings difficulty in exploring the relations among the various types of experience. (2) There is insufficient evidence to approve the existing concept can cover all experience types. To date, in the field of experience either in industry or scholar, there is few study which can give an overall concept to deal with the problems. This paper attempts to bridge the gap.

4 Method

How to better define and understand various types of user experience? First, the idea of classifying user experience is originally inspired by the development of philosophy aesthetic theory. Since the times of Plato, through a large amount of discussion on the essence of aesthetic, researchers finally reach a consensus in aesthetic, it is subjective feelings so that we can analyze the psychology feelings to explore activities related to aesthetic [12]. Accordingly, a conclusion can be easily set up in which beauty can be defined by analyzing the emotional satisfaction logic in aesthetic activities, that is to analyze the psychological activities. Based on such a result, the differences from other subjective feelings can be found. The explanation of aesthetic activities from Philosophy aesthetic reflects human’s mental modes and recognition abilities to define emotional experience classes, which can be achieved by analyzing various emotional satisfying logics in customers’ psychological activities to define and classify the corresponding experiences.

Second, the process of exploring user needs is that customers should have needs to solve a specific problem. Then the company would make products to meet the needs. When a customer has a purchase, they begin to form experience. User needs and user experience can be regarded as two sides of a coin, each type of experience corresponds to its need. Therefore, to classify various user experiences, the type of needs is supposed to be analyzed first.

Considering the two reasons above, this study uses the observation method and the psychology analysis to differentiate the consumption needs, and analyzes the logic of purchase activity and features. Based on these, we explore the underlying emotional mechanism to classify user experience. By doing this, a user classification system is set up for providing an instruction on user experience study and design practice.

5 User Experience Classification

In this section, we explain the emotional satisfaction mechanism implied in the behavior of buying products and define six different types of experience each sub-section.

5.1 Utility Experience

A truth is that except for crafts for appreciation and collection, any product can be sold, unless it has to have some usage. This is the premise to be a product taken into the market. Due to the drive of physical and psychological motives, customers have basic needs for some products primarily because of the fact the products they purchase can solve their practical problems. Such as drink mineral water for thirsty, observe text and video through online website for obtaining knowledge, use a hand nail gun to make a hole on the wall. Corresponding to the experience, it is certain that people would have subjective feeling while they use the product. Jakob Nielsen defined such a value of product as Utility [13], this definition is widely accepted in the worldwide. Thus, it is feasible to define the subjective feeling of customers on practical usage of products as utility experience.

The emotional satisfaction mechanism behind the utility experience is represented two aspects. First, if customers buy products for their practical use and the product can effectively help address the problems, they would recognize the value of product. That means they have a great experience, otherwise their experience is not good. Second, the quality of utility experience is related to the expectation that users have. Such an expectation can be divided into two elements: quality and quantity. Quality refers to expectation on effectiveness of functions. For instance, people tend to have high expectation on the car accelerator. If the practical product outweighs their expectation, they are more likely to have good experience. Quantity means the number of functions that product offers. That is the expectation on the number of functions. If a watch can provide not only the usage of showing time, but also the use of compass, this would also bring enjoyable experience. So far, the emotional satisfaction mechanism above discussed have pointed out the content of utility experience and the boundary as utility experience.

5.2 Usability Experience

In the early days of computers as major interactive products, the products in the market offered new and practical functions to attract customers, however, compared to the earlier ages, the operations become more complicated. Actually, this happens a lot in many products. Some interactive products on the one hand provide powerful functions. On the other hand, the complex of operating steps brings the difficulty in using them for customers. Alan Cooper explained the problem as the difference between operational mode and psychological mode [9]. This makes designers to think about how to simplify the operations so that they can better suit the habitat of users. From then on, usability experience comes to the horizontal line. Up to now, usability experience has been the key to conduct user study in the IT industry, which devotes to develop applications and interactive hardware. In addition, apart from the promotion of usability experience by many consultant companies and academic institutions, the consumption market put more emphasis on usability. Overall, more and more car and family electrical factories began to take the improvement of usability values as their competitive strategy.

The emotional satisfaction mechanism underlying usability experience is brief and obvious. If products bring the convenience and effectiveness for customers to use, users would say they have great experience. This is the base to differentiate usability from other types of experience. Another thing to notice is that the products that primarily aims to improve usability experience can also bring users with other explicit or latent experience. For instance, most of automobile car producers can make shock absorber have sufficient support so that it can deal with side tilt caused by centrifugal pull when car is making a turn. However, due to the improvement of the technological level and the increasing competition in the market, especially the producers of high-end automotive products, it is common for shock absorbers to provide enough support force and also an appropriate damping process between the release supportive forces and limit of supportive movements. This allows the driver to feel the support of the shock is not stiff, rough and simple, but soft, delicate, textured, rhythmic and connotation. Apparently, the later experience is not just usability experience any more. By analyzing the satisfaction emotions, such experience can be formed based on usability experience but rely on aesthetic and innovation experience. Even for some customers they also offer symbol and taste experience according to their life environment, knowledge background and incentive.

5.3 Aesthetic Experience

Everyone likes himself or herself to be beautiful. It is human’s nature that everyone has the aesthetic need, which corresponds to the aesthetic value in consumption market. Although most of us realize its existence, it is ambiguous that how to recognize and define such aesthetic experience because it depends on the psychosocial activity and is quite complicated. The theory on philosophy aesthetic can give an answer. Baumgarten explained that aesthetic is the components of sensitivity activities, meaning when people use the product, they can be satisfied through the sense channel, such as visual and hearing. He disclosed the essence of aesthetic and the key to aesthetic experience is emotional satisfaction theory [14]. Take a further look, the aesthetic sense is the emotion and spiritual enjoyment on color, appearance and sound. It means that the source of aesthetic not only comes from visibility but hearing, smelling, tasting and touch. In terms of aesthetic experience, costumers can be satisfied from the perceptual recognition on the harmony of modeling, sound and quality, brand and service.

Wang [15] believed that aesthetic experience relies on the emotional satisfaction mechanism by giving three features in aesthetic activities. (1) Beyond-success: It means the aesthetic activities do not have to consider the material success. Here material success related activities refer to nature activity and practical work, as well as psychological and social activities referring to success, greedy, and benefit. (2) Subjective: It means that human beings have self-subjective, abled, free, and intentioned features. These features are subject to natures, ethics, social orders, laws and material conditions. However, aesthetic activities are less subject to restricted rules so that human’s nature and subjective can be presented and can represents freedom. (3) Sensitivity: It is contrast to rationality and logic. It more emphasizes on the nature states, such as sense-physical needs, emotions and personalities related. Aesthetic activities tend to have such requirements.

5.4 Novel Experience

Except for usability and aesthetic experience, people expect the product can meet novel needs. In other words, customers hope new products can perform distinctly from old ones by showing new and impressive features. This requires four points to support: (1) Pursuit of innovation, one of the basic incentives. As Peter pointed out any products that brings experience never change would not be enjoyable [16]; (2) The space-time expansion lays the foundation for developing and updating products; (3) Recently, the productivity promotion provides material support on the release and satisfaction of novel needs. (4) Before the 18th century, the novel concept has not been spread. On the modern times, the consumption culture leads the values for most consumers. Different from the traditional Endian culture, it more emphasis on world-in values and encourages people to release our desires and make us believe that obtaining material needs at maximum and reaching self-achievement is the path to success and happiness. Thus, it provides support on culture environment for novelty experience. Under such an environment, to date, novelty can defend itself and prove itself effectiveness and it doesn’t have to be confirmed by other concepts. Las believed modern began to be equal to novelty. Customers began to form recognition on liking-novelty [17].

It is obvious that customer can have novelty experience because their emotions can be satisfied. This is to say that if product can offer new design functions or elements, customers would have novelty incentive from sense or recognition, this is called novelty experience. The degree of such an experience tends to have a positive relationship to the amount of difference compared to the old. The emotional satisfaction discussed here can be used to differentiate novelty experience from other experiences. However, it is insufficient for UX researchers on to just know novelty experience, they still need to study its relationship to classic experience meaning the necessary and key values as a product, like functional values and basic appearance structures. It is easy to understand that innovative products are supposed to inherit the classic values and also provide novelty. Only by doing this, we can say novelty experience is great.

In regards to its relations with other experiences, there are two main points: (1) the novelty incentive must rely on the usability, aesthetic and symbol experience. (2) Novelty experience is the necessary carrier for fashion experience. But for symbol and taste experience, novelty is not necessary.

5.5 Fashion Experience

The fashion need is the explicit desire of customers in modern society. Customers want to pursuit how much fashion and the ways they want to show their fashion are distinct from people. In contrast with usability and aesthetic values, needs on fashion is not our human nature, it is the outcome of history and psychological incentive, such as envy, and self-realize. In the late of mid-century, self-recognition began to be awake and human are beginning to pursuit enjoyment, this makes the nobility put much attention on personality of appearance. In social recognition, new concepts on abstraction between males and females are also formed, this enables the appearance become the power of lure. Therefore, People began to pursuit fashion in innovation and differences. Analyzing nowadays fashion, we can easily find its essence lie in the establishment of new products. This brings new concepts that focus on these products. Then, the rate of increase is very fast so that this generation products are over-fitted and the meaning also becomes plain. Then, a new product is shot and the corresponding ideas are given. This whole process was done repeatedly. The key in fashion experience is not satisfying existing needs but creating new needs.

According to the fashion mechanism discussed above, the emotional satisfaction based on fashion experience can be meet based on two pre-conditions. First, users can own products that express new meaning and new concepts. These can be presented by new functions and new styles. Here new is contrast to existing meaning and statement, it means that such innovation can be classic. Second, the new concepts have to be accepted and promoted by the customers. When the two conditions are met, customers can obtain fashion experience meaning their vanity from two aspects: 1. Other people compliment and confirm the products. 2. Owners believe their fashion identity and taste can be confirmed for peers.

From the aspect of relationship with other experience, novel experience is the basis for fashion experience, but they are not equal. Fashion experience requires wide acceptance and promotions. It is distinct from novel experience. Second, fashion can be regarded as a form of taste experience and symbol experience.

5.6 Symbol Experience

Since human in nature tend to have some degree of their vanity and are easily influenced by the modern culture, symbolic consumption becomes an important purchase reason. This concept is inspired by symbolic study. Here symbol refers to that the product can represent a thing that outside itself. For instance, Product A is not only itself but also means another object B. When people mention A, they can know its underlying meaning, B. In a typical scenario of symbol experience, the company stimulates customers with a perceptible thing to enable them know its meaning even when the thing appears or disappears [18]. In this case, when customers decide to purchase a BMW car, they are definitely not only for driving, but more emphasis on the products’ underlying meaning, such as luxury and taste. Objectively, there is a relationship between the values that the product reflects and consumers when the purchase behavior happens. Furthermore, products can be regarded as a symbol primarily because Poled found that there is object system existing. Take Mercedes car for example, C model has 180-type and 200-type, E level provide 200-type and 260 types, S level has 300-type and 600-type, such a level former an entire object system. In the system, in contrast with other cars, each type can express the owner’s values, like economy status and personality. Every product can have what symbols is decided by its social culture. Thus, Social field determines what the product means.

According to the consumption analysis above, symbol experience relying on the emotional satisfaction logic include two aspects. First, products that customers have can show symbolic value, such as, luxury and elegant. These symbolic meaning can represent customers’ social status. Second, the values of these symbols should be accepted widely. These two aspects can offer symbol experience in two various ways. (1) Group identity that product symbol represent can be confirmed (2) Social identity can be established due to symbol experience.

In terms of relationship to other experience, symbol of products is often presented as difference. It has to rely on usability, novelty and aesthetic values. Take a further look, symbol experience can be meaningful only when other experience can be satisfied. When customers’ only focus on symbol experience, they would think the fulfillment of other experiences is a must. No doubt a product has a quality problem, symbol experience would not be great.

6 Discussion

This research defines six categories of user experience according to the satisfaction logic reflected in the purchase. According to the definition of aesthetic experience by philosophy aesthetic, we analyze the customers’ emotional satisfaction mechanism at the psychological level and divide user experience into six categories. Such a classification method provides an approach to understanding the subjective experience but it really relies on users’ previous recognition and background. In contrast with existing experience definition, our classification method is more comprehensive as it aims to list out all possible experiences. There are two main contributions to the UX study. (1) A clear and practical method of user experience classification is introduced. UX researchers can either directly apply our method to their studies so as to better understand users’ real needs. (2) A practical way on how to apply each experience type is presented and we also ensure each type is independent with others. This can assist employers in the work of designing best-celling products that can satisfy one or more types of experience. We admit there are limitations in our approach as it is difficult to find out all possible experience. Actually, our work is an ongoing research so our classification may be more comprehensive in the future. Understanding the experience type is the first step, it is more important to make it feasible in real applications. We suggest researchers to have great observation ability and critical thinking to reach the goal.

7 Conclusion

As the times of experience economy has arrived, more companies begin to conduct studies on user experience and try to expand the market. However, until now there is lack of studies on basic theoretic problems. A definite use experience classification is one of problems to be addressed. This problem hinders the study and design of user experience. To address it, this paper gives six types of user experience and their relationships are also illustrated through analyzing the customers’ emotional satisfaction logic during the purchase. In theoretic contribution, our research initially establishes a system of user experience classification. In practical contribution, it can provide practical goals for UX studies and design. It can particularly help employers in UX field fully understand all elements of experience and their relationships so that they can rethink the effectiveness of the designed product. In the future, more detailed observation and analysis will be conducted to rich our classification method.