I’ve seen many user research sessions only pay attention to how/if a product functions. The participants entire emotional experience is overlooked. Often with a room of observers writing the exact same notes for each finding, such as: “The user became stuck here”. User research can illuminate what people are wanting from a product. It can be more than ‘how successfully a product functions’.

The ability to relax, but not influence a participant, is a difficult skill to master. It allows a rare glimpse into the customers sincere experience. 
I want to give research teams a way to access the true emotions people are experiencing and looking for. This is why I began developing a way to access the rich emotional insight from participants.

In the following five steps, I’ll explain how to tap into the emotional data that is otherwise overlooked.

The Leica team are designing a high-end photography app to go along with their new phone lenses. The product has the potential to carve a new market in the camera world. This would replace DSLR cameras, by using phone cameras to their fullest potential.

At the project start the team state what emotions they want this new product to create in its customers. Through a series of workshops, they map the brand’s ideals to feelings the product can create. The outcome is a vision of the experience they are going to create and how it will be distinct from competitors.

Actions

• Host an 'Emotive Design - Checklist' workshop. This is where the team along with stakeholders can build a shared vision.

• The outcome of the workshop is to have the project’s purpose and emotions defined. As the project develops these points used to shape decisions.

• The outcome is a vision of the emotional experience. Taking professional-looking photos without the challenges of using a DSLR camera.

2) Baselining the emotion

The participant (Harry) is waiting in the lobby. He is the first participant to test what the team has designed.

He's had a rubbish week and a worse day. He smashed his phone screen on Monday and arrived to work late on Wednesday. Today is Friday and this morning was told his childhood dog is sick. Harry wants this week to hurry up and be over. It's safe to say his mood is low.

The facilitator (Fiona) greets Harry, asking how he's doing. Harry says he's "okay", but Fiona can tell by his tone and body language that something is up. Fiona takes note and asks him to fill out a 'Bipolar Emotional Response Test' (BERTest).

The BERTest allows Harry to illustrate how he feels. This gives the team Harry's emotional baseline. The purpose of the baseline is to know what is 'better' or 'worse'.

Actions

• Understanding the participants base level is important. It allows the experience to be frame around their baseline. A "Good" experience needs to be 'better' than a "Bad" experience. The baseline lets us know what is 'better' or 'worse'.

• Before the participant enters the testing lab, we want to know how their day is going, how their week going. We want to know what the current emotional state is, as that will form the baseline for their experience.

• We use also use a BERTest to read their perceived uninfluenced emotion in that moment. We contrast that with their body-language and tone of voice.

3) Explaining the task

As Fiona leads Harry to the testing lab, she asks if he has any preconceptions of Leica as a brand. Harry says that he is a long-time photographer, has never owned a Leica camera, but knows the brand is high-end. Fiona asks if he is confident with photography apps. Harry replies he prefers proper cameras.

Fiona begins to explain the task for the session. Harry needs to install, setup and take a photo of Fiona with the Leica app.

Fiona gives Harry another BERTest to assess his expectation of the upcoming task.

Actions

• The facilitator gets to know who they are, what the participants capabilities are.

• The facilitator asks what the participants perception of the brand is. This lets us understand their expectations. It allows us through many participants, to build a picture of the brand over time.

• The facilitator explains the task they're going to do. They ask the participant how they feel about the upcoming task. This lets us understand any preconceptions.

• We give them a BERTest to complete. This lets them self-define how they feel, framed with our measures.

4) Observing behaviours

Through the session the research team observe Harry. They pay close attention to his body-language and facial expressions. They're looking for the emotional truth to Harrys experience.

At set checkpoints Fiona asks Harry to fill out a BERTest.

The research team begin to notice that Harry is struggling to understand how to setup the app. When he fills out the BERTest he is showing that he is having an easy experience. The experience the observers are seeing is different to what Harry is saying.

Harry isn't wanting to be negative of his app, or to show he is struggling to understand it.

The observers see the truth with how Harry is behaving, compared to what he is saying.

Actions

• At checkpoints in the journey, the facilitator asks the participant what they're feeling. They do this by offering them a BERTest. The purpose of this is to understand how the language is making them feel. It can also call out if there are emotive elements in the functionality and aesthetic.

• Participants can say one thing, but their behaviour tells another story. Throughout the session, observers are analysing: tone of voice and body language. They do this to contrast against what the participant is saying.

5) Closing the session

By the end of the session Harry's mood has lifted. He's not feeling fantastic, but he's pleased with himself for figuring out the app. He's also pretty happy with the photo he took of Fiona.

Harry entered the session feeling 'disappointed', but leaves it feeling indifferent. This shows an improvement of his mood, partially through using the app. If he'd started in a more 'satisfied' place he'd be feeling 'delighted' now.

Fiona asks Harry if the experience of the app matches his expectations. Harry is encouraged to speak candidly about his experience. Fiona hands Harry a final BERTest, this allows the observers to plot his experience.

Actions

• As the session comes to a close, we look to understand how they feel from the accomplishment.

• We ask if their opinion of the challenges were perceived as expected.

• Finally, we ask them to fill out a BERTest. This will provide a 'gap analysis', when contrasted with the test at the beginning.

During the session, Fiona found out about Harry’s dog. Before Harry left the lab, Fiona gave him a hug and wished her best for his childhood companion. Harry left feeling just the smallest part better than when he’d first arrived (which is what it’s all about in the end).

How you can apply this framework

If you’d like any of the assets to help you host a more emotive research session. Or if you’d like to have a chat about why designing for emotion matters, feel free to message me:

contact@jamescastro.co.uk