Skip to main content

Teaching Experience Design Using Poems as Cultural Probes

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Project and Design Literacy as Cornerstones of Smart Education

Part of the book series: Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies ((SIST,volume 158))

Abstract

Training user experience (UX) design students to develop interactive products valuing the subjective experience as a catalyst is a challenge. Experience design implies a deep understanding of the values, culture, beliefs and practices of a target user group and also sensitivity to consciously integrate them in products with distinctive qualities. This paper presents a method experimented along three years of the Master’s Degree Program in Industrial Design at Eindhoven University of Technology. The method uses poems as cultural probes and as an access door to experience cultural elements and to embed them in the design of meaningful interactions. Beside the presentation of the method, the paper illustrates student projects that exemplify the approach. It concludes with recommendations to experience designers for transforming socio-cultural factors into product features which promote a valuable subjective experience.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Law, E., Roto, V., Vermeeren, A., Kort, J., Hassenzahl, M.: Towards a shared definition of user experience (UX). Proc. CHI 5(10) (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Roto, V., Law, E., Vermeeren, A., Hoonhout, J.: User Experience White Paper—Bringing Clarity to the Concept of User Experience. All About UX (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Marti, P., Iacono, I.: Experience over time: evaluating the experience of use of an interactive device on the short and medium term. Int. J. Multimedia Tools Appl. 76(4), 5095–5116 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Glanznig, M.: User experience research: modelling and describing the subjective. Interdisc. Descr. Complex Syst. 10(3), 235–247 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Hassenzahl, M.: Experience Design: Technology for All the Right Reasons. Morgan and Claypool Publishers, Essen (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Wright, P., McCarthy, J.: Experience-Centered Design: Designers, Users, and Communities in Dialogue. Morgan and Claypool Publishers (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Norman, D. 2002. Emotion & design: attractive things work better. Interactions 9(4), 36–42 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Scheirer, J., Fernandez, R., Klein, J., Picard, R.: Frustrating the user on purpose: using biosignals in a pilot study to detect the user’s emotional state. In: Cockton, G. (ed.) CHI 98 Conference Summary on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ‘98). Special issue of Interacting with Computers, vol. 14, pp. 93–118. Elsevier, Amsterdam (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Overbeeke, C., Djajadiningrat, J., Hummels, C., Wensveen, S.: Beauty in usability—forget about ease of use! In: Green, W., Jordan, P. (eds.) Pleasure with Products: Beyond Usability, pp. 9–18. Taylor and Francis Ltd., London (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Dunne, T., Raby, F.: Design Noir: the Secret Life of Electronic Products, 1st edn. Birkhäuser Verlag (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Gaver, W.: What should we expect from research through design? In: Proceedings of CHI ‘12, pp. 937–946. ACM Press, New York (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Graves Petersen, M., Iversen, O., Krogh, P., Ludvigsen, M.: Aesthetic interaction: a pragmatist’s aesthetics of interactive systems. In: Proceedings of the 5th Conference on Designing Interactive Systems: Processes, Practices, Methods, and Techniques (DIS ‘04), pp. 269–276. ACM, New York (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Gaver, B., Dunne, T., Pacenti, E.: Design: cultural probes. Interactions 6(1), 21–29 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Crabtree, A., Hemmings, T., Roddon, T., Cheverst, K., Clarke, K., Dewsbury, G., Hughes, J., Rouncefield, M.: Designing with care: adapting cultural probes to inform design in sensitive settings. In: Proceedings of OzCHI, pp. 4–13. Ergonomics Society of Australia, Brisbane (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Peeters, M., Megens, C., Hummels, C., Brombacher, A.: Experiential probes: probing for emerging behaviour patterns in everyday life. In: Proceedings of the 5th International Congress of International Association of Societies of Design Research, pp. 26–30. IASDR, Tokio (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Buchenau, M., Fulton-Suri, J.: Experience prototyping. In: Boyarski, D., Kellogg, W. (eds.) DIS 2000, pp. 424–433. ACM, New York (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Mattelmäki, T., Battarbee, K.: Empathy probes. In: Proceedings of the Participatory Design Conference, pp. 266–271. PDC, Malmö (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Mattelmäki, T.: Design Probes. University of Art and Design Helsinki, Helsinki (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Marti, P., van der Houwen, W.: Poetry as a cross-cultural analysis and sensitizing tool in design. AI Soc. 1–14. Springer, London (2017). ISSN: 0951-5666, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-017-0721-8, https://springerlink.bibliotecabuap.elogim.com/article/10.1007/s00146-017-0721-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Gijs de Boer, Tove Elfferich, John Vlaming from the ‘Teh Lampu’ project group and Xihao Hu, Bram Rutten and Xander Meijering, from ‘the Dear Enclosure’ project group for their contributions. A special thanks to Jan Glas for his didactic poetry skills and to Ward van der Houwen co-lecturer of ‘Poetry in Design’.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Patrizia Marti .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Marti, P., van Leiden, F. (2020). Teaching Experience Design Using Poems as Cultural Probes. In: Rehm, M., Saldien, J., Manca, S. (eds) Project and Design Literacy as Cornerstones of Smart Education. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, vol 158. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9652-6_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics