BayCHI: Making Emotion Work for You: A Case Study of Collaboration Between Design and Research in Building the Halo Video Game Franchise June 10, 2008

Making Emotion Work for You: A Case Study of Collaboration Between Design and Research in Building the Halo Video Game Franchise
August de los Reyes and Dennis Wixon, Microsoft

The competitive environment for technology for consumers is changing. Capabilities, features, functions are no longer sufficient. Emotional engagement and compelling experiences will distinguish the successful consumer products of the future. Companies can adapt or die. Designing successful products for this new world requires we change the way we think about people and products. We also need to rethink techniques and processes we use of design and product research. This presentation provides a brief overview of a counter-intuitive (and therefore, controversial) design approach with the goal of eliciting positive irrational response. The primary focus will be a classic but innovative theory of human emotion that has simple and practical implications for both design and research. We will show how this approach has helped shape some of the most successful products in recent history. We will also present a new way of thinking about product design. Our aim is to change the way you think about product design, user research, and human emotion.

Dennis Wixon directs research at Microsoft Games studios which is recognized as a leader in applied methodology. Previously, Dennis was usability manager in the Software Usability Engineering group at Digital Equipment Corporation, where methods such as usability engineering and contextual inquiry were developed. He co-edited a book Field Methods Case Book for Software Design with Professor Judy Ramey of the University of Washington. Dennis holds a PhD. in social psychology from Clark University.

August de los Reyes works as the experience architect for Microsoft Surface. As the former creative director for the Windows Platform Core Innovation Group, he also researched emotional design as a member of the Advanced Studies Program at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Additionally, August is a PhD candidate in Industrial Design under the research initiative on Emotion and Design at the Technische Universiteit Delft in the Netherlands. This year, August is a visiting associate at the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford.

Official Website: http://www.baychi.org/program/#1