The Thing and I: Understanding the Relationship Between User and Product

We currently witness a growing interest of the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) community in user experience. It has become a catchphrase, calling for a holistic perspective and an enrichment of traditional quality models with non-utilitarian concepts, such as fun, joy, pleasure, hedonic value or ludic value. In the same vein, literature on experiential marketing stresses that a product should not longer be seen as simply delivering a bundle of functional features and benefits—it provides experiences. Customers want products that dazzle their senses, touch their hearts and stimulate their minds. Even though the HCI community seems to embrace the notion that functionality and usability is just not enough, we are far from having a coherent understanding of what user experience actually is.