Positive Experience Design Strategies for IoT Products to Improve User Sustainable Well-Being

Abstract

Although the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) technology has benefited the progress of social life, the relentless pursuit of technological advancement cannot definitely lead to a sustainable increase in customer pleasure and happiness. During the design phase, happiness is often overlooked. Therefore, the objectives of this study are as follows: (1) to provide a comprehensive overview of the importance of sustainable happiness for the IoT product design and to propose 15 positive experience design strategies that can improve user happiness; and (2) to apply the 15 design strategies to the IoT product design practice and validate whether they can effectively guide the designers’ work. The research procedure consisted of four steps. First, qualitative data for developing the design strategies was collected through bibliometrics and expert interviews. Second, the propositions of the design strategies were reviewed, analyzed, and constructed using the qualitative research software program NVivo 20. Third, two researchers categorized the 15 strategy concepts into the four directions of positive experience design approaches for the IoT products. Fourth, we conducted a two-week design workshop to validate the feasibility of the design strategies. The results indicate that the 15 design strategies can effectively guide designers to create ideas that prioritize user well-being and allow for creative exploration in various directions. This paper enriches the IoT product design methodology, which can enhance the users’ sustainable pleasure, future goal achievement fulfillment, and social relationship well-being in the IoT era.