{"id":3755,"date":"2022-02-10T18:20:55","date_gmt":"2022-02-11T02:20:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.interactiondesignhistory.com\/2022\/?p=3755"},"modified":"2022-02-10T18:20:57","modified_gmt":"2022-02-11T02:20:57","slug":"on-aesthetic-interactions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.interactiondesignhistory.com\/2022\/on-aesthetic-interactions","title":{"rendered":"On Aesthetic Interactions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In \u2018Aesthetic Interaction: A Framework,\u2019 professors Paul Locher, Kees Overbeeke, and Stephan Wensveen introduce us to a different kind of aesthetics, this one residing within <\/em>a product\u2019s relationship to its users. Words we might find familiar in conversations about aesthetics\u2014e.g., fun<\/em>, engagement<\/em>, and delight<\/em>\u2014are considered too ambiguous to properly describe the effects of aesthetic interactive experiences (71). Instead, aesthetic interactions are defined as ongoing exchanges between a user and an interface\/product. They are based on both bottom-up cognitive processes<\/em> (i.e., sensory stimuli we accept from our surroundings like color and sound) and top-bottom cognitive processes<\/em> (i.e., interpretations of said stimuli based on what we have experienced or come to expect). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A diagram showing the various bottom-up and top-bottom processes within a user’s interaction with a product. Credit: AIAF<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Because aesthetic interactions follow this back-and-forth process, they are rooted to the context of their use. They pull from the sociocultural attitudes and behaviors of their users as well as elements within a product\u2019s structure and function (Petersen 270). \u2018Designing Behavior in Interaction: Using Aesthetic Experience as a Mechanism for Design\u2019 goes a step further by defining a set of four criteria for creating aesthetic interactions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. The product has both practical use and intrinsic value<\/li>
  2. The product contains aforementioned social and ethical dimensions<\/li>
  3. The product takes on a \u201csatisfying\u201d dynamic form specific to affordances<\/li>
  4. Its use involves the capabilities and sensibilities of a whole human being<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    To put all of this into perspective, I looked into two products that I believe deliver aesthetic interactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    A still from the LUXE Botanics unboxing experience. Credit: By Ninja<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    The first is an unboxing experience for LUXE Botanics. It is both a practical and beautiful design, providing affordances that are not <\/em>alike (e.g., pulling, lifting, even ruffling <\/em>with regards to the loose \u201cbedding\u201d beneath the products) and imagery relevant to the brand. The package also cleverly uses leading lines to direct users\u2019 attention to its sparse but impactful messaging, first on the top layer (with a welcome message) and then on the bottom (with a thank you message). The second example I considered is really more of an experience: escape rooms. Like anything else, escape rooms are designed\u2014only in this case, they are supporting user interactions in addition to<\/em> the sociocultural and narrative elements of a fictional setting and <\/em>the aesthetic beauty of said setting. Obviously, escape rooms hold a number of objects and opportunities for interaction; each one has been carefully crafted to be both functional, narratively relevant, and aesthetically inviting. However, no matter the product, the design of aesthetic interactions \u201crequires multiple perspectives\u201d (Petersen 275) that reach beyond the aesthetics of beauty.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n
    Bibliography<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cBlog – How We Did It: The Luxe Unboxing Experience.\u201d By Ninja, 18 Apr. 2021,\u00a0https:\/\/www.byninja.com.au\/blog\/the-luxe-unboxing-experience\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Csillag , Zoltan. \u201cPanIQ Room.\u201d Escape Rooms Offer Travelers A Chance For Roleplay And\u00a0Fantasy, Forbes, 27 Sept. 2021, https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/michaelalpiner\/2021\/09\/27\/escape-rooms-offer-travelers-a-chance-for-roleplay-and-fantasy\/?sh=720f069389c9<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Locher, Paul, et al. \u201cAesthetic Interaction: A Framework.\u201d Design Issues, vol. 26, no. 2, MIT\u00a0Press, 2010, pp. 70\u201379, http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/20749943<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Petersen, Marianne Graves, et al. \u201cAesthetic Interaction: a Pragmatist’s Aesthetics of Interactive\u00a0Systems.\u201d Jan. 2004.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ross, Philip R., and Stephan Wensveen. \u201cDesigning Behavior in Interaction: Using Aesthetic\u00a0Experience as a Mechanism for Design.\u201d International Journal of Design<\/em>, 2010, http:\/\/www.ijdesign.org\/index.php\/IJDesign\/article\/view\/765\/297<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In \u2018Aesthetic Interaction: A Framework,\u2019 professors Paul Locher, Kees Overbeeke, and Stephan Wensveen introduce us to a different kind of aesthetics, this one residing within a product\u2019s relationship to its users. Words we might find familiar in conversations about aesthetics\u2014e.g., fun, engagement, and delight\u2014are considered too ambiguous to properly describe the effects of aesthetic interactive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bibliography"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.interactiondesignhistory.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.interactiondesignhistory.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.interactiondesignhistory.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.interactiondesignhistory.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.interactiondesignhistory.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3755"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.interactiondesignhistory.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3761,"href":"https:\/\/www.interactiondesignhistory.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3755\/revisions\/3761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.interactiondesignhistory.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.interactiondesignhistory.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.interactiondesignhistory.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}