Narrativity of Object Interaction Experiences: A Framework for Designing Products as Narrative Experiences

Objects are not self-sufficient, they do not exist on their own, but they form part of people’s everyday experience. Physical objects are always experienced in relation to a person, and this relational interaction can be complex, including several layers of perception (sight, sound, touch, etc.) as well as several layers of interaction (surface touch, kinetic interaction, etc.). These aspects of the interaction with an object in turn help to form the user’s understanding of the object, from the point of view of an experience of meaning, and from the point of view of emotional experience. In addition, products are always experienced over time – this can be on the micro-scale of a first interaction (you see the object, then you approach it, then you touch it, etc.) or on a macro-scale of the lifecycle of the object (from initial advertisement of a product to purchase, to use to disposal, etc.). These time-based interactions which have a cognitive or emotional effect in a user have the potential to be looked at in narrative terms, and this narrative perspective adds an additional layer to the conceptual model of physical interaction and cognitive and emotional experience: the layer of narrative interpretation.

People interpret the world in broadly narrative terms, whether that is through recollection or memory of experiences, and narratives resonate with people; people tend to remember information presented in a narrative format they are used to (and what they are used to will be culturally specific) more than information presented in a non-narrative form (Bordwell, 1985). There is therefore an argument for increasing the narrativity of an experience as a way to increase the memory, recall, and word of mouth potential of that experience.

The author proposes a conceptual model for looking at objects in terms of time-based narrative interaction experiences, with the aim of developing this model to be used by designers when developing new products, focussing on the narrativity of the product. This model puts in relation Bal’s idea of three ways of interpreting artefacts, in terms of artist’s intention, artefact’s agency, and narrativity as perceived by the user (Bal, 2002), with Desmet and Hekkert’s emotional design framework of product experience which outlines physical interaction, cognitive interpretation and emotional reaction as being distinct layers in product experience (Desmet and Hekkert, 2007). The model proposed by the author adds the user’s narrative interpretation as an additional layer in product experience.

The paper will then describe how the resulting framework can be used to analyse existing objects as well as to design new objects. The long-term aim of the project is to develop methods for increasing the narrativity of products by analysing the way narrative mediums can be used as a model: as a source of narrative concepts as well as suggesting ways in which narrative can be structured or prompted by an object. Next steps focus on analysing film narratives that happen in the proximity of particular objects and deriving design methods from this analysis, with the aim of testing whether this method creates an increase in product narrativity. Some examples from the author’s own practice (in progress) will be used to illustrate the analysis and design methods; these will refer to the redesign of kettles. Further development of the project (outside the scope of this paper for time limitations) will look at other common domestic objects (sofas, tables and toasters) and then draw conclusions in the form of design methods.

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