What is User Experience Really: towards a UX

Conceptual Framework
Stefan Hellweger and Xiaofeng Wang
Free University of Bolzano
Bolzano, Italy

Abstract—For more then a decade the term User Experience may help improve the understanding of UX, both conceptually
(UX) has been highly debated and defined in many ways. and practically.
However, often UX remains as a vague concept and it may be The remaining of the paper is organized as below. Section
hard to understand the very nature of it. In this paper we aimed
II provides an overview of the understanding of UX in the
at providing a better understanding of this concept. We explored
the multi-faceted UX literature, reviewing the current state-of-
literature. Section III presents the conceptual framework built
the-art knowledge and emphasizing the multi-dimensional nature upon the elements extracted from the reviewed literature. The
of the concept. Based on the literature review we built a framework is used in Section IV to analyze several phone
conceptual framework of UX using the elements that are linked applications in different mobile platforms from the UX
to it and reported in different studies. To show the potential use perspective. The paper ends with a call for further research on
of the framework, we examined the UX delivered by different conceptualizing UX.
phone applications on different mobile devices using the elements
in the framework. Several interesting insights have been obtained II. DEFINITIONS OF UX
in terms of how the phone applications deliver different UX. Our
Despite the fact that there is no consensus on the definition
study opens up a promising line of investigating the
contemporary meaning of UX. of UX in literature, there is a common understanding that it is
Index Terms— User experience, Usability, Mobile devices, a complex concept and should not be equaled to usability or
Phone applications user interface simply. Folstad and Rolfsen [2] contend that the
literature on UX may be divided in three ‘camps’ in terms of
I. INTRODUCTION the relation to usability: UX encompasses usability, UX
complements usability, and UX is one of several components
User experience (UX) has been a frequently discussed topic constituting usability. For example, Hassenzahl et al. [3] argue
in software engineering literature in the past years. It is claimed that, instead of merely making a software usable, an expanded
that a paradigm shift from service to experience economy perspective on usability would advance the designing of user
already happened in our time [1]. Like many other buzzwords, experience. Being both usable and interesting, a software
UX is defined differently and used to mean different things in system might be regarded as appealing and as a consequence
different studies. No consensus has been reached on what UX the user may enjoy using it. Stage [4] argues that the recent
means exactly. What Don Norman, the inventor of the term advent of systems are focusing more on amusement and
user experience, commented about 15 years ago is still valid entertainment and less on work in the traditional sense, which
today: “I invented the term because I thought human interface has led some to suggest a broader notion of usability with a
and usability were too narrow. I wanted to cover all aspects of significantly stronger focus on UX. Based on their previous
the person’s experience with the system including industrial work, Hassenzahl et al. [5] summarize important distinctions
design, graphics, the interface, the physical interaction, and the between the traditional view of usability and UX. They argue
manual. Since then the term has spread widely, so much so that that UX takes a more holistic approach, aiming for a balance
it is starting to lose it’s meaning… People use them often between pragmatic aspects and other non-task related aspects
without having any idea why, what the word means, its origin, (hedonic) of product possession and use, such as beauty,
history, or what it’s about.”1 This reflects the complex nature challenge, stimulation, or self-expression. In addition, UX
of UX. augments the "subjective." It is explicitly interested in the way
The study presented in this paper is motivated by this people experience and judge products they use. What’s more,
observation. The research objective is to provide a better UX is a more positive quality. Usability as a quality equals the
understanding of UX grounded in the existing literature. Rather removal of potential dissatisfaction. But even the best usability
than attempting to unify different definitions of UX artificially, may never be able to "put a smile on users' faces." UX on the
we admit the multi-dimensional, multi-faceted nature of UX. other hand addresses both, dissatisfiers and satisfiers, on an
Drawing upon the review of a set of studies that contain the equal footing. The shift of emphasis from usability to
definitions of UX, we propose a conceptual framework that experiential factors has forced researchers to consider what
UX actually is and how to evaluate it [6].
Three dimensions of UX are most often suggested in the
1 reviewed literature: user, product and interaction. As Forlizzi
http://peterme.com/index112498.html
and Ford [7] suggest, a simple way to think about what III. CONSTRUCTION OF A UX CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
influences experience is to think about the components of a Given the multi-disciplinary nature of UX, it is difficult to
user-product interaction, and what surrounds it. Arhippainen obtain all the relevant papers from different disciplines using
and Tähti [8] define UX as the experience that a person gets automatic search engines. Therefore we used a more
when he/she interacts with a product in particular conditions. traditional, manual snowballing approach and gathered a
The user and the product interact in the particular context of collection of 21 papers (see the Reference list), which contain
use that social and cultural factors are influencing. The user has original definitions of UX. The majority of them come from
the aspects including values, emotions, expectations and prior Software Engineering related fields, some also from Design
experience. The product has influential factors, for example, and Psychology. All the terms used to define UX in the papers
mobility and adaptivity. All these factors influence the were extracted and analyzed carefully. This resulted to 114
experience that user-product interaction evokes. Similarly, UX-related terms initially.
Forlizzi and Battarbee [9] admit that understanding UX is To group and present these items in a systematic manner
complex. Designing the UX for interactive systems is even was a challenge in this study. The three dimensions reported in
more complex, particularly when conducted by a team of Section II - User, Product and Interaction – turned out to be
multidisciplinary experts. They find that some approaches take insufficient to cover the complexity and diversity shown by
the perspective of the user, others attempt to understand these terms. As a consequence we adopted a bottom-up
experience as it relates to the product, and a third group approach to group the items. The emergent dimensions are
attempts to understand UX through the interaction between Impacting Factors that affect UX, UX Characteristics and the
user and product. In one of the most cited UX papers, Effects produced by UX. The resulting UX conceptual
Hassenzahl and Tractinsky [10] emphasize again these three framework is presented in Fig.1.
dimensions. They define UX as a consequence of a user’s
internal state (predispositions, expectations, needs, motivation, IV. APPLICATION OF THE UX CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
mood, etc.), the characteristics of the designed system (e.g.
To illustrate how the conceptual framework can be helpful
complexity, purpose, usability, functionality, etc.) and the
to understand UX practically, we chose a most basic feature of
context (or the environment) within which the interaction
our modern smart phones to analyze: dialing a phone number
occurs (e.g. organizational/social setting, meaningfulness of
to make a call. Even though almost a secondary feature
the activity, voluntariness of use, etc.). Roto [11] takes the
nowadays, the dialing feature is still of vital importance for our
three components defined in [10] as a starting point and, with
mobile phones, at least the first time we call someone from our
the knowledge on mobile browsing UX, identifies a set of
phone. Fig.2 shows the choice of mobile devices and the phone
attributes applicable for a wide range of UX cases.
call feature built in them. These mobile phone brands were
There are also other proposals in terms of the UX
chosen based on their popularity and importance2,3. In addition
dimensions, even though much less dominant. For example, in
to the built-in dialing features we also took Skype in the
[4] UX is redefined in terms of four factors where usability is
comparison, since it is one of the biggest voice and video
one, and the others are: branding, functionality and content. It
communication providers with its users consuming daily 2
can be argued that this redefinition reflects a more product-
billion minutes in total4.
focused approach to UX. Oygur and McCoy [12] suggest that
Using the conceptual framework the first author, who is
UX is composed of tangible (e.g., physical needs, space
also a knowledgeable and experienced software developer,
requirements, ergonomic issues) and intangible (e.g.,
analyzed the user experience of these dialing features. The
emotional needs, values) aspects.
framework elements involved in the analysis are underlined
UX can be approached in a more interdisciplinary manner
and in italic in the following sub-sections. Note that the
[9]. There are quite diverse disciplines that enable different
following examples serve the purpose to illustrate a possible
perspectives on UX. Broadly speaking the three main
application of the framework, and they are not intended to be
perspectives are IT, design and psychology. As observed by
exhaustive evaluation of the dialing features in these devices.
Vliet and Mulder [13], the discussion on human experience
has a long (philosophical) tradition, further explored by A. The Dialing Pad
psychologists, neurologist and others in the last centuries up Priori to iPhone nearly all mobile phones had a hardware
until the current time. However this vast legacy of research on keypad following the E.161 Standard or ISO 9995-8. The
human experience has for a large part not found its way into layout of the keypad was preserved in the various touch pads
current literature on Human-Computer Interaction, Interaction nowadays, as shown in Fig.2. The similar dialing pads across
Design and Usability Engineering when addressing UX. different phones reflected our previous experience /memories
Karapanos et al. [14] discuss two threads in the UX research. with mobile phones. The familiarity and resemblance to the
One has its roots in pragmatist philosophy and the other in
social psychology. More and more studies emphasize on the 2
non-instrumental aspect of UX and delve into understanding http://www.statista.com/statistics/263401/global-apple-iphone-
the physio, socio, psycho and ideo needs of human beings [15], sales-since-3rd-quarter-2007/
3
[16]. http://opensignal.com/reports/2014/android-fragmentation/)
4
http://blogs.skype.com/2013/04/03/thanks-for-making-skype-a-
part-of-your-daily-lives-2-billion-minutes-a-day/
legacy systems, phones in our case, ensure the learnability for better use of the screen size in smartphones leads to a more
everyone who previously used or saw a legacy system. pleasurable usage of the dial screen in smartphones. One subtle
change is the “delete” button. In iOS before v5 (leftmost in
B. The “+” Button
Fig.2) it appears at the bottom right, close to the dial button
When we call abroad we need an international exit code for (Galaxy S5 has a similar design). This design could cause a
the actual call. These exit codes may be different depending on potential problem when we use the phone with one hand only
the country we are actually in. While in all the European (most of us are right handed), which is hitting the delete button
Countries the code is 00, in the US the code is 011. In some accidentally while typing numbers.
countries the exit code even changes from operator to operator In comparison, in the dialing pad in iOS since v5 (second
as for example in Colombia or Brazil. The “+” button was left in Fig.2), the delete button is no more visible on the initial
introduced as a placeholder suggesting it has to be replaced dialing pad. It only appears next to the input field when a
according to the correct country code. This feature increases number is digited, and therefore when the “delete” function is
the effectiveness and decreases the complexity of the dialing really needed (Nexus 5 has a similar design). This reflects the
process. awareness of task context, and can be considered a more
The Skype dialing experience is consistent on Android and sensible design. In addition with a button less there is also a
iOS devices, providing good identification and esthetic larger space for the dial keys, increasing the usability of the
familiarity. The interesting difference from the other phone dial dialing feature.
features is the implementation of the “+” feature, since it
always displays the international prefix in the input field. D. Design Aspects
In iOS v7 the shape of the buttons was changed from a
C. The “Delete” Button
simple squared grid (leftmost in Fig.2) to round slightly space
From the introduction of iOS v1 in 2007 till v6 in 2012, the buttons (second left in Fig.2). This alignment with the
dial screen stayed the same. The look and feel as well as the hardware design improved the perception of the phone product
screen size stayed unchanged. In the same time the design of as one. The hardware and the software are converging to
the hardware (iPhone till iPhone5) was radically changed. The provide a unified esthetic experience.

Fig.1 The Proposed UX Conceptual Framework

 Fig.2 Different Phone Applications on Different Mobile Devices
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