Beyond usability: Using the four pleasures framework to understand the human experience
Traditional user research is good at optimising products and services for utility and usability. But something can be usable and still feel flat, forgettable or disconnected from what people really value.
When we treat people only as “users” completing tasks, we risk missing the broader experiences and motivations that shape how they engage with products and services.
In this session, Professor Jordan will introduce the Four Pleasures Framework, a practical tool for understanding the breadth and depth of human experience. The framework looks beyond usability to consider physical, emotional, social and values-led dimensions of experience.
Patrick will show how the framework can be applied across different user groups, products and services, helping researchers and designers investigate what makes experiences more meaningful, motivating and human.
You will learn:
- How to move beyond usability when researching human experience
- How the Four Pleasures Framework can be applied as a highly practical research tool
- How physical, emotional, social and values-led factors shape people’s experiences of products and services
