Elements of Surprise : Industrial Designers’ Strategies for Eliciting Surprise Through Interaction

Fascinating designs can break our expectations and elicit a sense of surprise that first invokes our interest, increases the emotional intensity of an experience and may affect how we interact with our surroundings. Design researchers have identified the importance of surprise. Valuable studies have been carried out on the role of surprise as a design strategy (Ludden, Schifferstein, & Hekkert, 2008), on how appearance elicits emotions including surprise (Desmet, 2002; Desmet, Porcelijn, & van Dijk, 2005) and on the role of sensory incongruity in eliciting surprise (Ludden, 2008). Some characteristics of eliciting surprise can be beneficial to a product’s success. However, little research has been done into the strategies designers can use when attempting to elicit surprise through interaction, or how the experience of surprise affects how people interact with products. My research addresses two main questions. The first question is: how can designers attempt to elicit surprise through interaction? Through a set of 30 interviews worldwide, participatory research through design at design studios and collaboration with design students, I have developed a set of strategies that address this question. The strategies are the result of an analysis following a Postmodern Grounded Theory methodology, namely Situational Analysis (Clarke, 2003, 2005). My research suggests that design organisations address surprise in interaction according to their main concerns. While large design organisations reported little interest in eliciting surprise, design studios with specific characteristics constantly attempted to elicit surprise through their products. I suggest 22 strategies that designers can use when attempting to elicit surprise. The strategies are presented as cards for easy access by practicing designers and design students alike. The second question is, once surprise is elicited through interaction, how does the experience of surprise affect the way people interact with an object? I addressed this question through designing a number of products, testing them with people and assessing what different interactions resulted. My research suggests that through eliciting surprise, designers can support what people do, indicate unambiguously what ought to be done, subtly suggest what to do or attempt to persuade. The role of surprise varies for each of these intentions. Finally, my research suggests that surprise can be seen as a threat-detecting mechanism when trying to discourage people to engage in an activity; surprise can also be addressed as a sense-making process when attempting to persuade.