Making Emotion Work for You: A Case Study of Collaboration Between Design and Research in Building the Halo Video Game Franchise

The competitive environment for technology for consumers is changing. Capabilities, features, functions are no longer sufficient. Emotional engagement and compelling experiences will distinguish the successful consumer products of the future. Companies can adapt or die. Designing successful products for this new world requires we change the way we think about people and products. We also need to rethink techniques and processes we use of design and product research. This presentation provides a brief overview of a counter-intuitive (and therefore, controversial) design approach with the goal of eliciting positive irrational response. The primary focus will be a classic but innovative theory of human emotion that has simple and practical implications for both design and research. We will show how this approach has helped shape some of the most successful products in recent history. We will also present a new way of thinking about product design. Our aim is to change the way you think about product design, user research, and human emotion.