Product Emotion Measurement Instrument

Emotions elicited by product design are typically of low intensity and mixed character. To measure these typical product emotions, a non-verbal self-report tool was developed: Product Emotion Measurement Tool (PrEmo).

download premo description

PrEmo is based on 14 animations of a cartoon character. In each animation, the character expresses a different emotion in approximately one second (both with movement and sound). The character expresses seven positive emotions, i.e. inspiration, desire, satisfaction, pleasant surprise, fascination, amusement, admiration, and seven negative, i.e. disgust, indignancy, contempt, disappointment, dissatisfaction, boredom, and unpleasant surprise.

PrEmo can be used to assess to what amount each of the 14 emotions is elicited by the appearance of a product. The instrument is computerised; a computer interface shows stills of the 14 characters. Figure 1 shows the PrEmo4 interface.

When applied in an experiment, participants are instructed to rate each animation in correspondence with their emotional reactions. In the matching process, participants can run an animation by clicking the mouse button on the regarding still. Subsequently, a three-point scale will appear on the left side of the animation. The scale represents the following ratings:

- I do not feel the emotion expressed by this character
(lower part of the scale)

- I somehow feel the emotion expressed by this character
(middle part of the scale)

- I do feel the emotion expressed by this character
(upper part of the scale)

The participant is free to choose the order in which he rates the animations. Visual feedback of his scoring is provided by the background colour of the animations which follows the colour on the scales. The list of 14 emotions was based on a series of empirical studies in which a list of 305 emotions was reduced to 14 emotions that are most relevant for product experience.

The data btained with PrEmo can be visualised wit a multi dimensional scaling technique. Figure 3 shows an example:

 

Publications

1. Desmet P.M.A., Porcelijn, R., & van Dijk, M. (2007). Emotional design; application of a research based design approach. Journal of Knowledge, Technology & Policy, 20(3), 141-155.
2. Desmet, P.M.A. (2003). Measuring emotion; development and application of an instrument to measure emotional responses to products. In: M.A. Blythe, A.F. Monk, K. Overbeeke, & P.C. Wright (Eds.), Funology: from Usability to Enjoyment (pp. 111-123). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
3. Desmet, P.M.A., & Dijkhuis, E. A. (2003). Wheelchairs can be fun: a case of emotion-driven design. Proceedings of the International Conference on Designing Pleasurable Products and Interfaces, June 23-26, 2003. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. New York: ACM publishing.
4. Desmet, P.M.A., Hekkert, P., Jacobs, J.J. (2000). When a car makes you smile: Development and application of an instrument to measure product emotions. In: S.J. Hoch, R.J. Meyer (Ed.), Advances in Consumer Research, 27, 111-117.

Using PrEmo for your research

Over the years we received many requests of researchers interested in using the PrEmo (Product Emotion Measurement) instrument. Recently we started a cooperation with the company SusaGroup. SusaGroup has developed several options for PrEmo usage. An example is an online version of the instrument that can be used to design and run experiments. If you are interested, please contact me or visithttp://www.susagroup.com/premo