My main research interest is the relationship between human-product interaction and the behavioural and motivational consequences of this interaction. I focus on how can a product lead or invite to a particular interaction which results in experiences and different desired behaviours.

Over the years, we started to understand how particular product qualities lead to a particular product experience and we presented it in a book ‘Vision in Design .The book is about how products are experienced due to their properties and outlines a design method consisting of three levels: ‘why’, ‘how’ and ‘what’. They stand for why and what kind of behaviour we wish to instigate, how the interaction with the product could lead to it and what shape a particular design should take in order to achieve this goal. The meaning is stimulated through the interaction, therefore the product’s design needs to lead to this interaction. Understanding the relation between these three levels is the main topic of my research.

Game elements are one group of properties which help you understand and cause particular interactions. Games can be quite powerful in realising some motivational or behavioural goals.

One thing that we are also looking at is “esthetics of interaction” – what makes a particular interaction enjoyable? It has a lot to do with challenge and control, but an esthetically pleasing game (or any interaction) will be sustained much longer that un unpleasing one. There can be an intrinsic pleasure of playing without a behavioral motif, too.

text by Malgorzata Pawlak