Unpacking the Contents - A Conceptual Model for Understanding User Experience in User Psychology

Paradigm shifts can be noted to have taken place in several areas of user-technology research. The most obvious have been in terms of including users within the design process, either in terms of usability studies or user experience design. There have also been shifts towards viewing human-technology interaction as not only an optical experience, but also an embodied one. When exploring these factors it is easy to prioritize the physical over the psychological. User interactions with systems are more easily measured in terms of concrete outcomes rather than by subjective feelings and perceptions of interaction. This study's purpose has been to uncover mental contents present during the moments of human-system interaction. The study has employed a range of design stimuli for users to encounter and evaluate, giving a holistic idea of the psychological components involved in the interactions. This article focuses on describing a conceptual model which has derived from a study of mobile phone icons in the context of their graphical user interfaces.