A method for designing users’ experience with industrial products based on a multimodal environment and Mixed Prototypes

The paper describes a methodology that can be employed to perform the analysis of aspects related to human interaction with consumer products during the Product Development Process, thanks to the use of mixed prototypes. The methodology aims at helping designers to take decisions earlier compared to the current practice based on not easily modifiable physical prototypes. Authors’ method considers the interaction with adaptable mixed prototypes as a possible validating procedure for product interaction-enabling features: a multimodal environment is created to perform these validations, integrating three sensorial modalities such as vision, hearing and touch. The paper firstly describes the requirements for the creation of the multimodal environment. Then it focuses on the opportunity of using an approach based on mixed prototypes rather than on completely virtual ones: the intent is to increase the level of “realism” of the simulation by overcoming limitations of actual technologies for the sense of touch. Finally, a case study is discussed, starting from the analysis of a commercial consumer product up to the interaction with the developed Mixed Prototype. The expected benefits for the product development process are highlighted.