More than a feeling: understanding the desirability factor in user experience

Interest in understanding the "desirability" factor in user experience continues to grow while the use of post-test questionnaires to measure desirability continues to be problematic. Microsoft created a toolkit to address desirability in studies, and their use of the product reaction cards from that kit was presented at conferences in 2002 and 2004. Since then, however, little has been published about how others have used the cards to measure desirability. We began using the product reaction cards in 2006, and we report on the results in case studies from the past several years. We find that the cards prompt users to tell a rich and revealing story of their experience. Triangulating these findings with post-test questionnaire data and direct observation strengthens the understanding of the desirability factor.