How does the design behave? Does an app smoothly scroll? What are the steps, mechanisms, and processes involved in using a service? These can change depending on circumstances. For example, a bicycle may behave differently on wet roads than on dry roads. For objects, behaviors are the outcomes of use—the act of using design. When design objects are used in different ways by different people, and in different contexts, they behave differently.
Though they are inanimate and artificial, designs can behave differently depending on the setting they inhabit. If it’s raining outside, a paper poster will melt when a plastic-coated poster would stand up to the rain just fine. Descriptions of design behaviors are pretty straightforward—simply describe what the object is doing. When products, services, and systems are used, designers discover how designed outcomes can be improved or applied in new ways.
Design-specific characteristic aspects.
Anything designed—a product, service, or system.
A design’s distinctive appearance.
Physical materials that comprise a designed outcome.
The size of physical products and the complexity of services and systems.
A design's current condition or phase.
The sequence of steps required to use a design outcome.
Researching how an object behaves can be context-specific. Notice how a product, service, or system “acts.” What does it do when people use it as it was intended to be used? Does it emit sounds? What it does when it breaks down? Objects can behave very differently when used by different people and in different contexts.
In what ways does this object/service/system behave?
Is the object doing what it was intended to do?
References and sources that support the inclusion of this Aspects of Experiences for Design component.
