A Reading Review

Experience of Products

The

The Experience of Products by Victor Margolin is an insightful article as it

attempts to demystify the realm of product design by bringing in one of
the key factor that influences the success or failure of a product today, i.e.
user satisfaction. In todays world, when a user is constantly bombarded
with choices, it is extremely necessary to take into account user
experiences with the product and engineering them to be positive and
harmonious ones, so that a user doesnt discard our product. Thus, the
branch of Design studies and has become a rather important
specialisation. Every multinational company has at least one experience
designer, if not an entire team, working in the department that works on
how to enhance the experience of their product. Some Universities even
offer specialisation in the field of Experience Design.
Let us define an experience. An experience is not suspended in time, but
is in an environment which is in a constant state of flux. The goal of
product design studies today is to teach students how to design the
experience of the product that they are designing. So right from the
stage of conception of the project, the user is in the picture and
everything is designed in accordance with his positive experience of the
product. So this becomes an active design philosophy and is the driving
force in the thought process during design.
Next, we move on to the product milieu. The product milieu is a term the
author uses to describe the various things that constitute the immediate
surroundings of the product. This product milieu plays a big role in the
way the product is perceived by the end-user. The nature of the product
milieu is different for different products and cant always be altered and
changed according to our wish for some products. For example, it is easier
to change the milieu for a pen, that could be a pencil holder or a geometry
box but it is difficult to change the same for a car as it would mean the

public infrastructure, that is, roads of the city as it is not in the hand of an
individual.
Similarly, another term that the author introduces us to is the product
cycle. The product cycle refers to entire period from the conception of the
product to its manufacture to its marketing, purchasing, usage and uptill
the disposal of the product. In recent times, the last stage has also
become important as environmental consciousness of the people has
increased. By making us aware of these processes involved in product
design, the author effectively increases our understanding of this field.
The author also talks about how we as users continue to use products that
do not completely fulfil our requirements. In such a case, if we are
presented with a product that truly matches our needs then our
experience for it is satisfying and we are more likely to continue using it.
For example most students in my college, School of Planning &
Architecture, New Delhi, use a pencil box or kit designed for normal school
and college going children. But since we happen to use stationery that is
more extensive, that is rather insufficient and doesnt respond to our
needs.
A solution to this was the Paperbox pencil holders designed by my seniors
in college, Deblina Pandit and Humayun Imran, currently fifth year
students of the B. Arch course. These kits are foldable rolls that can be
opened up while working and conveniently rolled back. These have an
easy interface for users such as students of architecture or fine arts
students as they carry various grades of pencils and different pens such
as Rotrings, markers etc. and there is easy access to them while working
as you open the role and use it almost like a painter uses a palette. This
was a successful product as it was designed with the thought of giving the
end-user a harmonious and hassle-free experience of the product.
On a bigger scale, we can consider another example to understand the
concept of the experience of a product. Today a housing project for the
elites isnt just marketed by its functional requirements, but the whole
nature of how it feels is laid emphasis on. Everything from the brochures

to the banners are doctored to convey the idea that the quality of living in
the project would be luxurious. So, in this case, the marketers are not
selling a penthouse or a flat, they are selling the opulent lifestyles which
they promise would be lived to fullest in their project. The people shown in
the advertisements of such a product would be depicted as living ideal
lives and enjoying the luxuries of life. This is done so that a prospective
buyer has a desire to acquire the product being marketed.
So this goes on to show how we have gained an understanding of the
realm of product design and its application to various examples in our
daily life. We, as architects also design a product, which is our buildings,
so a thorough understanding of the processes in this field was essential to
us and will hopefully be rewarding for us in the long run.

References:
1. Margolin, V. 2002. The Politics of the Artificial: Essays on Design & Design
Studies. The Experience of Products. University of Chicago Press. USA.

Submitted by:
Ramya Khare
A/2440/2012
B. Arch II-C