PhD Design 2021/22 Masterclass on Engagement Design by Nelson Zagalo, at IADE Universidade Europeia, Lisbon. 18:00, 29 September 2021.

1. Engagement Design
IADE, Lisbon, Sept 29, 2021
Nelson Zagalo, DigiMedia / UA
PhD Design 2021/22 Masterclass

2. Interaction
I’m a researcher on Interaction Design. For the past 20 years I’ve
been designing and researching Interaction in many dimensions.
Afective
Cognitive
Embodied
Play
Creativity
Storytelling
Human-human
Human-artefact
Human-media
Human-computer
Human-human
Human-artefact
Human-media
Human-computer

3. “And soon, mechanically, dispirited after a dreary day with the
prospect of a depressing morrow, I raised to my lips a spoonful of the
tea in which I had soaked a morsel of the cake. No sooner had the
warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shiver
ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing
that was happening to me.”
(…)
“And suddenly the memory revealed itself. The taste was that of the
little piece of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray
(because on those mornings I did not go out before mass), when I
went to say good morning to her in her bedroom, my aunt Léonie
used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of tea or tisane.”
Marcel Proust, 1913, p. 60 -63

4. It was only when Proust
tasted it with tea, and
because he had not
proved it since then, that
the aroma was released
in his palate and the
reaction was triggered,
provoking the intense
experience.
We can then say that it
was at that moment that
the cake and its
properties became
present to Proust, and
gained meaning.

5. “Every art communicates because it expresses
(…) Communication is the process of creating participation, of
making common what had been isolated and singular; and part
of the miracle it achieves is that, in being communicated, the
conveyance of meaning gives body and definiteness to the
experience of the one who utters as well as to that of those
who listen.”
John Dewey, 1934:253

6. These artefacts have been responsible for the creation of human
experiences, which neither nature nor the mere relation between
human beings could simulate, or provide in the course of one
single life.

7. “Experience is (…) an episode, a chunk of time that one went
through — with sights and sounds, feelings and thoughts,
motives and actions; they are closely knitted together, stored in
memory, labelled, relived and communicated to others”
Marc Hassenzahl, 2010:8

8. Experience is created by each person as a subjective episode.
We cannot design the subjective Experience.
Person
Artefatct Context

9. Experience is the creation of meaning, as Communication is.
How then can we improve the Communication Process?

10. Interative artefacts are
objects with agency,
building meaning through
cumulative cycles.
Communication must be
researched as an
Interaction process.

11. Interaction is a communication cycle, best known as Conversation
A cycle in wich we: Feel, Know and Do.
Conversation is made of cybernetic loops:
“acting, sensing, comparing to goal”
(Pangaro, 2012)
Interaction triad: “Feel, Know, Do”
(Verplank, 2006)

12. To produce Interaction we need Engagement
Experience
Know
Do
Feel
Engagement
behavioural changes occurring between agents

13. Competence
Autonomy Relatedness
Deci & Ryan (1985, 2000)
Freedom Mastery Social
How do we move agents to provoke changes?
Motivation to act

14. Motivation to act
Autonomy
Freedom

15. Motivation to act
Competence
Mastery

16. Motivation to act
Social
Relatedness

17. Putting together interaction and motivation gives us conduits for the Experience, the
Streams of Engagement
Know
Do
Feel
Competence
Autonomy
Relatedness
Progression
Expression
Rela;on

18. Progression (Know — Competence)
Verbs: Problem-solve, Compete, Surpass, Gain, Win
Elements: Points, Badges, Leaderboards, Metrics Rewards, Punishments, Win/Lose conditions,…

19. Expression (Do – Autonomy)
Verbs: Create, Invent, Explore, Discover, Improvise…
Elements: Tools, Open worlds, Craft modes, Mixing possibilities,

20. Rela;on (Feel — Relatedness)
Elements: characters, dialogs, conflicts, changes, stories, …
Verbs: Empathize, Sympathize, Cooperate, Share, Speaking…

21. Experience
We cannot design the Experience, but
we can optimize it through the
Engagement Streams.
The Engagement Streams are design
models, conducts to convey
information.
The information is still created by the
creators.
The information is still becoming
meaningful in the receivers.
The models are non-normative guides.
Progression
Expression
Relation

22. Yee (2019)
We cannot design the subjective Experience, but…

23. Abstracionists Tinkerers
Dramatists
Yee (2019)
Subjects are not all the same, but they follow patterns

24. “I think therefore I am.” “I have been impressed with
the urgency of doing”
“We know what we are, but not
what we may be.”
Real personas

25. Real personas
Dramatists Abstractionists Tinkerers
Descartes Da Vinci
Shakespeare

26. Personas patterns

27. References
Zagalo, N. (2020). Engagement Design: Designing for Interac2on Mo2va2ons. Springer
Nature. Berlin. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-37085-5
Hassenzahl, M. (2010). Experience design: Technology for all the right reasons.
Synthesis lectures on human-centered informaUcs, 3(1), 1-95.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic mo2va2on and self-determina2on in human
behavior. New York: Plenum
Dewey, J. (1934). Art as experience. NY: Perigee Books.
Proust, M. (1913). In search of lost 2me. Volume one: Swann’s way (C. K. S. Moncrieff &
T. KilmarUn, Trans.). New York: The Modern Library.

28. Engagement Design
Sep 29, 2021
Nelson Zagalo