When designing a product, not only are usability and functionality crucial, but so is it’s desirability. A desirability study will help researchers to understand how their users will emotionally perceive a product. While a product can be efficient to use, if your user doesn’t find it appealing, they probably won’t want to use it. Performing a desirability study will help you to see the visual and emotional responses that users have when seeing an interface. This allows the designers to refine branding, UI design, and overall user experience of the product.

What is a Desirability Study?

Looppanel.com states that a desirability study is a, “research method that helps researchers understand if users find a product or design appealing and emotionally engaging”. This method of qualitative research helps teams to asses whether a design evokes the correct reactions. Typically, users are presented with different variations of the design and are asked to give feedback on how they feel about each one. A desirability study is useful when refining visual and interaction design elements in order to meet user expectations as well as brand goals.

How to Conduct a Desirability Study

According to infinum.com, a desirability study is one of the fastest user research techniques. It can also be combined with other methods, like interviews and usability testing, to get as much data on your product as possible. To conduct a desirability study, follow the steps below;

• Define Goals: Determine what you would like to learn about user perception and identify the variables to test.
• Recruit Participants: Gather a diverse group of 10-15 people who represent the product’s target demographic.
• Prepare Variations: Create different versions of the design with the varying design elements you are testing. Remember to keep the layouts consistent so that differences can be spotted.
• Collect Feedback: Choose a collection method best suited for your study. Some most common methods are; adjective selection, open-ended questions, and comparative analysis.

Tools for Conducting Desirability Studies

Having the right tools will push your study in the right direction. Below are some suggestions for tools to use in your study:

• Google Forms: For collecting feedback
• Optimal Workshop: For conducting card sorting and preference tests
• UserTesting: Gather real-time user reactions with video
• Lookback: For remote usability sessions
• Miro/Figma: For presenting design variations

Research Studies Using Desirability Studies

One of the most notable desirability studies conducted was the Microsoft Desirability Toolkit, also known as the Microsoft Reaction Card Method. This study was first introduced in 2002 by Joey Benedeck and Trish Miner. They wanted to develop a methodology suited for the challenges of measuring emotional responses. They created 118 cards with different reaction words on each. Study participants were given a stack of cards and asked to pick five that best suited the product. This method was then used by Microsoft to refine the UI of Office 365.

Google has also developed an open source design system, known as Material Design, with the help of desirability studies. In their studies, researchers tested different adjectives associated with many UI components to see which ones created balance between aesthetics and usability. Material Design is now used to help designers and developers create pleasing and useful products.

The Impact of Desirability Studies on UX Design

Desirability studies help to provide valuable information on how users connect with a product. It’s easy to design something functional, but if there is no emotion behind it for users to connect with, there is a high likelihood they will skip over your product. UX designers have to understand emotional triggers in order to create engaging experiences. Conducting a desirability test early on in the creation of your product means that you are properly aligning user expectations with your brand perception.