Darker Shades of Joy:
The Role of Negative Emotion
in Rich Product Experiences
Steven Fokkinga, Pieter Desmet

Introduction
Imagine you are moving to a new city. What emotions would
you experience? You might feel sad about leaving your family
and friends. At the same time, you might also feel hopeful about
the opportunities awaiting your new life, joy over the prospect of
exploring your new city and meeting new people, and anxiety
about not knowing anyone yet. The combination of all these differ-
ent emotions makes the transition a complex but rich experience
that you will long remember.

Several authors in the field of user experience and interac-
tion design have expressed the opinion that product experiences
should mirror the richness of these kinds of real-life experiences.
Hassenzahl recently suggested that product experiences should be
“worthwhile” or “valuable” to avoid the pitfall of shal ow amuse-
ment in experience design.1 Likewise, Arrasvuori et al. investi-
gated the possibilities of translating the wide range of emotions in
video games to create more engaging consumer products.2 With
their concept of “design noir,” Dunne and Raby even proposed a
new genre of design to complement the prevailing “Hol ywood”
tradition of products that offer a limited experience.3 They pro-
1 Marc Hassenzahl, Experience Design:
posed that design noir “could enrich and expand our experience of
Technology for All the Right Reasons
everyday life rather than closing it down.”4 Although working in
Synthesis Lectures on Human-Centered
Informatics (San Francisco: Morgan and
different research traditions, these authors share the underlying
Claypool, 2010), 31.
view that engaging product experiences should go beyond simpli-
2 Juha Arrasvuori, Marion Boberg, and
fied assumptions about people, acknowledging the complexity of
Hannu Korhonen, “Understanding
their desires and behavior.
Playfulness: An Overview of the Revised

This view is il ustrated by a number of interesting design
Playful Experience (PLEX) Framework,”
in Proceedings of the 7th International
examples. Dunne and Raby discussed the “Life counter” by Ippei
Conference on Design and Emotion
Matsumoto (see Figure 1).5 This digital clock-like product lets users
(Chicago: Illinois Institute of Technology,
decide how many years they would like to live and then starts
2010).
counting back. Once activated, the different sides of the product
3 Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby, Design
display the number of years, days, hours, and seconds they have
Noir: The Secret Life of Electronic
left, respectively, which forces the user to choose whether to see
Objects (Basel, Switzerland: August/
Birkhäuser, 2001), 45.
the years of their lifetime dragging on, or the seconds flashing
4 Ibid.
before their eyes. Another example is Alice Wang’s “The Tyrant”
5 Ibid., 63.
(see Figure 2), as described by Hassenzahl.6 This alarm clock
6 Hassenzahl,
Experience Design, 29.
© 2012 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Figure 1 (left)
wakes the user, not by sounding an alarm, but by cal ing random
Life Counter. Photo: Hidetoyo Sasaki.
people from the user’s address book every three minutes after
the wake-up time. The daunting prospect of bothering random
acquaintances is expected to motivate users to get out of bed.
Figure 2 (right)
Gaver et al. designed “The Drift Table” (see Figure 3), a coffee table
The Tyrant.
with a small hole in the middle that reveals a satel ite view of Eng-
land’s countryside.7 This view floats in a certain direction, corre-
sponding to the arrangement of physical objects on the table. Thus,
as more weight is put on a certain side of the table, the image shifts
more quickly in that direction. The idea is that the interaction with
a product that lacks both clear functionality and direct controls
enables the user to have a more open and exploratory experience.

These products clearly il ustrate the aim to avoid the pitfal
of shal ow amusement mentioned by Hassenzahl.8 We believe they
do so because they evoke a larger spectrum of emotions than more
conventional products. In particular, besides evoking positive
emotions, they also elicit several negative emotions. For instance, the
“Life Counter” has a pleasantly sinister or morbid quality, provok-
ing emotions of mild horror, anxiety, and sadness. “The Tyrant”
clearly tries to evoke shame in users for bothering random
acquaintances with their problems in getting up. Furthermore,
the anticipatory fear that the product will actually do this is a
strong incentive for users to get up. Lastly, “The Drift Table” was
purposeful y designed to conceal a clear intention of use, and to
restrict users in the way they could control the table. Both these
design decisions can elicit frustration and annoyance in users, as
the researchers also encountered with testers of the device.9

Regarding negative emotions as a key element of rich prod-
7 William W. Gaver et al., “The Drift Table:
uct experiences, instead of an unwanted side effect of product
Designing for Ludic Engagement,” in CHI
interaction, may seem unconventional. However, in the domains of
‘04 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors
in Computing Systems (New York: ACM,
art and entertainment, which offer rich experience par excel ence,
2004), 885-900.
this idea is commonly accepted. Creators of novels, plays, films,
8 Hassenzahl,
Experience Design, 29.
and music have always used negative emotions to delight their
9 Gaver et al., “The Drift Table,” 897-98.
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audiences. This intent may be most obvious in the enjoyment of
extreme experiences, such as horror movies (anxiety, disgust),
shock art (indignation, embarrassment), or rol ercoasters (fright),
but the effect should not by any means be regarded as a peri-
pheral phenomenon. In fact, any narrative construct—be it written
fiction, theatre, or film—contains setbacks and hardship for the
protagonists to overcome. A story without any antagonists or
dramatic tension is considered “emotional y flat” and will not be
very enjoyable.10 Similarly, video games can be regarded as a
Figure 3
series of obstacles that elicit frustration and aggression in the
The Drift table. © Interaction Research
player, which have to be resolved in succession. Lastly, people
Studio, University of London.
enjoy listening to gloomy music that makes them sad, and in fact
regularly prefer it over cheerful music.11 In other words, negative
emotions are a principal part of all these cultural products.

In this paper, we focus on the questions of whether and
how the experience of mainstream consumer products—like
10 Dolf Zillmann, “Mechanisms of Emotional
chairs, smartphones, and copy machines—can also be enriched
Involvement with Drama,” Poetics 23, no.
with negative emotions. The three examples already described are
1-2 (1995): 48.
interesting, but they are not intended to become mainstream prod-
11 Peter Vorderer and Holger Schramm,
ucts; they are part of “critical design,” as Dunne and Raby termed
“Musik nach Mass. Situative und perso-
nenspezifische Unterschiede bei der
it.12 This “haute couture” type of design mainly aims to comment
Selektion von Musik,” [Music made to
on the way people use and co-exist with products in our society, in
measure. Situational and personal differ-
order to inspire other designers in the process. Thus, although crit-
ences in the selection of music],
ical design offers designers an incentive to create rich experiences
Jahrbuch Musikpsychologie 17 (2004),
for product users, it does not offer an explicit approach to achieve
89-108; Peter Vorderer, Christoph Klimmt,
and Ute Ritterfeld, “Enjoyment: At the
this effect in “non-critical,” everyday products. We are especial y
Heart of Media Entertainment,”
interested in understanding why, when, and how negative emo-
Communication Theory 14, no. 4 (2004):
tions can contribute to richness in everyday product experiences.
392-93.
In contrast, the design and emotion research domain has produced
12 Dunne and Raby, Design Noir, 58.
several practical, experience-driven design approaches, mostly
13 For an overview of such design
based on psychological and sociological theory.13 These approaches
approaches, see Pieter M. A. Desmet
and Paul Hekkert, “Special Issue
have supported designers in creating pleasurable product experi-
Editorial: Design and Emotion,”
ences. However, they do not help us in understanding how nega-
International Journal of Design 3, no. 2
tive emotions can enrich these experiences: They detail the
(2009), 1-6. Examples of approaches
nuances on the product side of the interaction, but mostly ignore
based on psychological and sociological
the nuances on the user side—the question of which emotional
theory include the following: Jordan
(Patrick W. Jordan, Designing Pleasurable
experiences are actual y enjoyable in the specific context of use. As
Products: An Introduction to the New
a consequence, designers still rely primarily on the basic assump-
Human Factors (London: Taylor & Francis,
tion that all positive emotions are pleasant, and thus suitable for
2000) used the pleasure framework of
product experiences, while all negative emotions are unpleasant
Tiger (Lionel Tiger, The Pursuit of Pleasure
and thus unsuitable for design.
(New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction

Clearly, we challenge this assumption and propose that
Publishers, 1992)) to suggest four sources
of product pleasure; Desmet (Pieter
designers can enrich product experiences by explicitly involving
M. A. Desmet, “Product Emotion,” in
negative emotions in the user–product interaction. To explore this
Product Experience, ed. Hendrik N. J.
proposition, we examine what motivates people to willfully
Schifferstein and Paul Hekkert
(Amsterdam, The Netherlands:
Elsevier, 2007) used the appraisal theory
of Ortony, Clore, and Collins (Andrew
44
DesignIssues: Volume 28, Number 4 Autumn 2012

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engage in activities that evoke negative emotions, and the
conditions under which these negative emotions are enjoyable.14
We first discuss three existing explanations. Although these theo-
ries explain why people seek out negative stimuli in some cases,
they cannot explain all such cases, nor do they explain why the
resulting negative emotions are sometimes pleasurable. We there-
fore propose an alternative view that consists of two ingredients.
The first is that people seek out negative emotions because such
emotions transform their perception of and attitude toward a situ-
ation. The second is that people can actual y enjoy this transforma-
tion if they experience it through a protective frame. With these
two ingredients in place, we propose a framework of rich experi-
ence that explains the conditions under which negative product
experiences can be enjoyable. Final y, we explain how this frame-
work can explicate the richness of “critical design” experiences and
enable designers to apply this kind of thinking in a systematic
way, in mainstream products. In the last section, we discuss some
implications of creating rich experiences with negative emotions,
as well as some limitations of the framework.
Existing Explanations of Why People Seek Out
Negative Emotions
Psychologists have long debated why people willingly expose
themselves to negative emotions, like those experienced in art and
entertainment, but also in activities like physical exercise or para-
chuting. This debate has generated three main explanations: the
utilitarian explanation, the aftermath explanation, and the inten-
sity explanation.

The utilitarian viewpoint is probably the most obvious
explanation: People engage in activities that evoke negative emo-
tions not because they enjoy them, but because they expect these

Ortony, Gerald L. Clore, and Allan
Collins,The Cognitive Structure of
activities to be beneficial in the long run. For instance, people who
Emotions (Cambridge: Cambridge
have a fear of flying may still board an airplane, in spite of their
University Press, 1990)) to propose nine
fear. They suppress their fear because they want to reach their des-
sources of product appeal; and Norman
tination as quickly as possible. Similarly, people overcome their
(Donald A. Norman, Emotional Design:
reluctance to engage in physical exercise because they hope to
Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things
(New York, NY: Basic Civitas Books,
become healthier and slimmer. This view enables us to explain
2004)) proposed three layers of
why people buy clock radios with shrill alarms: Although the
pleasurable product experiences on the
alarm sounds unpleasant, the sensation of distress is the only
basis of a neurobiological framework.
reliable means to awaken them. However, the important limita-
14 Although we see subtle differences
tion of this view is that it fails to explain activities or experiences
between the words “enjoyable” and
that have no other purpose than to entertain. How would some-
“pleasant” (e.g., enjoyable has a
connotation of something actively
one expect to be better off riding rollercoasters or watching
entertaining, whereas pleasant
horror movies?
seems to refer to stimuli that are more
passively agreeable to the senses),
these terms are used interchangeably
throughout this paper for purposes
of readability.
DesignIssues: Volume 28, Number 4 Autumn 2012
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The aftermath explanation proposes that negative emotions
in experiences are taken for granted because they make the ensu-
ing positive emotions more enjoyable. For instance, it proposes that
a parachute jumper only enjoys the moment after the jump, because
it compares pleasantly to the fear she experienced before jumping
and while in the air.15 This logic also can explain why we wil ful y
spend our Sunday afternoon mowing the lawn: The mowing
itself is not what we enjoy, but the satisfaction of having the job
done. In fact, the tal er the grass, the more tedious and thus satis-
fying the job will be. Although plausible, this view also has
limited explanatory power. Parachutists and horror movie viewers
do not seem happy only when the activity is over; they also express
enjoyment in the activity itself. This observation is supported by
the experiments of Andrade and Cohen, who measured the
amount of positive and negative affect in people before, during,
and after watching a horror movie.16 The results showed that fans
of horror movies experience negative emotions throughout the
movie, together with positive emotions. Furthermore, Andrade
and Cohen detected no aftermath effect in this group; they showed
neither a decrease in negative emotions, nor an increase in positive
emotions directly after the movie.
15 For instance, this line of reasoning

The intensity explanation, put forward by Zuckerman,
can be found in theories of Soloman
states that certain people are able to enjoy activities like para-
and Corbit (Richard L. Solomon and
chuting because they can successful y inhibit the accompanying
John D. Corbit, “An Opponent-Process
fear.17 To these so-cal ed sensation seekers, the activity is not real y
Theory of Motivation: I. Temporal
Dynamics of Affect,” Psychological
frightening anymore—just pleasantly arousing. This effect
Review 81, no. 2 (1974)) and of Zillman
explains why some people are interested in products like racing
(Dolf Zillmann, “Anatomy of Suspense,”
bikes: They have learned to ignore the dangers that would deter
in The Entertainment Functions of
other people from using them. The same mechanism is proposed
Television, ed. Percy H. Tannenbaum
to play a role in the enjoyment of horror movies: Fans of the genre
(Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum,
1980), 146-50; or in the “Law of
have learned to inhibit their disgust and anxiety and simply enjoy
Affective Contrast” from Frijda (Nico H.
their arousing effects. Andrade and Cohen point out a flaw in this
Frijda, The Laws of Emotion (Mahwah,
line of thinking: If people enjoy parachuting only after learning to
NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2007), 11),
inhibit their fear, they argue, why do they begin doing it in the
which states that “[l]oss of misery
first place?18 Their experiments show no difference in the amount
yields not a sense of normality but
of fear experienced between fans and non-fans of horror movies—
positive happiness.”
16 Eduardo B. Andrade and Joel B. Cohen,
only that the fans experienced more joy while watching. In fact,
“On the Consumption of Negative
Andrade and Cohen observed a positive correlation between the
Feelings,” Journal of Consumer
negative and the positive emotions: “[Horror fans,] not only experi-
Research 34, no. 3 (2007), 283-300.
enced “opposite” affective states at the same time, but the most fearful
17 Marvin Zuckerman, “Sensation Seeking
scenes were clearly perceived to be the most pleasant ones.”19 This conclu-
and the Taste for Vicarious Horror,”
in Horror Films: Current Research on
sion is particularly noteworthy for our current investigation
Audience Preferences and Reactions,
because it highlights a key limitation of all three existing explana-
ed. J. B. Weaver and R. C. Tamborini
tions: They all start from the false assumption that negative emo-
(Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1996),
tions are fundamental y and therefore always, unpleasant.
157-59.
18 Andrade and Cohen, “On the
Consumption of Negative Feelings,” 285.
19 Ibid., 292.
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Alternative Explanation of Why People Seek out
Negative Emotions
We propose an alternative explanation that in contrast is based
on the assumption that negative emotions can also be enjoyable.
The key concept in our explanation is “subjective transformation:”
People seek out negative emotions because they produce specific
bodily and mental effects, which together transform their percep-
tion of, and attitude toward, the situation. This concept of transfor-
mation is inspired by Sartre’s phenomenological conception of
emotions, but it is also grounded in contemporary psychological
understanding of emotion. We explain the proposition step-by-step
through its four main components: (1) bodily and mental effects of
negative emotions, which are (2) emotion-specific, lead to (3) trans-
20 Douglas Derryberry and Marjorie A.
formations of perception and (4) transformations of attitude.
Reed, “Anxiety and Attentional Focusing:
Trait, State and Hemispheric Influences,”
Personality and Individual Differences 25,
Bodily and Mental Ef ects of Negative Emotions
no. 4 (1998), 745-61.
The idea that emotions have bodily effects is undisputed. For
21 Elizabeth A. Phelps, Sam Ling, and
example, fear increases the heart rate, which helps the individual
Marisa Carrasco, “Emotion Facilitates
to move and act more quickly in case of danger. Recent research
Perception and Potentiates the
Perceptual Benefits of Attention,”
has also uncovered mental effects of different emotions: Negative
Psychological Science 17, no. 4 (2006),
emotions change people’s attention, thoughts, memory, imagina-
292-99.
tion, judgment, needs, and behavior. For example, fear not only
22 Jason Tipples, “When Time Stands Still:
increases arousal, it also has been shown to have other effects:
Fear-Specific Modulation of Temporal

• It gives people a narrower field of attention.20
Bias Due to Threat,” Emotion 11, no. 1

• It improves visual contrast sensitivity.21
(2011), 74-80.
23 Bethany A. Teachman et al., “A New

• It causes people to experience time as passing
Mode of Fear Expression: Perceptual Bias

more slowly.22
in Height Fear,” Emotion 8, no. 2 (2008),

• It influences people’s ability to estimate sizes of
296-301.

objects and distances.23
24 Gordon H. Bower, “Mood and Memory,”

• It brings back memories of previous dangerous
American Psychologist 36, no. 2 (1981),
129-48.

situations.24
25 This distinction may seem self-evident,
but the common practice in empirical
Emotion-Specific
studies for many years was to look at the
Negative emotions have different sets of bodily and mental effects.
effects of all negative emotions together,
The effects of sadness, for instance, differ strongly from those of
under the umbrella term of “negative
anger.25 Several studies have shown that certain negative emotions
affect.” A number of researchers have
recently started to study the differenti-
even have opposing effects. For example, Lerner and Keltner dem-
ated effects of negative emotions in
onstrated that whereas fear caused people to estimate that real-
experiments and found widely diverging
life risks (e.g., natural disasters or brain cancer) are more likely to
results. For a discussion, see Jennifer S.
occur than they are in reality, anger caused them to assess the same
Lerner and Dacher Keltner, “Beyond
risks as less likely to occur than they actual y are.26 Another study
Valence: Toward a Model of Emotion-
Specific Influences on Judgment and
showed that participants who experienced disgust became much
Choice,” Cognition & Emotion 14, no. 4
sterner in their moral judgments of other people’s bad behavior in
(2000): 474-76.
stories, compared to the neutral control group. Sad participants
26 Ibid., 473-93.
became slightly less judgmental than the neutral group.27 Different
27 Simone Schnall et al., “Disgust as
Embodied Moral Judgment,” Personality
and Social Psychology Bulletin 34, no. 8
(2008), 1096-109.
DesignIssues: Volume 28, Number 4 Autumn 2012
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negative emotions also can have opposing effects on which activi-
ties people prefer: When presented with ads for holiday resorts,
sad people (i.e., those who had previously read a magazine article
inducing sadness) preferred an ad that highlighted the relaxing
nature of a particular resort, while angry people (i.e., those who
read a story inducing anger) preferred the ad that promoted the
active aspects of the same resort.28 These examples il ustrate just a
few effects of a few specific emotions. A complete overview of al
such effects for every emotion does not yet exist, as this area of
research is just emerging. Future studies eventual y could map the
whole range of effects that each emotion produces.
Transformation of Perception
From a functional point of view, the effects previously discussed
can be understood as useful responses that help people to sur-
vive.29 In case of fear, the narrowed field of attention helps the
frightened individual to single out the actual threat from the
side issues; the memories of previous dangerous situations help
the individual to find a solution for the current predicament; and
the experience of time moving more slowly increases the indivi-
dual’s ability to identify and process a solution. However, from a
phenomenological point of view, these effects also have a signifi-
cant effect on a person’s subjective experience of the situation.
Consider fear again: The sudden focus of attention, the memories
of past frights, and the feeling that time is standing stil are al
significant deviations from neutral, everyday experiences. More-
over, this change is not experienced as a set of separate or sequen-
tial effects, but rather as a holistic transformation that makes
perceived objects, people, and events take on a different meaning.
This view is inspired by Sartre’s phenomenological conception of
emotion, which he described as magical transformations of the
deterministic and factual world into subjective reality.30 To grasp
how this “magical transformation” can be described, consider
the fol owing metaphor of a frightening event. If subjective per-
ception is like a theatre stage, fear would abruptly change the
arrangements and stage lighting so that only a few crucial objects
or actors are il uminated, in a way that reveals a new side of them
in vivid detail. These objects and actors would seem to stand stil
for a moment, although they are all turned toward the person
28 Derek D. Rucker and Richard E. Petty,
experiencing the fear because she plays the pivotal role in this
“Emotion Specificity and Consumer
arrangement. Other emotions could be described by different
Behavior: Anger, Sadness, and Preference
for Activity,” Motivation and Emotion 28,
arrangements of the same metaphor.
no. 1 (2004), 3-21.
29 See, for instance, Richard S. Lazarus,
Transformation of Attitude
Emotion and Adaptation (New York:
These specific changes of attention, expectations, judgments, and
Oxford University Press, 1991), 84.
preferences also influence a person’s attitude toward the situation.
30 Jean-Paul Sartre, Sketch for a Theory of
The word “attitude” here means one’s subjectively experienced
the Emotions, trans. P. Mairet (London:
Methuen, 1939/1962), 39-40.
disposition toward events, people, and objects (summarized as
48
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Figure 4
Process of subjective transformation.
“the world”). For instance, a person who becomes angry has an
increasingly assertive, empowered, and risk-taking attitude
toward the world. Sadness, on the other hand, results in a more
calm, sensitive, and reflective attitude toward the world. This
idea of transformed attitudes is similar to Frijda’s concept of the
action tendency, which is people’s tendency to behave in a certain
way under the influence of an emotion.31 The difference between
attitude and action tendency is that the latter is a behavioral con-
cept, described with objective terms such as “approach,” “avoid-
ance,” “inhibition,” and “activation.” Attitude, on the other hand,
refers primarily to individuals’ subjective account of their disposi-
tion to the world, and transformations of attitude are first and fore-
most felt changes. Tamir and Ford used action tendency to explain
why people performed better in certain games when emotions
were induced beforehand that corresponded to the type of game.32
For instance, angry people performed better in a confrontational
game, while frightened people performed better in a threat-avoid-
ance game. This improvement in performance did not occur when
participants had a non-corresponding or neutral emotion before
the game.

To summarize, we propose that every negative emotion has
a different combination of bodily and mental effects, which holisti-
cal y generate a unique transformation of subjective perception
and attitude (see Figure 4). In our view, this transformation is what
31 Nico H. Frijda, The Emotions (Cambridge:
makes the negative emotion potential y refreshing, enchanting,
Cambridge University Press, 1986), 69-93.
empowering, exciting, or profound—and thus worth experiencing.
32 Maya Tamir and Brett Q. Ford, “Choosing
The transformation is either a welcome change from the status
to Be Afraid: Preferences for Fear as a
quo—for an agreeable person to get angry once in a while is
Function of Goal Pursuit,” Emotion 9, no.
refreshing—or the right attitude at the right moment can help deal
4 (2009): 488-97.
33 For example, he proposed that, apart
with a situation—someone who has to undergo an intimidating job
from the well-known unpleasant anger,
interview feels more assertive and focused if she is a little angry.
“anger” (in quotation marks) can also
be “the kind of devilish glee one might
The Enjoyment Condition
experience while being objectionable
The question remains as to whether negative emotions can also be
in some social setting, or the mischie-
pleasant, and if so, under which circumstances. For instance, when
vousness one might feel in getting
one’s own back in some underhand
someone with a fear of heights looks down from a tall building, he
way, or the joyous hate one experiences
might also have a lively experience and a highly focused and ener-
towards the villain in a cowboy film.”
gized attitude, but he is not necessarily enjoying himself.
See: Michael J. Apter, Reversal Theory:

Michael Apter was one of the first authors in psychology to
The Dynamics of Motivation, Emotion,
theorize that negative emotions have pleasant counterparts, which
and Personality, 2nd ed. (Oxford:
Oneworld, 2007), 119.
he cal ed “parapathic emotions.”33 Apter proposed that one of the
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Figure 5
most important factors that causes people to enjoy negative emo-
The four types of pretective frame.
tion is the presence of a “protective frame.” This frame is the men-
tal construct that enables people to create a certain psychological
distance between themselves and the object of their emotion. For
example, consider an encounter with a hungry lion. If the lion is
unrestrained, it will arguably elicit only fear in the unfortunate
person encountering it; on the other hand, if the lion is in a cage
(but still clearly visible and audible), the encounter can elicit an
enjoyable thril . This example can be used to highlight two impor-
tant features of the protective frame. First, the protective frame
(the cage) converts the negative experience (fear) into an enjoyable
experience (thril ), but it does not diminish or take away the nega-
tive emotion itself. The fear is necessary for the situation to be
enjoyable; a cage without a lion would just be dul . Second, the pro-
tective frame is not a physical but a psychological construct, which
means that the determining factor is not whether the person is, in
reality, safe but whether she believes that she is safe.34

Apter original y proposed three different types of protec-
tive frames: the detachment frame, the safety-zone frame, and the
confidence frame.35 After considering how these frames might
apply to product design, we recognized that the confidence frame
is better termed the “control frame” to make it more suitable for
product interaction.36 In addition, we added a fourth frame to
account for a wider range of applications: the “perspective frame”
(see Figure 5). We explain these four protective frames in the fol-
lowing paragraphs.
34 For instance, if the lion is in an enclosure
The
safety-zone frame arises when a person perceives a nega-
that is imperceptible, a person standing
tive stimulus in her direct environment but feels protected from
next to it will not be enjoying the
it. The lion in the cage is a typical example; people can enjoy the
situation, even if she is actually safe.
35 Apter,
Reversal Theory, 50-53.
awe and terror of being close to a lion if they believe they are safe
36 We revised this terminology because
at the same time.37 Note that this protecting barrier does not have
“confidence” is a psychological state that
to be a fixed enclosure. A child who finds a dead bird might be
cannot directly be manipulated by design,
reluctant to touch it with her hands, but poking it with a stick can
whereas the amount of control that the
elicit the right mix of horror and safety. Wearing rubber gloves
user has over a certain interaction is a
can provide a similar protective frame. A safety-zone frame can
designable aspect.
37 This example also shows that the feeling
also be achieved through spatial distance. For instance, someone
of trust is often a necessary aspect in the
can enjoy the thrill of standing on a cliff as long as he is far enough
experience of a safety-zone frame.
from the edge.
People can only feel safe from a lion
behind a barrier if they can trust the
barrier was well-constructed.
50
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Figure 6
The Rich Experience framework.
A
detachment frame lets people observe an event without par-
ticipating in it, as occurs in the experience of novels, films, and
plays. Through this frame, people are dealing with a representa-
tion of a negative stimulus rather than the stimulus itself. For
instance, watching a movie scene about a fighting couple might be
an entertaining experience, whereas it would be unpleasant to wit-
ness in real life. A detachment frame can manifest in different
forms, including abstraction (e.g., reading about the number of
victims of a disaster rather than seeing photographs of them), sim-
plification (e.g., a line drawing of a wound rather than a photo-
graph), stylization (e.g., a beautiful picture of a col apsed building),
and exaggeration (e.g., violence ad absurdum in a slasher film).

With a control frame, people have a certain amount of control
over the interaction with the negative stimulus. Although they are
actual y in the danger zone, they trust they have the skil s to keep
themselves from trauma. For instance, a first-time driver might
feel terrified when driving on the highway, but a skil ed driver,
who is running comparable risks, is much more at ease. Types of
control that people potentially have in a challenging situation
include physical skil s (e.g., the user is strong/fast/agile enough to
deal with the situation) and mental skil s (e.g., the user is smart/
knowledgeable/skil ed/creative enough to deal with the situation).
The
perspective frame changes the meaning of the experi-
enced emotion by providing a window to the wider implications of
the situation. This frame connects the negative stimulus to a uni-
versal human theme. For example, people who participate in a
charity run might experience fatigue and pain, but the realization
that they are doing it for a good cause can convert these sensations
into feelings of benevolence. Other examples of such universal
human themes are loyalty (e.g., “taking one for the team”), self-
actualization (e.g., observing one’s own progress in mastering a
difficult skill), patriotism (e.g., standing in the rain to raise the
flag), or diligence (e.g., giving up free time to finish work).
Rich Experience Framework
With the addition of the protective frame model, the process of
subjective transformation (see Figure 4) can be completed to create
a “rich experience” framework (see Figure 6). In this framework,
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Figure 7 (left)
the negative emotion produces the subjective transformation,
Life Counter. Photo: Hidetoyo Sasaki.
while the protective frame makes the experience enjoyable. The
complete process can be described as fol ows: Something happens
(negative stimulus), which causes a person to have a specific nega-
Figure 8 (right)
tive emotion (e.g., anger, sadness, etc.). This emotion transforms
Motorcycle.
both that person’s perception of the situation, and her attitude
toward the situation. Final y, a protective frame around this nega-
tive stimulus must manifest in one of four different forms for the
person to enjoy the experience.

By distinguishing three components of rich experiences
(negative stimulus, protective frame, and subjective transforma-
tion), the framework enables us to explain a wide variety of prod-
uct experiences that are enjoyable while involving negative
emotions. Six examples fol ow that il ustrate some of this variety
of experience.
Life Counter
The framework can be used to analyze the previously discussed
life counter, which counts back the time its user still has to live (see
Figure 7). This product can potential y evoke a mix of horror, anxi-
ety, and sadness, which pul s people out of their everyday flow of
thoughts and adds a sense of mystery and contemplation. The
main protective frame for this product is the perspective frame: The
sad or anxious feelings are accepted because they lead the user to
reflect on his or her mortality. Secondarily, the user’s choice
between different time displays (years, days, hours, and seconds)
provides a control frame because the user has control over the type
or level of negative emotion experienced. The relatively static dis-
play of time-in-years may evoke mild feelings of sadness and res-
38 The NHTSA Traffic fact sheet 2008
ignation, while the display that shows the user’s life shorten every
states: “Per vehicle mile traveled in 2007,
second might primarily evoke anxiety or distress.
motorcyclists were about 37 times more
likely than passenger car occupants to
Motorcycling
die in a motor vehicle traffic crash and
Although all forms of road use come with a certain risk, motorcy-
nine times more likely to be injured [in
cling is considered particularly dangerous (see Figure 8).38 This fact
the United States].” http://www-nrd.
nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811159.pdf (accessed
does not seem to deter people from riding motorcycles. On the
August 16, 2011).
contrary, the design and marketing of most motorcycles emphasize
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Figure 9 (left)
thrill, power, and speed, rather than safety. The main emotion in
Giant Microbes. Typhoid, Hepatitis
these aspects of motorcycle riding is fright. This form of immediate
and Cholera Dolls are a property of
fear is highly stimulating, al owing people to feel that they live in
Giantmicrobes, Inc.
the here and now, as an enjoyable alternative to the everyday
tedium or routine. The main protective frame in the enjoyment of
Figure 10 (right)
riding a motorcycle is the control frame. Motorcyclists need to feel
Spicy food.
that they are under control of the situation, which is expressed in
product characteristics like maneuverability, braking response,
and physical feedback. In a second protective frame, safety acces-
sories such as helmets and crash bars provide a safety-zone frame by
limiting the consequences of a possible crash.
Giant Microbes
The company Giantmicrobes, Inc. makes cuddly plush toys that are
representations of microbial diseases like cholera, hepatitis, and
herpes (see Figure 9). These toys evoke an inherent contradiction of
attraction and repulsion, which makes them stand out in a large
and saturated market. By evoking disgust, they manage to draw
attention and spark children’s imagination. In this case, a detach-
ment frame makes the experience enjoyable, as the children are only
playing with representations of harmful diseases.
Spicy Foods
Negative emotions can also be enjoyed on a basic, sensory level,
in the experience of pain. Even though the sensation of eating very
spicy chilies can be very distressing and uncomfortable (see Figure
10), some people enjoy this experience and even try to push the
limits of how much pungency they can withstand. This behavior is
paradoxical because the pungent substance that is excreted by chili
plants is actual y meant to prevent mammals from eating them.39
Two protective frames play a role in the enjoyment of spicy foods:
the control frame and the perspective frame. The control frame is rele-
vant because the person has control over the speed and amount of
food intake. The perspective frame comes into play whenever the
39 Joshua J. Tewksbury and Gary P. Nabhan,
person eating the spicy food can connect the pain he is enduring to
“Seed Dispersal: Directed Deterrence By
Capsaicin in Chilies,” Nature 412, no.
ideas of personal perseverance and resistance.
6845 (2001): 403-04.
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Figure 11 (left)
Glass Balcony
Glass balcony.
The Wil is Tower in Chicago features three glass balconies at the
one-hundred-third floor that offer visitors a unique experience (see
Figure 11). Part of this experience is the panoramic view of the city,
Figure 12 (right)
but the more intense anxiety stems from the sensation of standing
Printer problems.
on “thin air,” which certainly adds suspense and novelty. The pro-
tective frame is a safety-zone frame. Visitors trust that the people
who are responsible for the balcony have ensured the safety of
the experience.
Printer Problems
Sometimes products can provide rich experiences through interac-
tions that are unintentional or even unwanted by the manufac-
turer. Consider a user who sends a digital document to a printer
but discovers that the printer has a paper jam (see Figure 12). The
subsequent scavenger hunt to find the stuck piece of paper can
evoke frustration. However, if the user is not in a terrible hurry and
has an idea about how to resolve this issue, the experience can
actual y be enjoyable. The frustration has the ability to make the
person more determined and focused on resolution, and it adds a
sense of accomplishment afterward. The enjoyment condition is a
version of the control frame: The user must believe that she still has
options to try or steps to fol ow. When the user feels that she has
tried everything and the printer is still unresponsive, the protec-
tive frame fails and the enjoyment will cease.

These examples illustrate that different rich experiences
involve different constellations of the three key components
described in the framework. They also il ustrate that the substan-
tial differences in people’s experiences of situations that involve
negative emotions are explained by the subjective nature of the
protective frame. For some people, the thick glass bottom of the
Wil is Tower’s balcony provides a safety-zone frame; for others it
does not. The first group is excited, and the second is plain fearful.
A mild chili sauce is boring for some and exciting for others.
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Discussion
We are interested in understanding how design can provide users
with rich product experiences—experiences that go beyond one-
dimensional pleasure. Our ultimate goal is to offer designers tools
to compose rich palettes of emotions for their product experiences,
drawing from the large set of potential y enjoyable positive and
negative emotions. This paper represents a first step by introduc-
ing a framework that describes the conditions under which nega-
tive emotions are pleasurable. The next steps are to formulate
practical design strategies and to extend the framework to enable
more fine-grained distinctions.40 For example, for design applica-
tions, more information must be generated about the specific
transformations (of both perception and attitude) of different
negative emotions. Because product experiences are, in essence,
dynamic, the framework should ideal y also include the element of
time.41 Rich experiences are not just for people with an eccentric
taste or for thrill-seekers; just as everyone enjoys some form of
art and entertainment, everyone can enjoy rich product experi-
ences. However, exploring cultural and individual differences in
the level of engagement and acceptance of rich experience prod-
ucts might also generate valuable insights. For instance, initial
indications are that both elderly people and people of eastern
descent are more appreciative of mixed emotions, at least for an
experience that includes sadness.42 In addition, young people may
be more inclined to engage in thril ing activities that involve emo-
tions like fear and disgust. Ideal y, as more details and the element
of time are incorporated, the framework can expand to become a
tool that enables designers to create rich experiences in a way that
is similar to writing stories: They can careful y plan different emo-
tional narrative elements through time to compose a holistic and
meaningful experience.

Rich experience design potentially offers at least three
benefits. First, it can add engagement, refreshment, or meaning to
situations that are general y boring or void of meaning. Second,
it can make use of the specific effects of negative emotions on atti-
tude to stimulate people toward engagement in activities in which
they otherwise would not engage. Note that this effect also has a
dark side: Products that are designed to make use of protective
frames (e.g., cars with many airbags) might induce reckless use or
behavior because they provide a sense of safety that overshadows
40 Steven F. Fokkinga and Pieter M. A.
the actual risk. Third, and perhaps most important, it can result in
Desmet, “Ten Ways to Design for
Disgust, Anxiety, and Other Enjoyments,”
strategies for situations that will always have some negative
International Journal of Design (in press).
aspect, including hospital visits, waiting in line, traffic jams, and
41 Hassenzahl,
Experience Design:
air travel. For example, consider the printer situation already
Technology for All the Right Reasons, 31.
described. Printer designers most likely do not intend to evoke
42 Patti Williams and Jennifer Aaker, “Can
Mixed Emotions Peacefully Coexist?,”
Journal of Consumer Research 28, no. 4
(2002): 636-49.
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negative emotions. However, even in this case, understanding
how to use the concepts of protective frame and transformation
offers opportunities: If taking away the negative stimulus is not
possible (i.e., occasional paper jams are unavoidable), clever design
might help transform this negative stimulus into a rich rather
than an unpleasant experience. In fact, in these kinds of situations,
trying to add positive emotions is counterproductive because they
form a dissonant with the reality of the situation. Instead, it is
better to acknowledge that the situation is (partly) negative and
to design something that either redirects this negativity or makes
it enjoyable.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Paul Hekkert for his helpful com-
ments on an earlier draft of the paper.

This research is part of the Creative Industry Scientific
Program (CRISP), which focuses on the design of product–service
systems as a means to stimulate the continuing growth of the
Dutch Design Sector and Creative Industries. The CRISP program
is partial y sponsored by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Cul-
ture, and Science.

This research was supported by MAGW VIDI grant number
452-10-011 of The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research
(NWO), awarded to P. M. A. Desmet.
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