Design for user experience of control with flexible office environments - explorative user tests with prototypes

Journal article, 2023

The study addresses the prototyping, user testing, re-design, and re-testing of an office furniture concept following a research through design approach. The concept was intended to enable a positive user experience of control over sound stimuli and related distractions in flexible offices. The aims were: (i) to explore design opportunities in relation to experience of control; and (ii) to gain a deeper understaning of how to design for such positive experiences. The results show a limited impact on the experience of control over sound stimuli in the offices where the concept was tested, and a noticeable positive effect on control over privacy, visual distraction, and (to a lesser extent) work tasks. In this sense, the concept was meaningful for the users and opened up new opportunities for control over stimuli in flexible offices. The context, temporality of user experiences, and prototype fidelity were the keys to explaining the results.