Exploring the First Momentary Unboxing Experience with Aesthetic Interaction

Abstract

Increasingly the unboxing experience is regarded as a critical moment in product appraisal. As such, designers and companies should pay more attention to product packaging due to this increased interest in the momentary unboxing experience. In this study, we examine aesthetic interaction's influence upon emotional and semantic appraisals of the packaged product at the moment of unboxing. Three factors of aesthetic interaction were adopted and used in the design of packaging stimuli: freedom of interaction, interaction pattern and richness of motor actions. The findings indicated that differences in aesthetic interaction between the three packaging designs evoked particular positive emotions and delivered different semantic appraisals of the packaged products. Thus, the study provides design researchers and practitioners with an increased understanding of how aesthetic interaction can be leveraged in packaging design to enhance the unboxing experience.