87 Design for experiencing: New tools The integration of design with the applied social sciences is relatively new. Design firms began experimenting with the social sciences in the early 1980s. The experi- ment was design-driven, with social scientists being brought in to serve the design process. The evolution of influence that the social sciences have had on the design process mirrors changes seen over time in the social sciences. For example, behaviorists believed that only observable behaviors could be studied scientifically. Ethnographic approaches to design research in practice today seem to have their roots in the behaviorist tradition. Later, the cognitive revolution of 1960s and 1970s moved the focus from behavior to the information- processing model of the mind. Much of the usability research within human computer inter- face design borrowed its theoretical framework from cognitive psychology. The social sci- ences were slower to suggest methodologies and tools that could help designers access the emotional experience of users in a manner that would support their ideation process (Dandavate, Sanders and Stuart, 1996). The emerging participatory design approach acknowledges that it is possible to gain access to the experiencer’s world only through his/her participation in expressing that experience. So we can see now, at the end of 1999, that there is a common ground, a new ter- ritory being formed by the reciprocal respect between designers and social sci- entists. It is clear that social science still has much to offer design, just as design has much to offer the social sciences. Today we are beginning to hear about "Experience Design," whose aim is to design users’ experiences of things, events and places. This influ- ence on design can be attributed to a significant literature being written in the social sciences that has begun to acknowledge the role of emotions in human experience (see Jensen, 1999 for example). But we can never really "design experience." Expe- riencing is a constructive activity. That is, a user’s experience (with communication, for exam- Dr. Elizabeth B.-N. Sanders and Uday Dandavate Liz Sanders is the president of SonicRim, where she explores and shares innovative design research techniques. With undergraduate degrees in psychology and anthropology, and a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology, Liz brings a human- centered perspective to the design development process. Her client relationships have included 3M, AT&T, Apple, Baxter, Coca Cola, Compaq, Hasbro, IBM, Iomega, Microsoft, Motorola, Procter & Gamble, Siemens, Steelcase, Texas Instruments, Thermos, and Xerox. Liz is an adjunct faculty member in both The Industrial Design Department and The Industrial and Systems Engineering Department at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Background Design for experiencing