Prototyping strategies for multisensory product experience engineering

The paper deals with prototyping strategies aimed at supporting engineers in the design of the multisensory experience of products. It is widely recognised that the most effective strategy to design it is to create working prototypes and analyse user’s reactions when interacting with them. Starting from this consciousness, we will discuss of how virtual reality (VR) technologies can support engineers to build prototypes suitable to this aim. Furthermore we will demonstrate how VR-based prototypes do not only represent a valid alternative to physical prototypes, but also a step forward thanks to the possibility of simulating and rendering multisensory and real-time modifiable interactions between the user and the prototype. These characteristics of VR-based prototypes enable engineers to rapidly test with users different variants and to optimise the multisensory experience perceived by them during the interaction. The discussion is supported both by examples available in literature and by case studies we have developed over the years on this topic. Specifically, in our research we have concentrated on what happens in the physical contact between the user and the product. Such contact strongly influences the user’s impression about the product.