Product Designers Need to Create Human-Object-Relationships

Professor of Digital Media at University Pforzheim Wolfgang Henseler believes products should “reveal themselves” to users almost automatically—even as their features grow increasingly complex and interconnected. It forms the basis of designing for intuitive use.

The idea of making everyday objects user-friendly isn’t new.

Cognitive scientist and usability engineer Donald Norman in his book titled The Design of Everyday Things, published in 1988, began public conversations in the design world to establish the premise that design serves as the communication between object and user. It triggered a discourse around how to optimise that communication in order to make the experience of using the object not just functional but ‘pleasurable’.

It threw a spanner in the works for arguments that bent towards teaching consumers how to use a product. Throw away the instructional manual — it is not the fault of the user but rather the lack of intuitive guidance that should be present in the design.

Design practice is a collective science that must consider behavioural psychology, ergonomics, and innovation. Professor Wolfgang Henseler, who leads Digital Media at University Pforzheim, and runs an agency Sensory Minds where his role is that of Creative Managing Director, adds neurolinguistics to that mix. “To become intuitive in interaction you need to know what the difference between a user friendly, an intuitive or even an instinctive interaction is. Therefore, you need to understand neurolinguistics, becoming intuitive means a user needs to use less cognitive energy to reach her or his desired goal,” says Henseler.

Having understood the process of mental processing, you need to ask: is there a mental model better than a metaphor, he continues. For example, in the 1950s, computers were huge and needed people to physically replace overheated vacuum tubes. But technology progressed—vacuum tubes became transistors, then microprocessors—and computers shrank. The interface changed too: hardware gave way to software, punch cards gave way to applications. Computers kept getting smaller, more powerful, and faster—and this trend will continue. Soon, they won’t just fit in our pockets (like smartphones) but sit on our faces (as smart glasses).

In his academic publications, Henseler discusses how the human-technology interface is evolving. Thanks to new technologies like multi-touch displays and device-integrated sensors, fingers, gestures, pens, and voice are replacing traditional inputs like mouse, cursor, and keyboard.

Natural User Interfaces (NUIs) are characterised by:

•     Primary input: fingers and voice
•     Interface: immediate and direct
•     Interaction: intuitive rather than learned
•     User experience: immersive and emotional

Apps are now surpassing browsers in popularity, offering faster, more tailored access to online content. Agentic AI, virtual assistants and cooperative interaction systems are becoming common. These trends reshape how we interact with technology.

What must designers of future interfaces do? Emerging technologies bring new realities. “This has always been the case, but it’s important for people to understand how they have to adapt to the new, to the future, to be relevant to jobs or markets or consumers,” he says. For example, with cloud computing, software becomes context-sensitive services. Functions are embedded in the media themselves “inner services.” In iOS, touching a photo brings up options like share or save. The function is in the object, not in a separate program.

So, how does artificial intelligence impact this design mind-set? According to Henseler, customer-centric thinking and AI exist in tandem. “Using AI, companies can become more relevant to consumers, marketing will be automated and much more efficient and creating an ad, commercial spot or a social media creative can be done almost on the fly, as I experience with my students nowadays.”

“And with the next AI generation coming, which is AGI (Artificial General Intelligence or Agentic AI), that will be even more radical in changing the way marketing will work and jobs will change.”

It is important to note that a big part of his coursework at the university is built around the principle that ‘to create the ultimate user or customer experience, customer obsession is the key’.

“In customer-centricity, it´s a data-driven approach. You need to be as close to the consumer as possible to receive data shared by her or him to use AI to predict what her or his future needs will be. So the product as a hyper-personalised service will perfectly match the needs without traditional marketing or advertisement.”

Conclusion

While technologies may be adding complexity to the stack that CX and marketing teams use, there is a long-standing debate about how these are managed at the backend. It does not however, change the human-object relationship, or the design principles that hold this school of thought in place. CX leaders need to ensure that this technological complexity; adds intrinsic business value, and doesn’t transfer to the customer. “In an increasingly complex world, design thinking—particularly user-centered, context-sensitive approaches—becomes vital.”

The professor explains it as – design today isn’t just about usability; it influences business strategy. The challenge is to transform complexity into simplexity—making the front-end simple while the back-end handles complexity. This is the core of NUI thinking.

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