An Analysis of the User's Interpretation of the Product; Comparative Study of Experience Design and Reception Hermeneutic

The product resulting from the design process can be depicted as a text carrying the meaning whose readers are its users. Among the prominent theories dealing with the category of the meaning in the text, the reception hermeneutic in epistemology, and the experience approach in design, have been discussed in this research. This study aimed to find out whether it is possible to compare the author with the designer, after assuming the product as a text. It also addressed the type of interaction with the user from a reception hermeneutic perspective in the experience design approach. In this regard, subjects such as understanding, reception, and generally, interpretation of the product have also been studied using library sources and the descriptive-analytical method. The results indicate that the phenomenon of the text reading in the reception hermeneutic approach is comparable to the experience at the thinking level in the process of user-product interaction. In other words, text reading can be equated with product experience.