The Thinking and Discrimination of Experience Design: A Comparative Analysis of Domestic (China) and Foreign Experience Design Studies Using Bibliometrics from 2002-2022

Abstract

The emergence of the experience economy created a dissimilation between experience design and user experience design. Experience design was first proposed in 2001 and has been developed for over 20 years; its concept, object, or methods were inseparable from user experience design. This study clarifies the difference in research and the developmental prospect of experience design at home and abroad. For this, 1079 relevant articles published from 2002 to 2022 were collected from the Core Collection Database of Scientific American and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure. This study analyzes knowledge transfer, research hotspots, and evolution using bibliometrics. It also divides the research on experience design into three stages: embryonic (2002-2007), initial (2008-2016), and accelerating (2017-2022). The domestic researchers were more influenced by the rapid development of the Internet and digitalization in China. They also focused more on the practical methods of experience design. The foreign researchers however tended to outgrow user experience design and return to “experience” the scientific research of experience design, further enriching the research level. Thus, domestic researchers should focus more on establishing a Chinese experience design paradigm, differentiating the concept of experience design, and deepening scientific research on it. They should pay attention to the perspective of social innovation and this topic’s significance to strengthen the theoretical foundation and develop experience design methods oriented toward multidisciplinary integration.