Short answer
When designing smart textiles, ensure your evaluation methods capture not just how well the product functions, but also how it makes the user feel.
- Field
- User-Centred Design
- Source
- Technologies (2025)
- Method
- Systematic Literature Review
- Sample
- 56 full papers
- Evidence
- Moderate effect
Current smart textile design research predominantly evaluates pragmatic user experience, neglecting the crucial hedonic and emotional dimensions. This user-centred design research insight is drawn from a 2025 study published in Technologies. Using Systematic literature review with 56 full papers, researchers explored how this design variable affects real-world outcomes. The key design takeaway: When designing smart textiles, ensure your evaluation methods capture not just how well the product functions, but also how it makes the user feel.
Smart Textiles: Prioritizing Emotional User Experience in Design Evaluation
Current smart textile design research predominantly evaluates pragmatic user experience, neglecting the crucial hedonic and emotional dimensions.
Technologies · 2025
Key Findings
- 01Prevalent use of electronic components and conductive materials for sensing, actuation, communication, and processing.
- 02User experience evaluation primarily focuses on pragmatic aspects, with hedonic dimensions often considered future work.
- 03A need exists for more research into evaluating users' emotional experiences with smart textiles.
Application
Design takeaway
When designing smart textiles, ensure your evaluation methods capture not just how well the product functions, but also how it makes the user feel.
How to apply
When developing smart textile products, employ a mixed-methods approach to user testing that includes surveys, interviews, and observational techniques specifically designed to capture emotional responses and subjective satisfaction.
Project actions
- 01When researching smart textiles, look for studies that use a variety of user testing methods.
- 02Consider how the emotional impact of a smart textile might influence its success, not just its technical features.
Method & Evidence
Variables
Strengths & Limitations
Strengths
- +Systematic approach ensures comprehensive coverage of relevant literature.
- +Focus on experimental research provides insights into practical applications.
Limitations
The reviewed studies might not cover all possible materials or technologies, and the focus on published research means some cutting-edge developments might be missed.
Reliability & validity
The reliability of the review depends on the systematic search strategy and inclusion criteria. Validity is supported by the focus on experimental research, but the exclusion of non-English papers or non-experimental studies could limit its scope.
Think critically
Given the focus on pragmatic evaluation, how might the design of smart textiles be fundamentally different if emotional impact was the primary design driver from the outset?
Design Principles
"Holistic User Experience Evaluation: Design evaluation must encompass both functional (pragmatic) and emotional (hedonic) aspects of user interaction."
For smart textiles to achieve widespread adoption and create truly meaningful interactions, designers must move beyond purely functional assessments. Incorporating emotional and hedonic evaluation methods will lead to more engaging, desirable, and ultimately successful products.
What This Means for Your Design
Smart clothes are cool, but we often forget to ask if people *like* using them and how they *feel* when they wear them, not just if they work correctly.
How to use in your project
- 1.Use this research to justify the inclusion of emotional and hedonic evaluation methods in your own design project's user testing phase.
Add to My Project
Quick Cite
Paragraph starter
This research highlights a critical gap in smart textile design: the underemphasis on emotional and hedonic user experience evaluation. While functional aspects are well-documented, understanding the user's affective response is often relegated to future work. For my design project, this underscores the importance of incorporating qualitative methods such as emotional response questionnaires and user diaries to capture the full spectrum of user experience, ensuring the final product is not only functional but also desirable and engaging.
Source
Technologies
Smart Textile Design: A Systematic Review of Materials and Technologies for Textile Interaction and User Experience Evaluation Methods
journal · 2025
View sourceQuestions About This Research
- What does the research say about smart textiles: prioritizing emotional user experience in design evaluation?
- When designing smart textiles, ensure your evaluation methods capture not just how well the product functions, but also how it makes the user feel. Evidence: Technologies (2025).
- Why does "Smart Textiles: Prioritizing Emotional User Experience in Design Evaluation" matter for design?
- For smart textiles to achieve widespread adoption and create truly meaningful interactions, designers must move beyond purely functional assessments. Incorporating emotional and hedonic evaluation methods will lead to more engaging, desirable, and ultimately successful products.
- How can designers apply this research?
- When designing smart textiles, ensure your evaluation methods capture not just how well the product functions, but also how it makes the user feel.
- What were the main findings?
- Prevalent use of electronic components and conductive materials for sensing, actuation, communication, and processing.. User experience evaluation primarily focuses on pragmatic aspects, with hedonic dimensions often considered future work.. A need exists for more research into evaluating users' emotional experiences with smart textiles.
- What research method was used?
- Systematic Literature Review with 56 full papers.
- How strong is the evidence?
- Evidence strength is rated Moderate effect, based on a 2025 journal from Technologies.
- What should I do differently in my next project?
- When developing smart textile products, employ a mixed-methods approach to user testing that includes surveys, interviews, and observational techniques specifically designed to capture emotional responses and subjective satisfaction.
- What are the limitations?
- The review focused on published experimental research, potentially excluding innovative approaches not yet documented or published in academic journals. The timeframe of the review might miss emerging trends.