Including Affective Computing in User Experience Design for Emotion-Aware Systems

Abstract

As digital systems become increasingly integrated into daily life, designing user experiences that go beyond functionality to recognize and adapt to emotional states is gaining importance. Affective computing—an interdisciplinary field that combines computer science, psychology, and cognitive science—enables systems to detect, interpret, and respond to human emotions. This study explores the integration of affective computing into user experience (UX) design to develop emotion-aware systems capable of dynamically adjusting content, interface behavior, and interaction models based on users' affective responses. We examine a range of techniques for emotion recognition, including facial expression analysis, voice modulation, physiological signal monitoring (e.g., heart rate, skin conductance), and machine learning-based sentiment analysis. The research evaluates the usability and responsiveness of emotion-aware interfaces through user-centered experiments across domains such as e-learning, healthcare, and adaptive gaming. Results show that incorporating emotional intelligence into UX design leads to significantly higher user engagement, satisfaction, and task performance. However, challenges remain in ensuring data privacy, ethical use of emotional data, and managing cultural variations in emotional expression. This paper contributes a set of design guidelines and best practices for developing affective-aware interfaces, aiming to bridge the gap between human emotions and machine adaptability for more personalized and empathetic user experiences.