Extended User Interface: NFC-Enabled Product Packaging for Enhanced User Experience

摘要

User-centered physical-digital systems let designers create interactive interfaces filled with special moments and experiences, giving brand owners the chance to have profound communication with their consumers. In fact, product's packaging has recently begun to investigate as one of such interfaces to form a strong link between manufacturers and their end-users. Microprocessors, sensors, actuators and wireless data-exchange supporting chips can be embedded, into packaging design creating an extended user interface - a touchpoint for a visual, tactile and digital encounter with consumers. Near Field Communication (NFC) is one of the rapidly increasing technologies that researchers begin to investigate as a potential tool for enhanced consumer-brand communication. However, although NFC is available in the market since late 2010, the technology is still not widely applied to the packaging industry. As a result, the main purpose of this research is to investigate the current state-of-the-art and potentials of NFC system. The results of this study provide a systematic review of NFC characteristics, including technological capabilities, consumer- and brand-oriented benefits, and technology-and user-centered potential barriers for NFC to become widely accepted. The findings of this study are expected to contribute to a better understanding of the effectiveness of NFC-enabled packaging, allowing brands to dynamically adapt to emerging consumer needs by improving their products and services.