Developed by Microsoft in 2002 by Joey Benedek and Trish Miner, the Microsoft Reaction Card method is used to check the emotional response and desirability of a design or product. This method is commonly used in the field of software design.
The participant is asked to describe a design / product using any number of the following 118 words:
- Accessible
- Advanced
- Annoying
- Appealing
- Approachable
- Attractive
- Boring
- Business-like
- Busy
- Calm
- Clean
- Clear
- Collaborative
- Comfortable
- Compatible
- Compelling
- Complex
- Comprehensive
- Confident
- Confusing
- Connected
- Consistent
- Controllable
- Convenient
- Creative
- Customizable
- Cutting edge
- Dated
- Desirable
- Difficult
- Disconnected
- Disruptive
- Distracting
- Dull
- Easy to use
- Effective
- Efficient
- Effortless
- Empowering
- Energetic
- Engaging
- Entertaining
- Enthusiastic
- Essential
- Exceptional
- Exciting
- Expected
- Familiar
- Fast
- Flexible
- Fragile
- Fresh
- Friendly
- Frustrating
- Fun
- Gets in the way
- Hard to Use
- Helpful
- High quality
- Impersonal
- Impressive
- Incomprehensible
- Inconsistent
- Ineffective
- Innovative
- Inspiring
- Integrated
- Intimidating
- Intuitive
- Inviting
- Irrelevant
- Low Maintenance
- Meaningful
- Motivating
- Not Secure
- Not Valuable
- Novel
- Old
- Optimistic
- Ordinary
- Organized
- Overbearing
- Overwhelming
- Patronizing
- Personal
- Poor quality
- Powerful
- Predictable
- Professional
- Relevant
- Reliable
- Responsive
- Rigid
- Satisfying
- Secure
- Simplistic
- Slow
- Sophisticated
- Stable
- Sterile
- Stimulating
- Straight Forward
- Stressful
- Time-consuming
- Time-Saving
- Too Technical
- Trustworthy
- Unapproachable
- Unattractive
- Uncontrollable
- Unconventional
- Understandable
- Undesirable
- Unpredictable
- Unrefined
- Usable
- Useful
- Valuable
Each word is placed on a separate card. After viewing a design or product the participant is asked to pick out the words they feel are relevant. The moderator would then ask the participant to describe their rationale for their selection.
References
Microsoft Reaction Card Method (Desirability Testing) Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA