Phygital Transformation: Adding Physical Devices to Digital Products to Improve the User Experience

Abstract

I see bright rectangles everywhere. Or, as Professor Hiroshi Ishii from the Tangible Media Group at the MIT Media Lab describes it, the “Pixel Empire.” Over the two decades, digital screens have taken the front stage in our lives, especially after the advent of the smartphone. While this has enabled incredible experiences that would not have been possible without the digital realm, we have lost tangibility in the process and the myriad of affordances that physical objects can provide and, with it, the richness of human interaction with the physical world. This thesis explores the concept of Phygital Transformation, the process of adding a physical device component to an existing digital product to improve the user experience by bringing back some of the advantages of the physical world to the digital world. It covers case studies of products currently in the market ranging from the fintech world to fitness and healthcare where Phygital Transformation has taken place successfully and analyzes the factors for their success in improving the user experience. It explores the benefits to the user and the business from a phygital user experience. Finally, it offers a framework for other digital products to evaluate their digital-only experience, build phygital concepts, and follow a systematic interdisciplinary process to add physical devices to their digital products where they can map the user experience benefits with the business value gain.