ABSTRACT
As digital technology continues to become more and more integrated into our daily lives, the ways in which we use it have grown beyond that of a tool that helps us satisfy short-term objectives (communication, productivity, health, entertainment) to a diverse platform that we increasingly use to enhance our overall well-being. As interaction design allows more natural use of products with less conscious attention to how, our responses become more automatic and less considered. This allows for a greater contribution of the unconscious to our use of the technology, which lends itself to evocation of unconscious contents. This evocation could manifest itself in a range of ways, from insidious manipulation for commercial gain (“Dark UX”) to sincere and open facilitation of users’ desires for connection with something greater than themselves (“Transcendent UX”).
The numbers and breadth of techno-spiritual products are increasing (Buie, 2018), and so is their contribution to transcendent experience. These experiences of connection with something greater and more permanent than oneself can be transformative and can result in increased well-being and other positive outcomes. On the other hand, the compelling nature of such experiences could also motivate a person to seek more of them for their own sake. This seeking could lay the foundation for potential exploitation or a self-driven negative outcome. In this paper we explore a range of types of design for the unconscious, both negative and positive. We discuss some ethical issues and grey areas surrounding this aspect of design. We look at some possibilities for design to exploit the desire for transcendence, as well as at some positive outcomes of transcendent user experiences, including ways in which individuals have taken these experiences and used them to enrich their lives.
