When the Industrial Revolution began, we became good at mass production. However, we are no longer attached to the products we make. As our “alienation” from our products increases, the "joy" we experience from creating them is also taken away. The journey of seeking the craftsmanship of a Baker, Weber, or Shumaker no longer exists because the makers have become detached from their creation. We are alienated from the joy of creating things.

The act of joy is important. Even though the craftsperson has lost the custody of their artifacts, joy remains important.

If the User Experience (UX) can help alleviate the alienated relationship between the user and the product, then my purpose is to focus on resolving this alienation. Convenience and joy are similar but not synonymous. UX research seeks to tackle the “context” (the user’s particular history or circumstances or personas) in which a product is used, but I also want to seek to tackle the core problem of “alienation” between individuals and product outcomes.

I created a brand called Ryool (http://ryool.com) to provide a close understanding of one’s “Han (恨, bitter, helpless suffering)”. Han can only be resolved through a contextual understanding of personas. A vague or overarching Plato is gone now, but the particularity of Artistotle is alive. Satre would say that since the seeking of “essence” is too vague, we should realize that the focus of “existence” can liberate. All individuals, their personas and identities, are thriving and alive in UX projects. The workers can feel the joy in Ryool’s UX strategy and the users can feel the joy in Ryool’s UX design. Joy is now possible through UX if we tackle “alienation” and “han”.

Ryool (栗) means chestnut in Korean. Also, it was my grandfather’s nickname. My grandfather, who was a social activist in 1940s to 1980s, named his only nickname Ryool to me among many other grand kids. The word implied fullness and wholesomeness in his imagination, and this brand wholly inherits his spirit.