The term extreme-users refers to users who experience latent unmet needs well ahead of the rest of the population and have the potential to inspire design professionals. Works in the past have observed this potential (as the extreme-users) among the older adult users and users with reduced physical or cognitive abilities for the products, services, or systems (PSSs) that primarily target the mainstream general population users. This work explores the opportunity to advance creativity in mainstream PSSs design by systemic adoption of extreme-user experiences. This thesis empirically tests the underpinnings of extreme-user experiences and simulated extreme-user experiences for design creativity. It also analyses the necessity and impact of a systematic guided approach using extreme-user-inspired design methods that inform designers of the experiences that would enhance the usability of their PSSs design. Finally, the thesis also presents a framework that proposes four stages that one could adopt to design with extreme-user experiences.

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