don norman.

In the following video Don Norman discusses emotional design and the way that it affects a consumer. Emotional design is an issue designer’s face when developing the needs and wants of a consumer. Don Norman quotes that it can be broken up into three different emotions: visceral, behavioural and reflective – and I found this particularly engaging to watch. As he has said, most of our feelings are subconscious and it has made me realise that our subconscious is the agent that spurs our emotions, our actions and our thoughts, and now – design.

The first level of emotional design that Don Norman discusses is visceral imagery, that is: deeper inward feelings evoked through a particular design, rather than the intellectual choice of object. He uses examples such as the choice of font, colour preference, and the basic physic of an article to demonstrate that the subconscious mind plays upon our existing knowledge. This is further explained by his recap of tests that a particular psychologist (Alice Ison) conducted on patients – analysing how fear affects their attitude in a situation. It leads onto how certain designs can also evoke such emotions – and how designers, or any regular patron acts in a situation. Industrial designers should pay particular attention to what we call the “first impression” test, and that is the conclusions of what their subconscious minds jump to at the sight of an object.

Another level of emotion design that Don Norman explains is behavioural, and that is in regards to ones physical actions towards a design. Basically behavioural refers to how the design functions towards its intended market. For example, an object could make someone feel intimidated through its large boxy nature, or it could encourage relaxation, due to its rounded shape. Our minds, through analysis has shown that we are more attracted to certain shapes/textures for reasons due to our childhood, or life experiences and Norman explains this in the video.

The last level of emotional design explored is reflective – and that is the contemplation that consumers have after viewing or buying the object. This is the emotion that causes one to either love and hence keep an object for many years, or have it replaced after its time usage. The video skims over ‘storytelling’, but with each object, there is a story behind it. This is often why people keep things for many years rather than having it as a makeshift replacement until a better design a found. The reflective nature in consumers thus forces them to compare designs until they find one that is most suitable to their tastes and needs.

Overall the video has led me to think about what I’ve bought due to its design appeal rather than its function. The world today has many designs for a single function, and it’s up to us consumers to decide which one fits our uses best. However due to so many designs, we now gravitate towards those which are more visually appealing and that has led to a revolution of designs in the world.