Book Reading #27 - Emotional Design

 Book Author: Donald Norman

Chapter 2: The Multiple Faces of Emotion and Design

Summary
In this second chapter, Norman talks about different levels of viewing a design:

• visceral design is about the initial impact of a product, about its appearance, touch and feel.
• the behavioural level is about use, about experience with a product. As expected if a system is easy to use and effective, the outcome of this experience determines our positive attitude towards it.
• reflective level:  where consciousness and the highest levels of feeling, emotions and cognition reside. here is where the interaction between product and user is important and the most vulnerable to variability.

Defining the interaction between the three levels is complex. Norman maps the levels as follows.

 visceral design-> appearance
behavioral design-> the pleasure and effectiveness of use
reflective design-> self-image, personal satisfaction, memories

He then gives the example of video games and proposes remaking the video game to cater to wider audiences rather than young males. This would increase the audience. He proposes changes such as making the controllers look more feminine, easy to use, and with more useful content. He also thinks the video game could be used in a kitchen as a cooking aid, or in the living room as a reference manual, or for students as a source of simulation, experiments, and useful information.
He then talks about how objects evoke memories, like pictures or souvenirs, and then talks about the feelings of self. Feeling of self is culturally specific and hence difficult to consider in a design. He finally talks abou the personality of products, and the importance of corporations in giving customers a sense of involvement, importance.

Discussion

I though Normans's analysis was interesting and I liked the part where he discussed souvenirs and photographs that aid us in remembering events. I have travelled a lot and don't remember all my trips but images definitely aid me in remembering the event. The idea of incorporating sound into photographs is also an interesting concept.