Don Norman - Emotional Design

Don Norman's talk on emotional design was very interesting and engaging. This talk has made me realise the importance of the aesthetics of a design and how it can trigger different emotions. He talks about the beauty of design and how that can affect a person’s emotion by making them happy, and also how aesthetics can attract a consumer rather than the function, but both should be taken into consideration.

There are three levels of emotion mentioned in the talk, which all can determine the way we perceive a design. These levels are visceral, behavioural and reflective. The first level is visceral. The visceral level of processing is subconscious because we are unaware of it. We have co-adapted through biology to like and dislike certain things. These likes and dislikes are already built into our brain and is the first thing we consider when looking at a design to determine whether we like it or not. A great example that Don Norman uses is the water bottle. We don’t buy it because of the water but we buy it because of the bottle, which we most likely would keep to reuse or for decoration.

The next level of processing is behavioural, which is where we get most of our work done. Just like visceral, the behavioural level is also subconscious. The behavioural level of processing is all about feeling in control, which includes usability, understanding, but also the feel. As a consumer, we need to feel in control of the product and when we are in control of a product we can convey our emotions and what we feel.

An example of behavioural processing that Don Norman uses is Global Knives. Global Knives are so nicely balanced, very sharp and also aesthetically pleasing. When you use the knife you really feel in control of the cutting. Another great example is the tea pot. The user of the tea pot is in complete control of it and every stage the user puts it through show an emotion the user is trying to convey.

The third level of processing is reflective, which is that little part of the brain that looks over what we’re doing but has no control over what we do. It’s the voice that says if something is bad or good. An example of this could be an expensive watch. We might buy an expensive watch to impress people. However the watch could be bad at keeping time and probably won’t last long. 

Don Norman’s talk really made me realise the importance of the beauty of design. Aesthetics just doesn’t make the product look gook but it can also trigger many emotions and can tell the people around us how we feel. I also learnt that when designing something we shouldn’t just consider the aesthetics over function or the function over aesthetics, but we should balance the two, so it can cater to the people that buy it for the beauty or the people that buy it for the functionality.