Book Reading #5: Emotional Design

Emotional Design
Donald Norman

Chapter 1:Attractive Things Work Better

In this chapter Norman starts by talking about a few of  the main concepts in emotional design which he labels as: visceral, behavioral, and reflective. He talks about a few examples and how the different kinds of design work together as well as the different cues that give a user positive and negative impressions. He makes a few references to his other two books and ends the chapter quite briefly.

In this chapter I was reminded a lot of Design of Future Things and I felt like I was re-reading one of the chapters that we read for Capstone. I really didn't get much new information out of the chapter because of this but I did think that it was necessary for anyone who has not read his other works. I don't really know what more to say because I think I have talked a lot about the ideas presented in this chapter in my first two blogs on DoFT in my capstone blog.

 Chapter 2: The Multiple Faces of Emotion and Design


In this chapter Norman talks about how there are multiple levels of being able to appreciate a device. He talks about how an old device while having visceral reactions of nostalgia and liking for a device can also bring about reflective feelings of how frustrating it was to use and how much the newer models have improved usability. He actually talks about video games and how they have become another form of entertainment thanks to the multiple levels of design and the emotion that they can bring out in people. Beyond nostalgia they can also being high levels of enjoyment and people can use them as forms of learning and stress relief.


I think aside from being a bit long winded this was one of the more enjoyable chapters that Norman has written in any of his books. Maybe this book was written a bit later or maybe he just uses examples that are more relevant to me instead of harping on the idea of visceral, behavioral, reflective and just talks about products and his views on them and what they represent to society. I actually enjoyed the discussion of how things should be designed with the users enjoyment in mind and not just focusing on the idea of making it overly convenient for the user to use.

Chapter 3: Three Levels of Design

In this chapter Norman focuses on the three levels of design he refereed to over and over in the first two chapters and does an in depth discussion of them. Visceral design which he describes as the look and beauty of something is the first thing people notice. He relates this a little back to the idea that beautiful things work better and the image that very beautiful, extravagant and elegant things give off versus very utilitarian, ordinary designs and how we react to them. Behavioral design which he describes as the idea that we consider items by how they work. Even if an item is advertised if we have no idea how it would work or have not seen others using them then they are intimidating. He uses the example of a shower and talks about how showing its use and enjoyment appeals to this level of the item is easy and fun to use. The last is reflective design which he says is the image the item gives off when used. He claims that people have opinions for why they buy things or choose different items and these are based on the persons internal feelings and the image they want to give off and he refers to these as reflective decisions. He gives examples of clocks, watches and football headsets and the image they give off.

These different ideas are very true but I don't think that a lot of people consider all three levels of these. For me most things that I buy are for their efficiency. If I don't think I will use something even if it is shiny and pretty I would never consider buying one. Again, this is a behavorial decision and I really never consider the visceral means to them. However when buying clothes I have become more reflective wanting things that are compfortable and worrying less abotu style or what I am wearing. I suppose if I could get functional clothing that would be nice but I don't know what it would do other than carry stuff for me or help me if I get lost. Perhaps in a few years we will have clothes that tell us about our bodies and call the police if we injure oursevles but until then I will stick to compfort. Norman is very intelligent and understands prodcuts and people better than I ever will but sometimes his ideas are very hard for me to understand because they involve products I have never and likely will never use.