Emotional design

Emotional design


The video of emotional design is impressive.

Firstly, different emotion can cause people behave in different way. Like anxiety results in focus while happy leads to positive valence and creative. So a good product should be a pleasant thing, which attracts costumers subconsciously.

Then, fun and beautiful are obviously important components in design, sometimes people buy a product not because it is function, just because it is beautiful and funny. Just like the ping-pong table of MIT or the Philippe starck juicer. Even thought they cannot actually being used, people still wants to possess them. That is called the visceral level of processing, just like people fond of colorful flowers or balance face however do not like noise or bitter. A good example of that is Mini cooper, although this car has lots to improve, they still have a large sales volume. Because the inside design is round and neat, and it is just pleasant and wonderful for controlling. So if a product can meet the visceral level of design, people maybe buy it regards of the shortcoming in use.

The next level is behavioral level, which is all about your feeling in control, just like the Global cutting knife, when using it, people just feel confident and the tool is completely under control. So a successful product should guide people how to use it, just like a flat round handle can cause push while a pipe shape handle cause pull. A good product should indicate people use it in right way subconsciously. For example the tea pot, when the tea is ready, it will stand up, then costumer will know ‘ok I can drink it’. So emotion always results in acting.

The finally level is reflective. It is not control us behavior, but it affects the decision we made. Just like people still wants to buy a hemers wallet even thought they know it is not worth that much money. But the sense of show off just overweights the sense of saving. So when a product is reflective, people will buy it regards of the common values. In other words, the product is not only a stuff, but also means something or has a special significance

So a good product firstly should be pleasant which meets most people’s aesthetic standard then it should function well that completely under user’s control. Finally, it is better to have a meaning that makes people wants to possess it although it has some shortcomings.