Don Norman Video > Emotional Design

In Don Norman’s video, ‘Emotional Design’, he talks about how designs can affect how consumers feel emotionally, a product with a visually pleasing design but minimal functionality could sometimes bring a consumer more satisfaction and pleasure than an ugly product that does the same job but with maximum functionality. An example of this that Don Norman talked about was the juicer by Philippe Starck; the design is visually pleasing and brings consumers satisfaction functioning more as an artwork rather than a juicer, Don Norman also mentioned that he doesn’t use his Philippe Starck juicer because the citric acid of the fruits will corrode the gold plating of the juicer. However, having said that, it is not necessarily true that designs that have great functionality are ugly, Don Norman shows us an example of this using the Global Cutting Knife made in Japan, he says that it is well balanced, beautiful and visually pleasing, the grip brings pleasure to the consumer when held, and also that the blade is so sharp that it is a delight to use.

Don Norman also talked about how our emotions and feelings affect the way our brain functions and how we perceive different things, for example, fear and anxiety he says causes our minds to focus and not get distracted in what we’re doing. Whilst happiness allows the mind to ‘think outside of the box’, being more susceptible to distractions and a broader range of ideas.

Another topic that Don Norman talks about is the three levels of processing that he believes consumers have when encountering designs. The first level is the visceral level, which is a sub-conscious thinking obtained more through personal intuition rather than from reasoning or observation. The second level is the behavioral level which is about feeling in control of what is happening and how easy something is to use. The third level is the reflective level, which Don Norman says metaphorically, is like the little voice in your head that has no control over any part of the body or any connection to the body’s senses, but in a way is able to manipulate what the body does, for example, if the body and senses are anxious to do something, the ‘little voice’ tells the mind that “it’s alright, it’s safe”.

I recommend this video to other designers because it gives us, as designers more ways of thinking and things to think about.