Don Norman - Emotional Design

So I watched this talk given by Don Norman about emotion in design. Now you’re all probably thinking, what the hell is emotion in design? Fair enough, I had no idea either until this white-bearded old man explained it all in a humourous and entertaining manner. But who is Don Norman?

 Don Norman is a founder of the Cognitive Science Society and is an expert in… yep you guessed it (even if you didn’t its quite obvious) Cognitive design. He is widely considered as one of the first designers to incorporate cognitive science (emotional responses) to design.

“Is that a good way to play pingpong? No, But is it fun? Yes!”
“This is a car that has lots of faults, buy it anyway. It’s so much fun”
“That’s my new life, it’s all about fun!”

As you can see, Don likes fun. But what does this have to do with design? You’d think Don explains it all but he goes off in a further tangent about fear. He explains a reaction called ‘Depth first processing’ where we focus more when we’re either in fear, anxiety or even happiness. Ah… So this old man knows what he’s talking about and everything relates! Don then goes ahead and proves to us that with ‘Depth first processing’ we as humans are able to solve problems easier and be more creative.

“It turns out, when you’re anxious you squirt neural transmitters in the brain which focuses you, makes you depth first. And when you’re happy, what we call positive valence, you squirt dopamine into the prefrontal lobes… you’re more susceptible to interruption, you do out of the box thinking”

A quick summary: Being happy, fearful or anxious makes you more creative and focused. It’s as simple as that?

Well that’s what goes on the minds of designers, but not everyone is a designer so what about the consumer?

Don examines the 3 levels of emotion and design:
VisceralIs instinct, and how we instinctually react to certain aesthetic factors including, colour, choice of typography and shapes.
Behavioural
Is the factor of the design that gives the consumer control. User interfaces, controls and general interaction with the design is under behavioural design.
ReflectiveReflective design is about ego and about how the consumer wants to be seen while using, engaging or interacting with the design.

My personal opinon on this talk? Don Norman is an amazing designer and truly a genius in his realm of design. I’ve only just heard about him, watched and listened to his talk for the span of 12 minutes and already am I an avid believer of his work and theories. He presents ideas and theories that not only have I not heard of (in relation to design) but continually expands and inspires my design capabilities. I believe his theories could be applied to anything in life and not only design. When we’re happy, we are more creative and focused. Artists, writers, novelists, musicians whatever the occupation, as long as it involves problem solving and/or creativity, take into account Don Norman’s words.

Not only was his talk amazing, the way he presented it was interesting. He was very enthusiastic and eccentric about his work which was passed on to me, making me as enthusiastic and eccentric about design.

His 3 levels of emotional design is definitely something that I, myself cannot discard or ignore when it comes to future projects. Incoporating Don Norman’s theories, I believe, will improve my work and allow me to have a deeper understanding of design aswell as be able to analyse design in a more in-depth examination. Long story short, I am amazed at how this one man can broaden my mind so much, in a span of 12 minutes.

‘easy.