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Emotional Design
Donald A. Norman
Summary:
In this book, Norman continues his discussion of "proper design." He states in his previous book that products shouldn't be frustrating, confusing, or irritating. Here, he explains that good designs must also be fun, attractive, and pleasurable. Why do we continue to use something that may not necessarily be the easiest to use?
Norman notes that designs appeal to us on three different levels:
- Visceral- the initial impact of a product, about its appearance, touch, and feel
- Behavioral- function (what it can do, what it is meant to do), performance (how well it does those desired functions), and usability (how easy it is to understand how it works and how to get it to perform)
- Reflective- self-image, personal satisfaction, and memories
The author uses the teapots to illustrate the idea of different levels of emotional design. The middle teapot is enjoyable to look at (visceral). Both the teapots in the middle and on the right are easy and fun to use (behavioral). The teapot on the left is referred to as the "teapot for masochists," and it tells a story (reflective). Though a product might not appeal to its user on one level, it might on another. This is why we keep around and continue to use things that aren't necessarily the easiest to use.
Discussion:
In my opinion, this book was pretty boring. It may appeal to some, but I found it difficult to continue reading. He definitely seems to contradict some of the points that he made in his previous book (The Design of Everyday Things). I guess it's alright to make things that don't necessarily work, as long as they look "pretty?" Honestly, I think most of this was common sense. Of course you want your design to be functional, but you're also going to make it look as appealing as possible.
The section on robots was pretty interesting, though. The concept of emotions in robot design was something that I had never given much thought. Norman does a good job of explaining how essential robotic emotions are for them to be useful or function properly/effectively. Unfortunately, programming real emotions into a machine is something that I think we are a long way away from doing.
Ranking:
#1- The Design of Future Things
#2- The Mole People
#3- The Man Who Shocked the World
#5- Emotional Design
#4- The Design of Everyday Things
#6- The Media Equation
#7- Doing Ethnographies
2 comments:
I saw contradictions too. This book took a totally different focus. It seems like it must be a rare thing to totally master the emotional and functional designs of things since they work in two opposite directions.
You say that most of it was common sense, but if you look at how few things seem to get some of the ideas, you have to question how hard it is to actually design with these common sense principles.
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