Emotional Design Again

1. Select a brief passage from Chapter Three of Emotional Design by Donald Norman and post it on your blog. Explain why you thought it was interesting.

"Whether we wish to admit it or not, all of us worry about the image we present to others-- or, for that matter, about the self-image that we present to ourselves. DO you sometimes avoid a purchase "because it wouldn't be right" or buy something on order to support a cause you prefer? These are reflective decisions. In fact,, even people who claim a complete lack of interest in how the are perceived-- dressing in whatever is easiest or most comfortable, refraining from purchasing new items until the ones they are using completely stop working-- make statements about themselves and the things they care about. These are all properties of reflective processing."

I chose this passage because I found reflective design, and the concept of reflective processing one of the most interesting things that Norman has talked about. Thinking this way makes me see a lot of things in my life and the lives of others that are reflective; trying to project some image of self.

2. Norman uses the terms Visceral Design, Behavioral Design, and Reflective Design. Do these categories seem useful to you? Would other names or phrases make the categories clearer?

I like these names, even though I think that some of them could be a little more clear. Visceral and behavioral design both seem like good names for the attractiveness and functionality. I think that reflective design could be a little vague and I might use a word like projective but I do like to think about as "reflective" because it makes me think of deep thought, which is like reflective design; there are lots of levels to it.

3. How could a designer decide if Visceral Design, Behavioral Design, or Reflective Design is more important for a particular product? Are some types of products more visceral, behavioral, or reflective?

I think that designers probably have a sort of shifting mental scale balancing out the 3 types of emotional design. It depends a lot on the product which one should be favored, but all three have to be present. I am trying to think of products that have only one of these design categories, but I don't think it could be done. Maybe paper could be something with purely behavioral design? "Livestrong" bracelets might be just reflective, because you don't really need one but it says out support a cause. I'm really curious about this. Comments?

Designing the Emotions

What do you feel were the author's key points in this chapter?

In this chapter the author was trying to convey that design goes deeper than just function and aesthetics. He broke it down into 3 categories, visceral, behavioral, and reflective. Visceral is basically just pure, carnal emotions provoked by a product. Behavioral design is much more about practicality and how well the product functions. Reflective is probably the most complex. It is about what a product says about the user. It is about the feelings it evokes. It is about self image. The author describes these 3 in great detail, and shows how they can work together to give us the best consumer experience.

How does this chapter compare the the earlier writing (The Design of Everyday Things) by the same author?

This selection seemed quite similar in style to the early work. Norman makes a statement, then goes on for several pages giving numerous examples of his ideas in the real world. In terms of content I found this chapter quite different from the first one. The first writing was for the most part only about what made designs "good" from a use standpoint. It wasn't about what the designs meant, but what they did and if the did them well. This writing was much deeper. It focused more on what things mean, and how products make us feel.

Give examples, from your own experience, of something that succeeds as visceral design something that succeeds as behavioral design, and a reflective design success. What do you think makes each thing successful?

The thing that I own that is most visceral, is probably my speakers. Do they sound great(do they have behavioral design)? Absolutely! But there are lots of speakers that do that. Mine just look better. Instead of being unattractive black boxes, they are slick transparent works of art. Sure they cost more, but they are worth it to me because they are appealing. I saw them and it wasn't about what they sounded like, but about how fantastic they would look in my room.

In terms of behavioral design the thing I own that best sums it up is my alarm clock. It looks like an alarm clock. It sounds like an alarm clock. It is an alarm clock. It was made to arouse me from my slumber, and it does just that without fail.

Reflective design is a little bit trickier for me to come up with an example with, because for the most part I try to avoid nice, status symbol-y things. I guess some of my clothes would be an ok example. Why do I wear what I do? It's not necessarily because my wardrobe is super practical, because it's not. Now that I think about it, the only reason for wearing the things I wear is because I like the way they look, and what they make people think about me.

More About The Design of Everyday Things

Select a brief passage from Chapter One of The Design of Everyday Things (Donald Norman) and post it on your blog. Explain why you thought it was interesting.

"How do people cope? Part of the answer lines in the way the mind works-- in the psychology of human thought and cognition. Park lies in the designer to make the operation clear, to project a good image of the operation and to take advantage of other things people might be expected to know. Here is where the designer's knowledge of the psychology of people coupled with knowledge of how things work becomes crucial."

I found this quote interesting because the previous statement, what people are coping with, referred to the fact that there are some 30,000 "readily discriminable objects for the adult." That blew my mind a little bit. It is something that we don't usually think about, but even just on the desk in front of me are multiple designs that either I have learned how to use, or are just intuitive to the user.

Norman's book was first published in 1988 and it still influences designers today. Why do you think this book continues to be influential 20 years later?

Norman's book is equally, if not more, relevant today as it was when it was written. In 1988 the technology bubble was still in it's early days and there where so many less features and cool tricks products could do to mess up a design. The paradox of technology is probably worse now than it was then, and we have all kinds of U-Shaped curves. The principles of design, like the people who use them, don't change. Good design is good design no matter when it was made.

Based on this chapter, what factors would you include on a checklist for evaluating design of a product?

The three main factors that I got out of this chapter were the principles of visibility, mapping and feedback. If all three of these are criteria are met, a design should be good. Obviously the product must work. Simplicity is also important.

The Design of Everyday Things

what do you feel were the author's key points in this chapter?

I feel that Donald's main theme of this article is the psychology of design, such as why we feel certain ways about certain designs. He broke this down into 4 major points; affordance, visibility, mapping, and feedback. When one, or in many cases all, of these points aren't there, a product is hard to use and takes a longtime to figure out. When these 4 points are present, we are left with an intuitive, easy to use product.

think of a specific product that you have had difficulty using. how did design contribute to making it difficult to use? does the usability problem arise from one of the principles that norman discusses in this chapter?

There are so many products, now that I think about it with all my mad design knowledge, that are just bad from a usability standpoint. Refrigerators that cant change temperature, telephones that have countless (often unused) features which are impossible to access, doors that you don't know how to open. But I think the product that I have had the most unnecessary trouble with is my car radio. Trying to deal with all the buttons that aren't labeled and afford nothing at all. After 5-1o months of experimenting I was finally able to program the presets. Yay! But the next time I got into my car, they were gone again. I never did figure out how to use that device. I think that in terms of the Norman's principles none of the buttons had visible functions, and none of them afforded any purpose.

how did the designers of the iPod address the principles that norman discusses here?

Reading this chapter, almost everything that Norman said made me think of the iPod. It seems to follow all the rules perfectly. The scroll wheel has a natural relationship between scrolling up and scrolling down. There are 5 buttons to do 5 different features. It has aesthetic value without giving up function. It gives you a visual feedback as to whether or not your command did anything. It has got it all. Steve Jobs and co. must know what they are doing.

The Perfect Thing

What elements of the design process does this article illustrate?

The design process, from start to finish, are illustrated in this article. It starts with the general idea for the product, a digital music player that is portable enough to carry around in your pocket. We are later showed more specific aspects of what goes into the making of a product such as making the product easy to use, making it attractive to the buyer, and making it durable to wear.

What factors would you use to evaluate a "perfect thing"?

For an item to be perfect it primarily has to do what it's supposed to do, and do it better than any other competing product. In addition to functionality, it's very important to me that a product looks cool. All other things being equal the one that looks sweet gets my vote. Equally as important is durablity and whether or not it stands the test of time. Combine all these factors with a small/reasonable pricetag, you got yourself a perfect thing.

Whether you own and iPod or not, you probably have some opinions of this product. What do you feel are its strengths and weaknesses?

I think the iPod's only weakness, at least from Apple's point of view, is that it is a little too awesome. They last so long and almost never break. This makes it so that iPods have to get updated about every year or so, making it so that my iPod, that I spent so much money on is now out dated. I mean did you know that Nano's now have a video recorder? Seriously. I guess what I'm trying to say is I love the iPod and wouldn't change anything.

Cerimonial First Post

To whom ever may happen to read this,

I'm Joe Barth. I've lived in Kalamazoo for the past 11 years about a five minutes walk away from where I am now writing this. I pretty much grew up on and around campus (my father is a prof in the math department), and all throughout high school I told myself I would never come here. It's way to close to home! But for a number of excellent reasons here I am. I'm really looking forward to starting the year, and I'm sure now that K was the right choice.

As far as the class, not sure what to expect but I think that's good. It's why I'm here right?