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.