Emotional Design

1) In this chapter, Norman again hits on many key points of design. The key points he discusses are the differences between visceral design, behavioral design and reflective design. Norman explains that visceral design is “what nature does.” He explains that the purpose of visceral design is to catch the eye of the consumer. Visceral design also includes the texture, shape and overall feel of the a product. Norman also discusses the concept of behavioral design. He explains that behavioral design is almost the opposite of visceral design in the sense that it is all about performance and not appearance. The final key concept that Norman hits on in this chapter is reflective design. Norman explains that reflective design “is all about message, about culture, and about the meaning of a product or its use. “ Reflective design is very complex and encompasses many things such as self-image and personal remembrances.

2) The two pieces of literature that we have read from Norman differ quite greatly. The first piece of work we read by Norman, The Design of Everyday Things, focused more on what aspects of design will make a product flourish. Emotional Design, the later piece of work we read by Norman focuses more on the reaction of the customer to the product. He discusses visceral design and reflective design, which deal more with the emotions of the consumer and how they feel about and react to the product.

3) a)An example of Visceral Design that I have come across in my life is sunglasses. When aviators first re-entered the scene a few years back, I decided that since they looked so cool, I should immediately go out and purchase a pair. I walked into the store, picked up the first pair of aviator sunglasses I found, decided that I liked them and purchased them. I did not know if this particular pair of sunglasses even screened my eyes from the sun, but they looked awesome so I purchased them. They actually turned out to work great, and I still own them today.

b) The example I used for my experience with visceral design also doubles as my example for my personal encounter with behavioral design. As I mentioned above, I purchased this certain pair of aviator style sunglasses solely because they looked cool. However, the reason I needed sunglasses in the first place was to shield my eyes from the sun. When I walked out of the store, I realized immediately that these were awesome sunglasses not only because they looked spectacular, but they also did a great job of shading my eyes from the sun. If these sunglasses did not do a good job protecting my eyes, I would hardly ever wear them, no matter how cool they looked. The sunglasses looked cool and worked great giving them high ranks in both visceral design and behavioral design.

c) An example of reflective design in my life is when I went furniture shopping with my aunt. I was younger and didn’t understand why, but she always looked for the most expensive, designer type furniture. I saw many similar models of furniture that were much cheaper and looked almost exactly the same. There were also models that were ten times as comfortable as the designer models she bought. This is an example of reflective design because she thought that the type of furniture you bought dictated what type of person you were, or how much wealth you had. I personally don’t agree with this because if the couch is not comfortable, why buy it?