Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman

Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things Reviews

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  ☘Misericordia☘ ⚡ϟ⚡⛈⚡☁ ❇️❤❣

  Unexpectedly deep Of course the author goes a bit too far with his discussion of teapots and emotions they invoke in the user But uite a lot of it is sheer brilliance distilledI HAVE A COLLECTION OF TEAPOTS One of them is completely unusable—the handle is on the same side as the spout It was invented by the French artist Jacues Carelman who called it a coffeepot a coffeepot for masochists cDesign is important to me but which design I choose depends on the occasion the context and above all my mood These objects are than utilitarian As art they lighten up my day Perhaps important each conveys a personal meaning each has its own story One reflects my past my crusade against unusable objects One reflects my future my campaign for beauty And the third represents a fascinating mixture of the functional and the charming cThe teapots also illustrate three different aspects of design visceral behavioral and reflective Visceral design concerns itself with appearances Here is where the Nanna teapot excels—I so enjoy its appearance especially when filled with the amber hues of tea lit from beneath by the flame of its warming candle Behavioral design has to do with the pleasure and effectiveness of use Here both the tilting teapot and my little metal ball are winners Finally reflective design considers the rationalization and intellectualization of a product cThe objects in our lives are than mere material possessions We take pride in them not necessarily because we are showing off our wealth or status but because of the meanings they bring to our lives A person's most beloved objects may well be inexpensive trinkets frayed furniture or photographs and books often tattered dirty or faded A favorite object is a symbol setting up a positive frame of mind a reminder of pleasant memories or sometimes an expression of one's self And this object always has a story a remembrance and something that that ties us personally to this particular object this particular thing cEmotions are out of place in a polite sophisticated society They are remnants of our animal origins but we humans must learn to rise above them At least that is the perceived wisdomNonsense Emotions are inseparable from and a necessary part of cognition Everything we do everything we think is tinged with emotion much of it subconscious In turn our emotions change the way we think and serve as constant guides to appropriate behavior steering us away from the bad guiding us toward the good cIn the 1980s in writing The Design of Everyday Things I didn't take emotions into account I addressed utility and usability function and form all in a logical dispassionate way—even though I am infuriated by poorly designed objects But now I've changed Why In part because of new scientific advances in our understanding of the brain and of how emotion and cognition are thoroughly intertwined We scientists now understand how important emotion is to everyday life how valuable Sure utility and usability are important but without fun and pleasure joy and excitement and yes anxiety and anger fear and rage our lives would be incompleteAlong with emotions there is one other point as well aesthetics attractiveness and beauty c Can't help thinking he went a bit oberboeard with it allIndeed emotion makes you smart cOne of the ways by which emotions work is through neurochemicals that bathe particular brain centers and modify perception decision making and behavior These neurochemicals change the parameters of thought cThe surprise is that we now have evidence that aesthetically pleasing objects enable you to work better As I shall demonstrate products and systems that make you feel good are easier to deal with and produce harmonious results When you wash and polish your car doesn't it seem to drive better When you bathe and dress up in clean fancy clothes don't you feel better And when you use a wonderful well balanced aesthetically pleasing garden or woodworking tool tennis racket or pair of skis don't you perform better c I am talking here about affect not just emotion A major theme of this book is that much of human behavior is subconscious beneath conscious awareness Consciousness comes late both in evolution and also in the way the brain processes information; many judgments have already been determined before they reach consciousness Both affect and cognition are information processing systems but they have different functions The affective system makes judgments and uickly helps you determine which things in the environment are dangerous or safe good or bad The cognitive system interprets and makes sense of the world Affect is the general term for the judgmental system whether conscious or subconscious Emotion is the conscious experience of affect complete with attribution of its cause and identification of its object The ueasy uneasy feeling you might experience without knowing why is affect Anger at Harry the used car salesman who overcharged you for an unsatisfactory vehicle is emotion You are angry at something—Harry—for a reason Note that cognition and affect influence one another some emotions and affective states are driven by cognition while affect often impacts cognition cAs I've said cognition interprets and understands the world around you while emotions allow you to make uick decisions about it Usually you react emotionally to a situation before you assess it cognitively since survival is important than understanding But sometimes cognition comes first One of the powers of the human mind is its ability to dream to imagine and to plan for the future In this creative soaring of the mind thought and cognition unleash emotion and are in turn changed themselves cThese and related findings suggest the role of aesthetics in product design attractive things make people feel good which in turn makes them think creatively How does that make something easier to use Simple by making it easier for people to find solutions to the problems they encounter With most products if the first thing you try fails to produce the desired result the most natural response is to try again only with effort In today's world of computercontrolled products doing the same operation over again is very unlikely to yield better results The correct response is to look for alternative solutions The tendency to repeat the same operation over again is especially likely for those who are anxious or tense This state of negative affect leads people to focus upon the problematic details and if this strategy fails to provide a solution they get even tense anxious and increase their concentration upon those troublesome details Contrast this behavior with those who are in a positive emotional state but encountering the same problem These people are apt to look around for alternative approaches which is very likely to lead to a satisfying end Afterward the tense and anxious people will complain about the difficulties whereas the relaxed happy ones will probably not even remember them In other words happy people are effective in finding alternative solutions and as a result are tolerant of minor difficulties c With positive affect you are likely to see the forest than the trees to prefer the big picture and not to concentrate upon details On the other hand when you are sad or anxious feeling negative affect you are likely to see the trees before the forest the details before the big picture cThose situations and objects that throughout evolutionary history offer food warmth or protection give rise to positive affect These conditions includewarm comfortably lit placestemperate climatesweet tastes and smellsbright highly saturated huessoothing sounds and simple melodies and rhythmsharmonious music and soundscaressessmiling facesrhythmic beatsattractive peoplesymmetrical objectsrounded smooth objectssensuous feelings sounds and shapes cThe Elvish demonstration points out the relationship between the sounds of a language and the meaning of words At first glance this sounds nonsensical—after all words are arbitrary But and evidence piles up linking sounds to particular general meanings For instance vowels are warm and soft feminine is the term freuently used Harsh sounds are well harsh—just like the word harsh itself and the sh sound in particular Snakes hiss and slither; and note the sibilants the hissing of the s sounds Plosives sounds caused when the air is stopped briefly then released—explosively—are hard metallic; the word masculine is often applied to them The k of mosuito and the p in happy are plosive And yes there is evidence that word choices are not arbitrary a sound symbolism governs the development of a language This is another instance where artists poets in this case have long known the power of sounds to evoke affect and emotions within the readers of—or accurately listeners to—poetry cEmotions moods traits and personality are all aspects of the different ways in which people's minds work especially along the affective emotional domain Emotions change behavior over a relatively short term for they are responsive to the immediate events Emotions last for relatively short periods—minutes or hours Moods are longer lasting measured perhaps in hours or days Traits are very long lasting years or even a lifetime And personality is the particular collection of traits of a person that last a lifetime But all of these are changeable as well We all have multiple personalities emphasizing some traits when with families a different set when with friends We all change our operating parameters to be appropriate for the situation we are in cFlow is a motivating captivating addictive state It can arise from transactions with valued things Household objects say Csikszentmihalyi and Rochberg Halton facilitate flow experiences in two different ways On the one hand by providing a familiar symbolic context they reaffirm the identity of the owner On die other hand objects in the household might provide opportunities for flow directly by engaging the attention of people c
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  Erika RS

  This book was interesting but disappointing The first half was a fascinating addendum to The Design of Everyday Things This part of the book talked about the role of emotions in design and usability Things that are pleasurable to use are easier to use than something with the same basic design that is not a pleasure to use The psychological basis for this claim is that when people are enjoying what they are using they can take a creative view at any problems they encounter during the interaction Further when you enjoy using something you may be willing to forgive problems Delightful design cannot rescue an unusable design but all else being eual the delightful design will seem easier to use and cause greater attachment Another reason that emotion is important in design is that users' relationships to objects are built on than just the perceived usability and pleasure in using the items Emotion is important because it taps into higher level human concerns such as image and statusThe second part of the book felt out of place It discussed robots and why they need to have some euivalent of emotions The discussion was interesting but it did not seem to really fit with the description given by the title why we love or hate everyday things It felt like the second part of the book was bolted on because the first part was not long enough to be a book on its own Because it went so contrary to my expectations for the rest of the book I just could not enjoy it even though it may have been interesting on its ownOverall I would say that the first first of the book should be considered reuired reading if you have read The Design of Everyday Things The second half you can take or leave depending on how interested you are in robots
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  Gaurab Dutta

  this book will definitely allow some fresh insights to how we see things and make certain choices A good way to evoke the designer in you
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  sleeps9hours

  This is the first book I’ve read on design I like the focus on the importance of emotions The first four chapters were interesting to me then I hit a dead zone and skimmed chapters 5 7 but I enjoyed the epilogue I’m sure I will look at products in a new way after thisAlso I like to find arguments against our crappy school system and ways to improve it so this caught my eyep 205 Robot tutors have great potential for changing the way we teach Today’s model is far too often that of a pedant lecturing at the front of the classroom forcing students to listen to material they have no interest in that appears irrelevant to their daily lives Lectures and textbooks are the easiest way to teach from the point of view of the teacher but the least effective for the learner The most powerful learning takes place when well motivated students get excited by a topic and then struggle with the concepts learning how to apply them to issues they care about Yes struggle learning is an active dynamic process and struggle is a part of it But when students care about something the struggle is enjoyable This is how great teaching has always taken place—not through lecturing but through apprenticeship coaching and mentoring This is how athletes learn This is the essence of the attraction of video games except that in games what students learn is of little practical value These methods are well known in the learning sciences where they are called problem based inuiry learning or constructivist Here is where emotion plays its part Students learn best when motivated when they care They need to be emotionally involved to be drawn to the excitement of the topic This is why examples diagrams and illustrations videos and animated illustrations are so powerful Learning need not be a dull and dreary exercise not even learning about what are normally considered dull and dreary topics every topic can be made exciting every topic excites the emotions of someone so why not excite everyone It is time for lessons to become alive for history to be seen as a human struggle for students to understand and appreciate the structure of art music science and mathematics How can these topics be made exciting By making them relevant to the lives of each individual student This is often most effective by having students put their skills to immediate application Developing exciting emotionally engaging and intellectually effective learning experiences is truly a design challenge worthy of the best talent in the world Robots machines and computers can be of great assistance in instruction by providing the framework for motivated problem based learning Computer learning systems can provide simulated worlds in which students can explore problems in science literature history or the arts Robot teachers can make it easy to search the world’s libraries and knowledge bases Human teachers will no longer have to lecture but instead can spend their time as coaches and mentors helping to teach not only the topic but also how best to learn so that the students will maintain their curiosity through life as well as the ability to teach themselves when necessary Human teachers are still essential but they can play a different much supportive and constructive role than they do today
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  Michael Scott

  I chose to write this review only after reading both Emotional Design and The Design of Everyday Things The wait was worthwhile Emotional Design focuses on the aesthetics of things that is on what makes an object desirable for a human Just like the influential late 1980s book by Norman The Design of Everyday Things this book marks a belief shift from performance and usability to catering to human impulse and cognitive responses In other words Norman argues that we are no longer interested exclusively in performance and function and that emotion plays an important role in what we think about objectsNorman introduces a framework for our response to objects with three layers The visceral layer is where humans react to thrills colors lighting etc; there is little or no thinking involved at this layer For example when the camera angle points upwards to the face of the character we understand as a gut feeling or sensation that the character is a hero At the behavioral layer humans think about the properties of the object and place themselves in the role of usersparticipants This is the layer where humans appreciate the functionality usability and performance of objects At the reflective layer humans take a metaphorical step back and analyze the object and the way they can interact with it For example even a colorless and useless broken object can appeal at this layer to humans who may be attracted by a story that includes the object how the object was broken during a war while in the pocket of a long gone grandparentThe book abounds in excellent writing and ideas for a rather technical mind Here are three things I've noticed at very different levels Norman argues in Chapter 5 that the real power of Instant Messaging isn't the message it's the presence detection Knowing that someone is there I was wondering since the first mention in this book of the word robot about Asimov's Laws of Robotics and thought that Norman is focusing much on the individual objects and not about groups so 1 Was he going to discuss these laws 2 Was he going to discuss the Zeroth Law To my real deep surprise Norman did both and uite excellently so This alone increased the rating I've given this book by a star I was also very interested to read about personalization and customization two issues I'm struggling with in my own designs There's not much about them in this book but there's something For the rest there's too much to discuss in this reviewWhile I enjoyed the book and I liked much of it I was less impressed with its novelty and depth First I am not sure about the novelty of this position For once in computer science and in particular in computer human interaction and computer graphics the importance of aesthetics was understood much earlier perhaps even from the beginning of the 1990s see the focus of the SIGGRAPH conferences of that era The researchers of entertainment especially movies have developed very similar frameworks much earlier; Norman refers to Jon Boorstin's The Hollywood Eye What Makes Movies Work 1990 Second I am sure many must have raised this objection but Norman's view is very much rich country oriented There are billions of people to which Norman's book surely does not yet apply and Norman should have mentioned this Third some of the treatment of the technical aspects such as deadlocks when contending for resources and its potential solutions is truly naiveOverall a very good and modern book on design with an almost exclusive focus on aesthetics Perhaps not as good as The Design of Everyday Things but an excellent companion Rec must read for every designer of user facing products
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  Alex Pricop

  I liked the general idea of the book and Norman has a great way of separating the way design is experienced I felt like he was dragging too long and it seemed like the same ideas were being hammered down through too many examples and the book could have benefited from further editing and a reduced length
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  Danien

  This book expands on Norman's The Design of Everyday Things by exploring how people interact with things when human emotions are taken into account While the previous book focused on usability based on physical human limitations and logical design this book delves into how design can affect both the act of the interaction and the uality of the emotional bond with objects and computer software through that interactionThis is not a How To design book with step by step instructions; it explores the nature of the relationships that people form with objects and it does this by investigating Why and How people form these bonds It provides suggestions on how to nurture the good emotions and how to avoid bad ones in order to improve on the design of a product and ultimately make people feel good about how to use products correctly and productively This is the level at which designers and product developers need to apply their craft at to create the iPod vs a regular personal music playerComing from the game and software development perspective I would highly recommend this book to game designers as a fundamental text and also to tools designers to take content creation tools design to a new level Imagine if people love using your software so much they become attached to it
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  Stephanie H

  I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover but this is a book you can aptly judge The cover depicts a juicer that is mechanical and feminine at the same time It has sharp edges beautifully paired with delicate sensual curves It is supposedly not meant for juicing actual fruit but it is certainly a conversation starterThis book was full of great anecdotes about the random stuff we have that we are attached to for no apparent reason I have a hand mixer in my house that used to be white but has faded to a off yellow due to age It works better than anything else and is a conversation starter because of the now defunct Montgomery Ward logo on the side My collection of books are a testament to my identity and our coffee table books show the world our varied interestsI enjoyed the book in the first half when it was about aspects of design However the later half about AI and robots seemed fade in and out it did not hold my interest as much as I would have liked If they had stuck to the aspects of what makes the Mini or Macbook Pro or titled teapots desirable I would have enjoyed it than a deviation in the later half of the story
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  Tú Pa

  Norman has a beautiful special view of our everyday life If you already read The design of everyday things Emotional design might seem not as good as it until the epilogue part Yes we're all designer as he said We just simply can't negate itWe are all designers We manipulate the environment the better to serve our needs We select what items to own which to have around us We build buy arrange and restructure all this is a form of designWe are all designers—and have to be Professional designers can make things that are attractive and that work well They can create beautiful productsBut they cannot make something personal make something we bond to Nobody can do that for us we must do it for ourselvesWe are all designers—because we must be We live our lives encounter success and failure joy and sadness We structure our own worlds to support ourselves throughout life
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  Shaina

  I just weeded this book out of my bookshelves after four years and moving it across the country and into and out of four separate apartments I took it off the shelf removed the bookmark that had been optimistically marking a uarter of the way through the book and I put the book in my stack of books to be given awayI give up I will never finish this book The writing style is impenetrable and boring which means that even though the premise of the book is fascinating how form affects whether we like or hate an object regardless of its function I couldn't force my way through the prose to engage in the ideasDisappointing