Emotional Design

Reference Information:

Title: Emotional Design

Author: Donald Norman 

Publisher: Basic Books (2005)

 

Summary: In Norman's second book, he does an about face from his pervious 1988 novel, The Psychology of Everyday Things. While he doesn't completely discount his earlier works, he acknowledges that a item designed purely from a functional point is at a disadvantage to something designed with substance and style. If a product's design makes a person happy, then can overlook it's functional deficiencies.

Norman discusses three main aspects of design in his novel. Visceral, Behavioral, and Reflective design. Visceral design focuses on the physical features, behavioral on the functional, and reflective focuses on the meaning behind the products, and their cultural influence. Norman also discusses the effects memories play in our interaction with everyday items.

Discussion: It's interesting to see Norman take such a drastic turn from his earlier novel. His points mostly remained valid from the earlier novel, but his new points about emotional design also make sense. I'm glad we only have to read the first three chapters of this book, Normand unfortunately has a habit of repeating himself, and even in the first portion of the book he began to drive the same points home.