When I read the title of the first
chapter of Donald Norman’s book Emotional
Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things, I was struck by shock. I
asked myself, “How can someone who wrote The
Design of Everyday Things be talking about pretty things?” It baffled me.
Nonetheless, I read on. This chapter is a stark contrast to the book he wrote
decades earlier. Instead of focusing on the physical layout of an object or
device, Norman is now looking at how attractiveness improved its usability.
Personally, I think this first chapter is a good introduction to Emotional Design. However, I am skeptical
on how Norman can provide techniques or strategies on designing pretty things.
Norman’s anecdote about Israeli scientist Noam Tractinsky, who was
convinced that the Japanese researchers Masaaki Kurosu and Kaori Kashimura’s
results of their pretty ATM study was the result from a cultural disposition of
aesthetics, really started things off on the right foot. I, too, was convinced
that it had to be a random occurrence. However, one cannot dispute the
continued concrete evidence that attractive things are perceivably easier to
use. Norman’s explanation of why this is the case was that when people feel
good, they think more creatively, and therefore can figure out how to use
things more easily. In Design of Everyday
Things, Norman put most of the burden on the designer to make everyday
things easy to use for the everyday user. He focused on aspects like the
conceptual image matching the system image, visibility, good mappings, and good
feedback. He even had a cycle of actions that people go through to find out how
to accomplish a goal and how designers should make that process easier.
Emotional
Design delves into the user-centric world by analyzing how the three
levels of processing—visceral, behavioral, and reflective—affect a user’s
ability to use an item. Once again, in contrast to Design of Everyday Things, the burden comes off of the designer in
a way and puts the burden on the mental state of the user. If the user is
relaxed and happy, then they are more capable to deal with minor problems of a
device. This is enhanced if the device itself is fun or pretty. If the user is
anxious or upset, then they are more focused; they look at the details and
neglect the bigger picture. This is when the principle that Design of Everyday Things comes in. The
design on consoles and devices then must reflect the situation. If the user is
working at a nuclear power plant, there needs to be lights and sounds that create
anxiety. Similarly, there can be light whimsical background music that creates
happiness. The designer now has to take into account not only the technical
aspects of a device; they need to be very aware of the emotional and mental
state of the user. Are they working on instinct (visceral), are they doing contemplative
work (behavioral), or are they thinking philosophically (reflective)? Norman
also warns about going to the extremes, especially in high stress situations,
like a fire, when people are acting instinctively and not logically.
The Norman’s lists of pleasant things and negative or stressful
things to evoke positive or negative feelings, respectively, are interesting.
People have adapted to some of those things, like heights, so that they are not
so affected by them. The things that make us human are the things that make it
so difficult for designers to create products that satisfy everyone. This is
highly contrasted to Design of Everyday
Things because in that book, we did not differentiate between people. We
designed for the generic user with no thought of their personality or
preferences. In Emotional Design, we
are given an extra level of complexity because we have to be able to design for
people in different emotional states and with different traits.
While this first chapter of Emotional
Design seems very psychologically-oriented, it has the same implications as
his earlier work The Design of Everyday
Things. The designers of products and devices need to keep the user in mind
because they are the ones who will be using their products in the end. If the
user is unhappy with it, then the designer has failed. Adding emotional factors
into design seems extremely intimidating for the designer. I hope that Norman
can offer some effective ways to accomplish this in the rest of his book.
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