Don Norman: Emotional Design
Don Norman talk is very interesting for the Industrial Designer as we are forever debating the issue of form vs function however in the film don norman really blends these things together saying that "pleasant things work better". He uses a great analogy about a plank of timber, saying that when its on the ground sure he can walk, jump, skip whatever on it, however if we moved this timber so that it was well off the ground he wouldn't use it; this concept is very interesting because it really defines the significance of our emotions in design. Looking back on the plank of wood analogy we realise that the timber still looks the same and still fufills its function but yet due to our emotions we dont use it. This really puts a whole new debate on the table, throwing out the concept of form vs function and saying that its all about emotion.
He talks about 3 types of emotions; visceral, behavioural, and reflective. The visceral emotion is all about feeling satisfied with the appearance of something to the point where the significance of the product itself is lost. The behavioural aspect of emotion he says is a little sub-concious but looks at the useability, feel, sensual, heft and the amount of control we have. The reflective emotion assess the impact of the product on the user, analysing how it has changed them (e.g. self image) or the world around them (e.g. sustainability).
Two key aspects i picked up from this film was how Don Norman defined emotion as "interpretting the world" and the info about how the brain works better when we eat sweets!
No comments:
Post a Comment