Video Reflection: Don Norman's Emotional Design

Don Norman’s lecture is very interesting and allows everyone to understand design in a whole different way. He goes through by explaining that aesthetics of a design is as important as the functional features of a design. He uses the example of the Phillipe Stark juicer, its aesthetic features are beautiful but the actual use of the product isn’t what it’s bought for. 

Don Norman says that he has bought the juicer and has it in his entry way of his house but “doesn’t use it to make juice”.  He also says that he had bought the gold plated special edition and it comes with a little note saying not to use it as a juicer as the “acid would ruin the gold plating”. As an consumer our main interest are in what emotionally and visually pleases us and by having these senses pleased the product seems to work much better for us as it makes us happy.

There are three levels of design he mentions in his talk. The visceral level is subconscious and it’s the feelings we have towards a product. The example he uses is glass water bottles. We don’t buy the water bottle for the water because water is water, but we as consumers buy it for the bottle because we can then use it as decorations of reuse it.

The behavioral level is also subconscious, and this level of design is all about “feeling in control” and includes usability and understanding. For this he uses the example of the global knives as it is so “nicely balanced and sharp and you really feel you’re in control of the cutting”.

The third level is reflective it is the part of the brain that has no control of what you do and doesn’t see the senses, it’s a “little voice in our head” that tells us whether it is good or bad. He uses the example of the hummer and how the owners of it say that they have never had a car that has attracted that much attention. This was all about image for the owners.

What made Don Normans talk interesting was that it was easy to understand and follow because he explain his points by linking products and designs. I believe it is important for industrial designers to see this video as an inspirational and learning experience for them to view design in a whole different light. This video taught that design should very much incorporate beauty, fun and humor.