United States cognitive psychologist Donald Norman proposed that "emotional design" can actually be understood as design with feelings, which is a concept of design psychology.
Norman expounded the important position and role of emotion in design from the three levels of instinct - behavior - reflection in design. According to Norman, "Incorporating emotion into product design will solve the long-standing problem of designers, which is the main contradiction between the practicality and the visual nature of the product." ”
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Emotional design examples
According to some special festivals and commemorations, Google replaces the logo on the homepage with personalized and subjective illustrations, so that the unchanged logo becomes colorful and humanized.
As the mascot of Kumamoto Prefecture in Japan, Kumamon has become a popular cartoon image in Asia, and designers have installed an identity and personality for a cartoon image, and this image is no longer just a mascot, but has become real and credible, with a sense of intimacy.
Emotional design is based on the functionality and ease of use of the product, after the pursuit of a higher level of goals. Only after we understand the logic of the product and fully understand the analysis can we make an emotional design that does not affect the function of the product.
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3 steps to start designing an emotional design
Deliver emotional flow to users
Flow, or immersive experience. E Sherman's "Flow: the psychology of optimal experience" mentions immersion, which is the feeling of pleasure and satisfaction in the context of the current goal (created by the designer), empathizing with and forgetting the real-world situation.
The most common way to experience an immersive experience is to tell a story to the user. Stories are a way to process information, and certain actions and information are delivered to users through the method of stories, so that users can have the same emotional resonance, and then be attracted and more impressed by it.
Create a friendly image
Excellent products are not cold and emotionless, it seems to be a living life, with personality, and people are more willing to make friends with emotional and warm lives.
When designing the emotional design of the product, we should start from the product characteristics and the user itself, and what is the relationship between the two is a question that we need to explore in depth. This kind of emotional design is a manifestation of the product's characteristics, which needs to match its "personality, temperament, and tone".
To create a friendly image for users, it is not only about how beautiful the icon is, how popular the interface style is, and how beautiful the color scheme is. Rather, the message and temperament conveyed through the emotional elements are consistent with the overall visual design and distinguish from the competition. Think about what you want to convey in emotional design, what is the position, emphasis, temperament and image of the product. Simply put, it's how you want users to perceive your product.
Be a friend who understands your users
Starting from the details of the product, careful observation and empathy to meet the needs and preferences of various users. Bring them a pleasant experience, help them solve problems, help them improve efficiency, and even help them understand everything about them, and become their most reliable partner.
Hidden details are the place to create surprises and reflect the compulsion of product design. Micro-interaction and animation design at certain points of the product can bring a high sense of pleasure to the user.
Emotional details are designed to create an interesting moment, and can attract the user's attention to the right place, so that the user can unconsciously develop the habit of using the product, and can also cultivate user stickiness. After trying it, users will feel "Oops, yes" for this interaction.
The design details are not simply from the perspective of UI to say whether it looks good or not, but from the analysis of whether it can be integrated into the big visual system to help shape the character and positioning of the product.
The details of the product are integrated into the emotion, first, it gives the product itself tonality and interest; The second is to fully reflect the positioning and characteristics of the product.