Don Norman - Emotional Design

Donald A. Norman is a professor of cognitive science at University of California, San Diego and a Professor of Computer Science at Northwestern University. His recent work is based on his belief that designers are now able create products which truly fit people. Thus he says that it is time to move the focus from making things practical as they function well and are understandable to products and services that are enjoyable which give pleasure and are even fun. This concept is the focus of what Don Norman says is Emotional Design, which makes our life more pleasurable.

There has been research done which has proven that people are much more emotionally attached to products which they feel some involvement with. Thus personalised/customised products make a huge difference as to how users interact with the product. Similarly people have a much greater emotional attachment to product which they carry with them all the time for example; mobile phone, wallet or MP3 player. Coincidentally Don Norman identifies that it is much easier to give rules for the design of usable products than for the design of pleasurable products as there are technical specifications which underpin how the object works or functions. Thus there is a large amount of grey area in regard to what makes a design emotional. Thus there are no set guidelines for emotional design. Rather there is a framework to understand the impact that emotions have on design.

Don Norman highlights the point that economic measures are essential for the designer to understand. This is because if a product is unsuccessful, or if it is not economically viable to produce and therefore no company will make it, then it doesn’t matter how well it is designed, as nobody will ever use it and it will be a comercial failure. This being said artists on the other hand can ignore the business side of their work as they are purely interested in the aethetic quality of the design. Hence, a successful product wherther it be desuign from an emotional or technical standpoint must have a sound business model.