Objects, apps, websites we use on a daily basis like computers aren’t supposed to be a big pile of function anymore. Humans are curious beings, we like interactions and things that are responsive. This applies to the internet also. People are looking for a way to connect emotionally. As UX is evolving, new methods appear. However, that doesn’t mean they are entirely new. In fact, it goes way back to the core concept of User Experience.

Trust is one of the key factors when you wish to represent your product, service or yourself as a brand. It plays a significant role that determines how others will react to you in the first place.

Ever wondered how can you or your brand appear more user-friendly? More alive and human even if you communicate your messages for example over a webpage?

My goal with this article is to give a peek into the world of emotional design from a UX perspective. Some tips you can use when designing.

So what is emotional design anyway?

The expression might start to form little clouds in your head filled with trending emojis, funny error messages, the little T-rex from Google and so on.

This is partially right but this is just recent stuff. However it has been around for quite awhile now. Recently it started to gain more attention as new technologies evolve.

Donald D. Norman is the man behind the scenes. We can say that he’s the one who popularized the term with his book Emotional Design which apparently was his way of addressing the criticism of The Design of Everyday Things that was published in the late 80s. There he talked about “usable but ugly” products. In Emotional Design the wrote:

“Usable but ugly. That’s a pretty harsh judgment. Alas, the critique is valid. Usable designs are not necessarily enjoyable to use. And, as my three-teapot story indicates, an attractive design is not necessarily the most efficient. But must these attributes be in conflict? Can beauty and brains, pleasure and usability, go hand in hand?” — Donald D. Norman

It turns out that attractive products draw more attention, light up our fantasies. They are simply more interesting and interest is one step towards trust and tolerance. Yes, we tend to be more tolerant towards something that is designed to be catchy and functional at the same time. So when talking about emotional design what you do is actually designing the context itself that triggers certain emotions. In other words, you are designing for emotions.

The Maslow of Design

“A chef in a restaurant wants his food to be more than edible, he wants it to be delicious. As designers, we should want our websites to be more than usable.” — Stephen Anderson

It is basically the pyramid of needs translated into product design and it works like a charm!

Functionality — the foundation of your project, it starts with a great idea that has one single goal at this point. To work and serve a certain need. A good example would be laptops such as ToshibaT1100 back in the day.