Emotional Design Part II Ch 3 & 4

Instead of writing an outline similar to what I did for the first part of the book, I’m going to mention the key points that I liked about this book. That way it’s less of a note taking experience and more of a review like experience. So far it’s been a fun read.

Part II – Design in Practice

Chapters 3 and 4

Here is an image of a tea strainer from the book. It was made by Alessi, and it’s called Stefano Pirovano’s Te ò tea strainer. It’s cute and pleasurable, but is it fun to use? Scroll down to see it in action and you decide if that looks fun or not.

Key points:

• There are two kinds of product development: enhancement and innovation.

  Before innovations, who would have thought we needed them? Who would have thought we needed cup holders in cars or that not having them in German cars would hurt German car sales? Unarticulated needs are hard to spot, but once an issue has been pointed out, users will see this need.

• Good designers worry about the physical feel of their products. The touch and feel of an object can make a huge difference in whether or not the object is appreciated. This reminds me, the couch in our apartment has hard leather and is not soft to sit on, so I normally don’t sit on it.

• Reflective design is all about message, culture, and meaning of a product or its use.

• Fashion – the solution is a play on emotions, selling the customer the idea that the proposed item will precisely serve your needs.

• When it comes to viewing objects or scenery, the freshness of the attractiveness may lie in how one views it. For instance, one must be able to take the time to study, analyze and view freshly the object or scene, or the freshness of the view may become dull.

• Even sound can be designed, such as alerts and notifiers can have more pleasant sounds than the usual beeping or shrill pitched sounds that are piercing to the ears.

• Games today make greater sales than movies, since you have more control over the story line, and there is more interaction between the “viewer/player” and the game, than in a movie. There are your actions and the author’s plot interacting with one another to determine the outcome of the game. When watching a movie you’re stuck in a one way plot.

Quotes I enjoyed:

“Attractiveness is a visceral-level phenomenon-the response is entirely to the surface look of an object. Beauty comes from the reflective level. Beauty looks below the surface. Beauty comes from conscious reflection and experience. It is influenced by knowledge, learning, and culture. The objects that are unattractive on the surface can give pleasure. Discordant music, for example, can be beautiful. Ugly art can be bautiful.”

“In the world of fashion…the solution through confusion is a pure play on emotions, selling you, the customer, the idea that the proposed item will precisely serve your needs and, more important, advertise to the rest of the world what a superior, tasteful, “with it” person you are. And, if you believe it, it will probably come to pass, for strong emotional attachment provides the mechanism for self-fulfilling prophecy.”

“If you want a successful product, test and revise. If you want a great product, one that can change the world, let it be driven by someone with a clear vision.”

“Eyelids allow us to shut out light; alas, we have no earlids.”

Well, here’s the tea strainer in use:

This shows how sometimes we may find it fun to use something, and not just to use something for its functionality. That makes purchasing and using the item more desirable. This tea strainer is pretty pricey, at $35.99 on Amazon, but I would imagine people buy it not only for the functionality (behavioral), but the emotional such as happy (visceral) aspect, and the satisfaction (reflective) aspect as well. Another example would be Google and the extending ooooo’s in Gooooogle search results. If you have fun examples, please feel free to share.

Here’s an example of a kettle that strives to produce a more pleasing sound to the ears, though I still think it’s not that pleasant to hear. It’s better than how it would sound without the two whistles though.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVcUO87yA6M]

I remember my aunt had a kettle that played Fur Elise when it was ready. I couldn’t find one online though. Chapters 5 and 6 are up next.