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Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things (2003)

by Donald A. Norman

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1,1421617,348 (3.6)5
"Did you ever wonder why cheap wine tastes better in fancy glasses? Or why washing and polishing your car seems to make it drive better? New research has shown that attractive things really do work better." "In the last decade, the design community has made products easier to use, largely due to Donald Norman's The Design of Everyday Things. But as he demonstrates in this book, we don't just use a product, we become emotionally involved with it. Emotional Design demonstrates for the first time the profound influence of this deceptively simple idea." "Don Norman draws on a wealth of examples and the very latest scientific insights in this exploration of the emotional impacts of objects in our everyday world. His The Design of Everyday Things showed why the products we use should not be confusing, irritating, and frustrating. Emotional Design explains why they must also be attractive, pleasurable, and fun."--BOOK JACKET.… (more)
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Showing 1-5 of 15 (next | show all)
Serious waste of my time. I did love The Design of Everyday Things though, but generally do not like these practical books. They always seem to have a few pages of useful information that are then expanded to fill the book. Emotional Design does not have exactly the same problem. Instead, there is only one line of information, then a lot of small useless stories and ideas. In some ways that is better, but either way is not worth my time.

Here is what you need to know:
There are three levels of design: visceral (objective look), behavioral (touch and performance), and reflective (thoughts or feelings). ( )
  MXMLLN | Jan 12, 2024 |
This book was interesting but disappointing.

The first half was a fascinating addendum to The Design of Everyday Things. This part of the book talked about the role of emotions in design and usability. Things that are more pleasurable to use are easier to use than something with the same basic design that is not a pleasure to use. The psychological basis for this claim is that when people are enjoying what they are using, they can take a more creative view at any problems they encounter during the interaction. Furthermore, when you enjoy using something, you may be more willing to forgive problems. Delightful design cannot rescue an unusable design, but all else being equal, the delightful design will seem easier to use and cause greater attachment.

Another reason that emotion is important in design is that users' relationships to objects are built on more than just the perceived usability and pleasure in using the items. Emotion is important because it taps into higher level human concerns such as image and status.

The second part of the book felt out of place. It discussed robots and why they need to have some equivalent of emotions. The discussion was interesting, but it did not seem to really fit with the description given by the title ("why we love (or hate) everyday things). It felt like the second part of the book was bolted on because the first part was not long enough to be a book on its own. Because it went so contrary to my expectations for the rest of the book, I just could not enjoy it, even though it may have been interesting on its own.

Overall, I would say that the first first of the book should be considered required reading if you have read The Design of Everyday Things. The second half you can take or leave depending on how interested you are in robots. ( )
  eri_kars | Jul 10, 2022 |
quite a bit about future with robots, not really practical guide to design
  ritaer | Jul 23, 2021 |
Psychology, design, robots, Asimov. ( )
  stonecrops | May 18, 2016 |
Norman is perhaps best known for his 1988 book The psychology of everyday things (later republished as The design of everyday things) in which he lays out a cognitive science foundation for understanding usability. Since then, he has been a prolific and much appreciated contributor to the field of HCI. In this book, the aim is to go beyond ease-of-use and fitness-for-purpose based on recent developments in cognitive science on the role of affect and emotion. Norman outlines three levels of human processing in the first chapter: the visceral, the behavioral and the reflective. The main part of the book is then a rather introductory discussion of themes that follow from the new theoretical foundations, including branding, sensuous feel, fun and pleasure, games, storytelling and social communication. The themes are not exactly news to the design world, but the book may serve as a useful introduction to readers with a background in HCI.
  jonas.lowgren | Jun 9, 2011 |
Showing 1-5 of 15 (next | show all)
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"Did you ever wonder why cheap wine tastes better in fancy glasses? Or why washing and polishing your car seems to make it drive better? New research has shown that attractive things really do work better." "In the last decade, the design community has made products easier to use, largely due to Donald Norman's The Design of Everyday Things. But as he demonstrates in this book, we don't just use a product, we become emotionally involved with it. Emotional Design demonstrates for the first time the profound influence of this deceptively simple idea." "Don Norman draws on a wealth of examples and the very latest scientific insights in this exploration of the emotional impacts of objects in our everyday world. His The Design of Everyday Things showed why the products we use should not be confusing, irritating, and frustrating. Emotional Design explains why they must also be attractive, pleasurable, and fun."--BOOK JACKET.

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