Donald Norman is an expert in the design human-centered products. The book begins, as the last one did, with a few examples of things that Dr. Norman likes around his house, either for their aesthetic value, sentimental value, or practical value. For example, he has a practical teapot, a teapot that would burn your hand if you attempted to pour hot tea from it called the masochist's teapot, and a teapot that is very pretty but not very practical. He then goes into describing the different aspects of products that exist in our everyday lives cause us to either love them, hate them, or be indifferent to them.
He focused on a experiment to the ATM machine in Japan which "interesting" as opposed to "not interesting". The Japanese reseacher tested on a different ATM machine, the same functions as compared with each other but different is a beautiful layout and condition of the screen. The results shown are also conscious consumers an attractive machine than the machine that is not interesting. Norman explained the decision was "attractive things make people feel good which in turn makes them think more creatively. how does that make something easier to use? Simple, by making it easier for people to find solutions to the problems hire encounter”.
Result from experiment of the ATM machines are benefits that can be given to the user, such as using a machine with calm and relaxed is better than use it with uncomfortable way. In addition, other discovery has made from Norman is closely related to the emotional core of emotional design can play a role in product design. However, designers also need to use concepts such as creative thinking is characterized by positive and negative such as light music and sound to signal a warning beep, designers are taking seriously into this concept in a design in the real world.
Norman explains the psychology behind our love (or hatred) of things by outlining the three levels of brain functioning which is visceral, behavioral, and reflective. The visceral response is our first gut reaction to things which consists of subconscious instinct and primal drive, such as eating or breathing or being aware of your surroundings. For example, most people have a positive visceral reaction to the Mini Cooper. This also explains why many books have attractive covers on the outside to prove as a hook to a potential reader who has many choices. The behavioral aspect of response is the brain’s response to the pleasure and effectiveness of use of a product which determines the way you go about your daily tasks, such as brushing your teeth or tying your shoes. For instance, if a car is easy to drive, it scores high in the behavioral design department. Finally the reflective aspect of our emotions is associated with long-term response memories provoked by a certain object such as photographs and also with another fact is where in depth thinking occurs, and humans are able to contemplate the meanings of things at much higher levels, such as thinking about whether the routine you follow when you drive to work everyday is really the most efficient, or if it could be improved upon. Another term is pride of ownership and brand recognition are key elements of design that cater to our reflective levels of thought.
Design of everyday objects focuses on these three levels of human emotion. Some departments might score higher than the other. A black and white photograph might not score very high in the visceral (or behavioral) department but be way up in the reflective department.
The book meanders from discussion of video games to cellular phones and finally robots as emotional machines. These topics are all indeed tied to “emotional design” but the chapters ramble too much. This is not to say that each subset is not interesting enough in its own right. But Norman fails to bring all of it together cohesively. By the end of the book, the reader comes away with a lot of wonderful information but might wonder if the titular question: “Why we love or hate everyday things” has been answered effectively. As usual with his books, he spends a great deal of time elaborating needlessly over some moderately difficult concepts. He uses a great deal of examples, which is quite helpful, and most of his concepts make a lot of sense and I believe have a lot of real-world value, however he isn't very concise in getting his point across. Basically, the level to which he writes over and over again about the same concept or maybe slightly changed is enough to make a person get bored halfway through the book. While I still think this is a great read for anyone who is going to design software or any kind of products, it could definitely be a lot more plainly-put.
Emotional Design is an informative and enjoyable book but loses its focus often. Nevertheless, readers will enjoy learning the basic principles of object design and then have fun applying these to everyday things around them.
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