Emotional design

Originally published on November 22, 2011

To understand what emotional design means, we must explore what emotion means, not in dictionary terms, but how we ‘feel’ it everyday.

Emotional design elicits a conversation between us and the world. It speaks to one of more of our basic senses—sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste.

When it comes to our experiences with the web it is (currently) limited to sight and sound. Designing experiences for the web attempts to start a conversation with that in mind.

One common mistake that some designers and marketers make is that they focus on the initial introduction of sight and sound, but rarely engage in a conversation with the user. It’s akin to meeting a beautiful, charismatic person, only to have them walk away. People talk and admire movie stars and models but they can never say that they know what’s beyond the surface.

When we design for the web, we must keep in mind that we want to not only tell the user who we are but to let them know that we truly care about them as well. We can’t be pretentions or give an air of superiority, but truly listen and gain their respect and friendship.

As we design enterprise solutions we must not become door-to-door salesmen. We provide ideas and solutions that show that we care enough about their problems in order to help them solve the problems in their lives.

In conclusion, we need to truly listen and care about the user as if they were people.