Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things is yet another book churned out by Don Norman in his ongoing effort to understand the world. This book was published between his Design of Everyday Things and Design of Future things. To sum the book up very briefly, Norman essentially says, "hey, remember my other book? Well, I guess I was wrong, buy this book to and I will tell you why." His Design of Future Things book ties everything together and basically states, "Alright, I have learned from my mistakes, but really buy this book because the future is closer than you think."
OK, enough banter, lets talk emotions. According to this book, people will buy something they like to look at even if it doesn't function well. This is true for most things. "You bought a juicer that doesn't make juice?" "Yeah, but it looks awesome in my breezeway." Norman states that people are attracted to these kind of objects because of an unconscious desire and emotional connection to them. To those who do not understand this phenomenon, just look around you. It is not very easy to design something that is both attractive and functional. Generally, there is a trade-off between the two. For the most part though, attractiveness wins.
Need proof? Walk into a Mac store. I am not anti-Mac or pro-Microsoft (I use Linux) but its the image that Mac has created that people are attracted to. Macs and PCs both have shortcomings and I understand that, but even if its a terrible product, people will still buy it just because its a Mac. Example: the first iPhone. It didn't quite do anything really well, except it looked cool. Just because of that, people flocked to it and bought it up. There are lots of other phones out there that function just as well or better, but why buy something only because it looks cool? I think this can be related to the scene of a little kid looking into a shop window and going "OOO, shiny!" He doesn't know what it does but only that he wants it because it's shiny.
Overall, I thought this was one of Don Norman's better books. The ideas and concepts presented made a lot more sense and was broken down better. After reading a few of his books though, at this point I believe he is simply just writing for the sake of making books and is trying really hard to come up with good ideas.
I also buy products just because they are shiny. No matter the cost.
ReplyDeleteI agree that apple is a perfect example of the concepts in this book. That is part of the reason I am anti mac. I resent the fact that their main appeal is emotional which comes at the cost of compatibility with my favorite programs, and increased cost.
ReplyDeleteI really disagree with your insight that people will buy anything Mac, and I especially disagree with the iPhone bit. When it came out, iPhone was the phone of the future - period.
ReplyDeleteAll devices have shortcomings, but the iPhone was a sign of what was to come with regard to mobile devices. It was also (seemingly) the first consumer-targeted (as opposed to business-targeted) device to actually (gasp) design for the user. To say that it hasn't had a significant impact on the industry is just incorrect.