Humans are Emotional — why is our Design Thinking not? 🙎💭✨
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When I was a teenager (you know, around two or three or so years ago) I was reading the second vampire book by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes in which she introduces the book’s much feared vampire hunter like this:
“Dominique, despite her classic beauty, had all the social skills and warmth of an icicle.”
I remember it because it so deeply resonated with me as the weird, introvert goth kid in my class with extremely bad math and social skills.
But that sentence, so brilliant and elegant, fully embodies the flaws of an otherwise much feared and respected character who simply just can’t be bothered with emotions lest they be her very downfall. I mean, she is a vampire hunter after all that’s some pretty serious stuff.
No room for feels and all that.
But once again in my life, or this time in my work in fact, I find this sentence so very relatable.
Allow me to present it with but a few, minor changes:
“Some designs, despite their classic beauty, has all the social skills and warmth of an icicle.”
Or this:
“Some services, despite their classic design, has all the social skills and warmth of an icicle.”
How about this?
“Some chatbots, despite their popularity, has all the social skills and warmth of an icicle.”
You get the point, I’m sure.
Of course these are just claims, but they are, nonetheless, my very point in this article and should you feel intrigued then please, read on.
One step ahead, two steps behind
Usability is having its golden age in User Experience and Interface Design and while that’s extremely great it’s also about damn time. And I’m not talking about the popular buzzword type of User Experience which yields extremely stupid results on a Pixabay search:
Technology will continue to advance and so does the creative field; we’re getting better and better at designing services, digital solutions and interfaces. But it’s hard to keep up; advancement is quickly getting ahead of us so even being one step ahead is still two steps behind.
Like smartphones; just as everyone’s bought the latest one and gotten used to that, out comes the new one and we all need to adjust.
Exactly the same could be happening to the design field, at least so is my theory. Just think about it for a moment:
Now that everyone’s finally on the same page; design needs to be usable, we just might already be facing the next level challenge;
Design needs to be enjoyable.
That very “Experience” is just as important as the “User”.
Once everyone has great usability and UX/UI designers are as much regulars on projects as developers, when this new standard has been set and met; what then?
What will decide the better service?
What will set services apart?
Enter Emotional Design
First off, this is to me as much a journey as it may be to you. I’m not going to parade as an expert in Emotional Design because I’m not. But I am very much convinced it will play a huge part in the very near future of design and I’m positively thrilled to see it slowly pop up here and there.
Because the experience with a design beyond that of it being functional, useful and intuitive might just directly affect the make it or break it for the next generation products or services. Especially now, since tech is only moving closer into our everyday lives and bringing entirely new challenges to the table.
It’s not something which will happen eventually, it’s already here.
You may already have been doing some Emotional Design yourself either knowingly or maybe even unknowingly. Or you may have already seen or experienced it first-hand, perhaps it’s even your very motivation for reading this article.
But we will need to become aware of it at some point. It won’t be enough having a service or a design which scores high points in usability and effectiveness (though of course it’ll be an absolute must, still.)
Personally, I sometimes tend to get too caught up in the problem solving, psychology, systems, usability and the usefulness of a design. As someone who’s not really the most sensitive person of the bunch (and living in probably the least sensitive part of the world) I sometimes forget how big a part of our lives and beings emotions really are.
“If we stop thinking of the interfaces we design as dumb control panels, and think of them as the people our target audience wants to interact with, we can craft emotionally engaging experiences that make a lasting impression.”
–Designing for Emotion by Aarron Walter, A Book Apart
Just take a second to think about it.
Emotions — you have some yourself, I hope.
In every aspect of my life emotions form the very base for my most memorable experiences. That sunset view on a vacation which took my breath away. Or those crazy stomach aches I sometimes get when doing something I really don’t want to be doing at all.
The email from Medium saying I’d become Top Writer in Design when I’d just started out writing. In doing this, Medium entered my life as a hero, my mentor, guiding me on and urging me to continue. You’ve got it, keep going!
Not just as a blogging platform with a nice design.
We’ve nailed Usability as part of our Design Thinking. Finally.
We’ve hyped the term User Experience to the point where it’s become the new standard. But sometimes it feels like we either don’t agree on or entirely grasp its meaning or full potential. Maybe we’re still thinking math problems (statistics and data such as unique downloads or active users.) when we might need to be thinking human?
I’m not arguing in favour of replacing Usability or User Experience design thinking or processes. I’m arguing in favour of making sure we’re continuing to develop them, to enhance and evolve the design process.
What is ‘Emotional Design’ and how do we use it?
Emotional Design is, as the term itself implies; creating designs, services or experiences which aim to inspire an emotional response in the people we hope to captivate as our future followers or customers.
Emotional responses are a big part of human nature, a key player in our subconsciousness; truly, we rely a great deal upon our emotions as guides.
When was the last time you followed your “gut feeling” for example?
The last time you faced a huge, maybe even life-changing decision, was it pure logic which guided you or did you calculate the percentage for possible success? Or did you in fact also listen to your “gut” — that unexplainable feeling of just knowing?
I can highly recommend the book “Designing for Emotion” if you want to dig deeper into the concept, it pretty much explains everything.
Emotional Design could be simply letting the personality of yourself and/or your brand shine through in your products or services. Not commercially but maybe even politically or humanly. Instead of hiding in the hopes not to offend or scare away potential customers, step into character and show the world what you’re / your brand is all about and what’s important to you.
Present day examples of Emotional Design in interfaces
Since reading about it in Aarron Walter’s book, I’m seeing Emotional Design everywhere, my brain is officially in an Emotional Design frequency illusion. The most obvious example I can think of right off the bat, is Facebook with their Memories feature:
The feature is so small and seemingly insignificant but the language is laid-back and personal. Memories reminds you of times past and inspires an emotional reaction. They can make you feel happy, a bit sad or just plain old old. Maybe they even inspire you to take action, create the wish to relive an old memory or go to that place you visited again with your loved one(s)?
The memory feature isn’t seemingly very important and Facebook certainly didn’t have to have it, but it’s there and it’s nice.
Right here on Medium they introduced a rainbow flag logo for pride month, to show they’re the kind of company and people who support LGBT rights — same as with Facebook’s “Pride” reaction.
Now, supporting LGBT rights might not fit everyone’s taste and the reality is, some people might even get so offended by it they decide to boycot the brand entirely. I’m sure you can think of a number of negative comments you’ve seen on a company’s Facebook page as a result of them expressing support for a movement such as LGBT, right?
When taking a stand especially in a political matter, there’s a chance some people won’t like you and your brand. And really, that’s just as normal as you not liking every single person you meet in your life.
We don’t have to appeal to every single possible customer out there just like we don’t have to be best friends with every person we meet.
Would you even want people who condemn something you personally care for and support as a designer, brand or company as your core, loyal customers? Are not the loyal customers who love you for expressing your personality as a brand so much more worth your time and energy?
Is there not also value in becoming popular with a smaller group of people apart from being barely noticeable to a large one?
When just being honest and showing personality, people might not only like your product or brand, but end up loving it. They’ll be relating to it — to you — on a personal level and become loyal followers or customers. It’s those experiences which makes them talk about you or your product with other people and they’ll remember it as well.
And today in our digital age where everyones desperately trying to filter out content because they’re being bombarded with it, that’s a pretty incredible accomplishment.
It’s important to say Emotional Design stretches out beyond the actual design itself.
Forget about colours and typography for a moment; it could be as simple as setting a mood with a personal video or story in your next newsletter. Or it could be having a “Bad-Dad-Jokes” Chat Robot for all the mommies-to-be who are searching for baby clothes, diapers and toys (which I’m sure is neither the least stressfull nor the most fun thing to do, really.)
That “extra something more” is currently missing like Aarron Walter explains in his book as an example inspired by Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs”:
“We could certainly live contented lives meeting only the bottom three strata of the needs pyramid — physiological comfort, safety, and belonging. But it’s in that top layer that we can live a truly fulfilled life.
Interface design is design for humans. What if we translated Maslow’s model of human needs into the needs of our users? It might look something like this (fig 1.3)” — Designing for Emotion by Aarron Walter, A Book Apart
To me it’s a bit more connected than separate tiers. To me, you can’t design User Experience without also working with Emotional Design, just like you can’t work with User Experience or Usability without working with actual people — empathically.
Working with actual people means working with their experiences and emotions, as natural a part of human existence as our human errors.
Emotions create memorable and lasting impressions
I once bought a few jewellery pieces from a woman in the UK through the popular DIY/artist marketplace, Etsy. When I received it, it was neatly tucked into this very cute little purple, transparent bag with golden sparkles on it along with a handwritten note thanking me for the purchase.
I remember it down to the last detail because I’d never expected anything like it, I was just buying stuff online. It was my first encounter with Emotional Design and I couldn’t get it out of my head.
A gesture as small and seemingly insignificant meant something to me, personally. It made me feel special and appreciated. I connected with a fellow designer across the globe and she left a lasting impression strong enough to make me mention her today. Internet high five!✋
Emotions are a powerful memory tool for our brains. They also play a big role in how we shape our world views and opinions about products, services and especially people. We’re simply hard-wired to rely on our instincts and experiences as well as our emotions.
To feel is to be human, and we’ll have to remember to stay human like never before in the very near future.
Robots are creepy…
Maybe you’ve already heard about or seen the Boston Dynamics robots which everyone loves to refer to as our favourite robot “nightmares” and with good reason, too. The biggest design challenge with actual robots is probably in how they look and act.
As incredible as these robots are there are a few major design problems with them. These robots probably turn on all our instinctual alarm clocks, resembling too much a big animal who wants to chase and devour us.
Even the Spot Mini model, which is considerably smaller than any other of the robots only succeeds in reminding you more of a creepy animated dinosaur skeleton than of a cute little Fido happily wagging his tail.
The fear of the unknown as well as anything which could be a potential threat to our lives, such as a predator, is a deep and natural instinct in us as humans. And as tech is digging deeper into our everyday lives and our homes, the generation who isn’t born and bred with it will become more and more uneasy towards it. Technology is advancing so fast we’ll have two or three generations who’re not sure what to do with it or how to react to it.
Robots are creepy…But they don’t have to be.
And then at there’s WALL-E which is actually a very good example of Emotional Design in a robot / an AI.
In stark contrast to the Spot Mini which positively looks like something out of a nightmare, everyone seems to love the little robot WALL-E in Pixar’s movie from 2008. Determined and energetic (in direct sunlight, at least) he cleans up our desolated earth.
So why do we like him so much? He is just a robot after all, and when you think about it, the movie is kind of creepy in general…
We like him because he has a lot of personality. He has thoughts, hopes and dreams we all can relate to as individuals.
I was crying both my eyes out when it seemed like he’d lost it all at one point (trying not to spoil too much in case you haven’t seen it). What’s more is, he doesn’t try to “act” like human although he is designed with human features (two eyes, arms and legs) to makes us subconsciously like him better because we’re neurologically wired like that.
He’s funny and clumsy but also stubborn and heroic almost to the point of stupidity. Most of us might see just a tiny bit of ourselves in him. And as the movie plot unfolds and we learn he is, in fact, falling in love which is one of the most basic humans desires; the wish to love and be loved in return. Very clever, Pixar. Very clever indeed.
And don’t even get me started on EVE… Pleasantly round corners and an almost child or baby-like resemblance.
And she giggles.
Without their personalities they’re just robots.
Without the personality, the WALL-E no longer the WALL-E. Also he’s small, clumsy, not overly intelligent and thus not very threatening.
Safe to say, the movie has had great success despite featuring robots:
“It was an instant blockbuster, grossing $533.3 million worldwide over a $180 million budget, receiving overwhelming acclaim from critics, and winning the 2008 Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film, the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Long Form Dramatic Presentation,[4] the final Nebula Award for Best Script,[5] the Saturn Award for Best Animated Filmand the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature with five nominations. The film also topped Time’s list of the “Best Movies of the Decade”.[6]”— From Wikipedia
Humans and humanity is something we’re experts at, it’s something we understand in the oldest and most primitive part of our brain. It’s like a spider sense. We can understand and read emotions in others, just think about the times you’ve asked someone “What’s wrong?”
Most people with a regular vision can identify a person’s gender ~50 meters away. Our brains are wired to read humans, we even imbue our pets with personalities and we enjoy an unexpected personality when we find it.
Just like we’re able to recognise the human shape, even when obscured.
Personality and the sense of self and others, is a big part of our lives as humans and so of course they’re also a big part of Emotional Design.
Not branding but personality.
It has to be genuine, or we’ll see right through it just like we mostly do with people who pretend or lie (that spider-sense again). It’s not a sales or marketing tool, most people today are trained in seeing through those.
So it’s important to say Emotional Design needs to honest and real — like the simple gesture of a handwritten, heart-felt thank you note from an aspiring jewellery artist. If not honest and truthful, your design or service might appear fake and untrustworthy:
“[…] keep in mind, our goal here is not to deceive or trick. Your audience will catch on to your game and will not trust your brand if you are deceitful.” — Designing for Emotion by Aarron Walter, A Book Apart
Emotional design is an opportunity for an additional layer on top of a service with great functionality, reliability and usability — the latter being just as important as the former.
It could be what tips the balance between a great design and a good user experience — to a service or brand people can love or just relate to.
I’ll be looking forward to and hoping for more chances to include Emotional Design in my own work and if you have examples yourself, then please, add it in a comment below.
Thanks for reading!
