Don A. Norman to
be known as a critic of unusable things but now, he says, he has changed. He
has transformed himself into an advocate for pleasurable, enjoyable products.
Beauty is good, says Norman. Successful products should a pleasure to use, and
convey a positive sense of self, of accomplishment, and pride of
ownership. He a professor of computer
science and cofounder of a consulting firm that promotes human-centered
products, extends the range of his earlier work, The Design of Everyday Things,
to include the role emotion plays in consumer purchases. According to Norman,
human decision making is dependent on both conscious cognition and affect.
This combination
is why, for example, a beautiful set of old mechanical drawing instruments
greatly appealed to Norman and a colleague: they evoked emotion, even though
they both knew the tools were not practical to use, human reaction to design
exists on three levels is appearance, behavioral and reflective. The reflective
dimension is what the product evokes in the user in terms of self-image or
individual satisfaction. Norman's analysis of the design elements in products
such as automobiles, watches and computers will pique the interest of many
readers, not just those in the design or technology fields. He explores how
music and sound both contribute negatively or positively to the design of
electronic equipment, like the ring of a cell phone or beeps. Norman's theories
about how robots will interact with humans and the important jobs they will
perform are intriguing, but weigh down an already complex text.
To some extent,
this book seems an effective rebuttal to what I will call the cognitive
conceit, the primacy of cognitive processing. Cognition has commonly been
pitted against emotion, by lay people and academics. That is, the intellect has
been assumed to be capable of dominating emotion in a mature adult, with
emotional displays being immature. In this view, emotions are just
a distraction to be overcome. It seems to me that most psychology books make a
token bow to instincts, reflexes, and the like, but then quickly rush on and
assume that the combination of the environment and the intellect can trump
heredity. However, in the past decade, modern cognitive science research has
demonstrated that cognition and affective processing truly are interwoven and
inseparable, and that in many respects the affective reaction establishes
priorities. Everything has a cognitive component, to assign meaning, and an
affective component, to assign value. Therefore, the manifestation of the two
in behavior means that good product design must accomodate the integration of
affective, behavioral, and cognitive reactions.
Norman opens the book with a discussion of three teapots he
owns. He doesn’t use them, but he loves how each tells a story. One is
impossible to use, one is a classy glassy Michael Graves design and one is
unusual. He says when we like the look of an object; we’re more willing to
overlook its design flaws as opposed to using something with no flaws and an
ugly design. Then, He explaining what the three levels of design are, and how
these levels affect both the audience and the designer. Visceral design is
about appearance, the senses, and beauty. Behavioral design is about
performance, function, and pleasure and effectiveness of use. Reflective design
is about rationalization and intellect, the cognitive realization of a product,
and how the product relates to the individual. Emotions are a necessary part of
cognition they change the way we think, and serve as constant guides to
appropriate behavior, steering us away from the bad and towards the
good.Learning about these levels of emotion not only informs me of one of the
sneakiest ways that the processed food industry exploits consumers that the
emotional side of design may be more critical to a product’s success than its
practical elements. It also informs me how to use these principles to design
ethically for consumers so that they may be empowered to make more educated
decisions. At the visceral level is about how food presentation affects
consumption. Next, the behavioral level is how the food tastes, satisfies
hunger, and immediate pleasures an individual feels while eating it. Then, the
reflective level is tell how knowledge
and interest of health and nutrition affects people’s decision to eat something
or not.
As a conclusion, Donald A. Noman offers intriguing examples
in the book to show how objects evoke emotions. The book loses its way in the
last part when the author delves in the world of robots. While it talks about
the possibility of robots having emotions, it tells nothing about products and human behavior. Except for this part, the book was a quick and fascinating
read. Those who want to understand how design influences purchases will enjoy
the book because many of its concepts apply to business situations related to
selling and designing products.
