On Don Norman on Design and Emotion

Here's a great Don Norman TED talk from 2003. An oldie but a goodie.

Main takeaway: Products are Visceral, Behavioral, and Reflective

Thoughts:

It's important that products convey the right balance of “safety”, and “excitement”. Too “safe” might be boring.

Behavioral seems to mean that forms aligns with function, as in Don's teapot example. It makes it easy to just do the right thing. “Correct by default”.

Ideally, good products would align all three elements. They should provoke a visceral reaction that reminds us of their reflective intent. And their usage drives the intended behavior.

Personality

Product personality is worth considering. If the product were a person, what kind of person would he/she be? This is a more recent trend, with Apps such as Carrot. The personality can be used to tie together and align the visceral, behavioral, and reflective aspects of the product.

Related: Design, TED.