ThinkMedTek

As an engineer or inventor it is easy to sit down and start a project and think of all the things you need to consider. What materials do I use? What will this product be used for? How strong does it need to be? How can I keep production costs low? Who should I use to manufacture it? It is easy to get lost in the details of all the technical things you need to consider. It is easy to forget that your product has a human being that will be using it at the end. It is easy to forget that there is a person that will experience your product with human emotion. The emotional reaction of your user is, however, just as important as all the technical stuff you need to consider.

Designing with emotions in mind isn’t an easy task, especially for those of us who tend to get stuck in our heads. It can be complicated to try to decode this thing called emotions, but with a little work it will pay dividends for your product. 

If you follow UX guru, Don Norman, there are 3 levels of design that will help you reach your user and their emotions; visceral, behavioral, and reflective.

Visceral is the subconscious reaction to aesthetics (1). This can be your reaction to the sleek iPhone design or maybe the look of a new corvette. You can incorporate the visceral by thinking who your customer is, how your customer will see the product, and using fun creativity. 

Behavioral is pleasure with a product’s usability (2). This is how your smart tv and how it interfaces or how a baseball bat fits in your hand for using it to swing. To add this to your design you want to think about whether your product is a pleasure to use or if it feels clunky or frustrating to use. We have all used software or a product that we got frustrated with and never used the product again. Instead of this experience you want your customer to feel joy when using it and talk about how much they enjoy using it.

Reflective is where deep understanding develops and reason and consciousness take place (1).  This design is what makes a product come to live and have a personality such as with Amazon’s Alexa. This can be added by making our product more personable. Maybe you could add the brand personality to the colors, design or even the packaging. You also could add personality to how the product is used.

By adding all three of these areas you will have a design that hits your users emotions and have a better experience for them.

References:

1. Batterbee, Ian. “Experiences That Delight: How We Emotionally Engage with Design.” Medium, UX Collective, 11 Jan. 2022, https://uxdesign.cc/experiences-that-delight-how-we-emotionally-engage-with-design-fc0f92292231. 
2. Philips, Miklos. “Design for Emotion to Increase User Engagement.” Toptal Design Blog, Toptal, 3 Mar. 2017, https://www.toptal.com/designers/product-design/design-for-emotion-to-increase-user-engagement.