3 layers of Emotional Design, every Product Designer Must Know
The Visceral, Behavioural and Reflective Layers.
“Everything has a personality: everything sends an emotional signal. Even where this was not the intention of the designer, the people who view the website infer personalities and experience emotions.” — Don Norman
Layer one - Visceral 👀
I still remember walking into a mall and passing by an apple store, I could never resist stepping inside the store because it looked way ahead of its time, it was futuristic, very beautiful, warm and welcoming — These emotions were created by the visceral layer.
Firstly let’s understand that the actions/emotions created by visceral layer are subconscious and one has no control over it. This layer is active when you first see an app or maybe a website too. User would mostly be biased towards something which looks novel or unexpected than something which looks gross. Conversely you might be taken to an exhibition of luxury automobiles and before you’ve arrived you’ll be looking forward to the smell of fresh leather upholstery and the cool curves of the vehicles arrayed around you.
Visceral design aims to get inside the user’s head and tug at their emotions either to improve the user experience (e.g., improving the general visual appeal) or to serve some business interest (e.g., emotionally blackmailing the user to make a purchase, to suit the business’s objectives) (Komninos, 2017).
Lastly, this level has nothing to do with how usable, effective, or understandable the product is. It is all about attraction or repulsion, and great designers use their aesthetic sensibilities to drive these visceral responses.
Layer Two - Behavioral 🤏
[Story continues] After getting into an apple store, there was no device I did not try to touch or feel. All of them felt wonderful and very personalised in my hand. Best part was when I started using iPhone 11, I played games, clicked photos of people from the store (which i deleted eventually :P ) ; mostly tried every new gesture apple has introduced and couldn't stop myself from buying an iPhone.
Behavioural design is probably more often referred to as usability, but the two terms essentially refer to the practical and functional aspects of a product or anything usable we are capable of using in our environment. Behavioral design is interested in, for example, how users carry out their activities, how quickly and accurately they can achieve their aims and objectives, how many errors the users make when carrying out certain tasks, and how well the product accommodates both skilled and inexperienced users. Behavioral design is perhaps the easiest to test, as performance levels can be measured once the physical (e.g., handles, buttons, grips, levers, switches, and keys) or usable parts of an object are changed or manipulated in some way. For instance, buttons responsible for two separate operations might be positioned at varying distances from one another so as to test how long it takes the user to carry out the two tasks consecutively.
Alternatively, error rates might be measured using the same manipulation(s). Examples of experiences at the behavioural level include the pleasure derived from being able to find a contact and make a call immediately on a mobile phone, the ease of typing on a computer keyboard, the difficulty of typing on a small touchscreen device, such as an iPod Touch, and the enjoyment we feel when using a well-designed computer game controller (such as, in my humble opinion, the N64 control pad).
When products enable us to complete our goals with the minimum of difficulty and with little call for conscious effort, the emotions are likely to be positive ones. In contrast, when products restrict us, force us to translate or adjust our goals according to their limitations, or simply make us pay close attention when we are using them, we are more inclined to experience some negative emotion (Komninos, 2017).
Powerful and positive behavioural reactions allow users to feel a sense of empowerment, cultivate trust and reliability by creating a direct correlation between a user’s actions and expected value, and also encourage repeat reactions, as people are more inclined to want to experience that delight again (Baker, 2019).
Layer Three - Reflective 🧠
Today I’m sharing my “Apple store” experience with you all, since my entire experience was so amazing and fruitful. This is how people reflect to their experience in the form of stories and hence its called reflective layer 😉
This design layer is most powerful layer of all. positive reflective reactions may encourage users to share their experiences with others and evoke a sense of pride and identity from using a product that extends beyond the product itself. Overall, the reflective emotional design captures the meaning of the product, the impact of thoughts, the share-ability of the experience, and the cultural impact (Baker, 2019).
Unlike the other two levels, the reflexive level is linked to conscious cognition, where reasoning and conscious decision making takes place. Again, unlike unconscious thought, reflection at this level is deep and slow.
Reference ⭐
In this talk from 2003, design critic Don Norman turns his incisive eye toward beauty, fun, pleasure and emotion, as he looks at design that makes people happy. He names the three emotional cues that a well-designed product must hit to succeed.
