Emotional Design Review II

1) p.69 “Visceral design is all about immediate emotional impact… This is a major role of “point of presence” displays in stores… These may be a store’s only chance of getting the customer, for many a product is purchased on looks alone.”
To me this paragraph sums up the very important (sometimes too important) detail of visceral design. It amazes me how easily people can be sold on a poor product. Often, due to visceral design, a poorly made product becomes a better seller than a great product. Despite my astonishment at people’s inability to make informed decisions, this just goes to show the importance of good visual design. Earlier in the chapter Norman talks about neatly designed water bottles that were purchased more for their design than the contents inside. No matter the reasoning behind it, a good selling product just has to look good (maybe do something as an added bonus). Often, I think this can be an overlooked detail in design of many high-tech products, one that could greatly benefit consumer appeal. Sure the iPod was a great product when it first came out, but thanks to improved visceral design it is now a first-class product that not only attracts the tech-savvy but the absentminded as well.
2) All three of these categories seem very useful. As Norman mentioned, visceral and reflective design often act at a subconscious level, which can be a great marketing tool, often the reason for impulse purchases. Behavioral design is usually a necessity in all good products, but with the help of visceral and reflective design it isn’t quite as important. The names reflective and behavioral seem to be appropriate for their definitions; reflective design is a reflection of what it means to own a product and behavioral design is how a product behaves. One would think that there is a better, more self-explanatory name for visceral design. Though true to its name, visceral design seems much more complex than the other two, while in reality it is the least complicated. A more appropriate title could be aesthetic or visual design.
3) First of all, a good product encompasses values from each of the three types of designs, but certain products do require more of one than the other. For example, a bed requires more behavioral design than the others for obvious reasons; the main objective of a bed is to create a comfortable sleeping place for people, it’s looks and reputation come second. An example of a product that requires good visceral design is a child’s toy. These toys are often quite simple and require the thinking of a toddler to operate. They don’t have to work particularly well; they probably won’t be used for that reason anyway. Clothing seems to be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of reflective design. Whether it is a shirt, purse, shoes, or sunglasses, the brand name says a lot about the person wearing it. Take the same two shirts, put an Abercrombie logo on one and a Lacoste logo on the other. Both of the logos represent high cost, but each gives out its own set of emotions and stereotypes about the person wearing it.