The Guts of Design...Visceral Qualities

1. Select a brief passage from Chapter Three of Emotional Design by Donald Norman and post it on your blog. Explain why you thought it was interesting.

"At the visceral level, physical features-look, feel, and sound-dominate. Thus, a master chef concentrates on presentation, arranging food artfully on the plate. Here good graphics, cleanliness, and beauty play a role. Make the car door feel firm and produce a pleasant chunking sound as it closes. Make the exhaust sound of the Harley Davidson motorcycle have a unique, powerful rumble. Make the body sleek, sexy, inviting, such as the classic 1961 Jaguar roadster of figure 3.2 Yes, we love sensuous curves, sleek surfaces, and solid, sturdy objects."

I particularly relate to the visceral appeal of "feel." I love my laptop because of how it feels: light yet dense, a generally smooth texture with wonderfully "tappy" keys. I am drawn to objects with that sort of visceral appeal, objects that feel "real" to me, products with substance.

2. Norman uses the terms Visceral Design, Behavioral Design, and Reflective Design. Do these categories seem useful to you? Would other names or phrases make the categories clearer?

These categories seem to aptly cover most of our emotional connections to products through their design. I had to read the text pretty carefully to really understand what he implied through "reflective design." I might label it "projective and reflective design" instead. Not only can such design reflect a lifestyle, it can project and create the image of a given lifestyle. This is particularly evident in the options available to consumers of modern fashion.

3. How could a designer decide if Visceral Design, Behavioral Design, or Reflective Design is more important for a particular product? Are some types of products more visceral, behavioral, or reflective?

The purpose of a product does indeed dictate to a designer which facet of emotional design they should focus on. Cars, for instance, depend immensely on visceral design to augment their appeal. Behavioral design concerns, things like fuel economy and other performance, are often secondary to the look and feel of a vehicle.
We talked about "pocket items" in one of our classes, and those certainly fall under the auspices of products that depend heavily on behavioral, or performance, design. Items we fit in our pockets, like wallets and cell phones, must meet a very specific profile of qualifications to be functional and thus desirable.
Articles of clothing succeed well as "reflective design" products. Clothing can meet its desired behavioral functions and still fill a reflective design niche.