Emotional Design
by Donald A. Norman
Buy book: $10.35

By the author of "The Design of Everyday Things," this is the first book to make the connection between emotions and how people relate to ordinary objects--from juicers to Jaguars.

 

Loved the teapots illustration. I drink oodles of tea every day (mentally fortifying myself against cancer with each cup), but like the author, most of my tea is brewed by the cup. I have a beautiful teapot that reminds me of something my great grandmother would have had, white porcelain with gorgeous red and orange roses painted on the sides and elegantly tipped with gold. I use it whenever I'm making a pot of tea for company. I have another that is purely sentimental. It doesn't pour well and the lid tends to fall off, so it's not practical enough for ordinary use. But it's a pot that my grandmother made during her ceramics phase.

Love the William Morris quote too. I think I'll go home and do some spring cleannig with that as my motto.

For those not familiar with Donald Norman, he is one of the top experts in usability. I work in software design as a business analyst, and am heading down a path of software usability. Usability has become a hot topic in my company recently, and everyone who's anyone has read "The Design of Every Day Things." However, I started with this one, "Emotional Design," and was tickled to see that Mr. Norman had broadened his view of usability to include people's emotions. A lot of my usability recommendations are gut instinct -- sometimes purely emotionally based. Let me just tell you that fact-minded computer programmers don't have a whole lot of time for gushy, emotional people who can't give any other reason for software changes than "it doesn't feel or flow right." :-) Now, I have an expert backing me up -- and luckily, executives who believe in usability testing! This is a great book, even if you are not a design professional. I guarantee you won't look at anything in your world the same way ever again!

Now I know why I love some of the collections I've accumulated in the past much as I do. This author "speaks" to my sense of aesthetics, my functional nature and my reflective nature as well. I never understood why some of the objects in my life, some not pretty at all, bring me such pleasure. I have a photo collection of people I don't even know. They are all sepia prints, and all are of childen, and all were purchased in antique shops, church sales, and flea markets around the northeast. They bring out my "reflective" nature, because I wonder who they may be, why they are dressed as they are, and whether the photo once made their folks proud. I love the functionality of my electric tea kettle and its very sleek modern shape as well. This is a book I will really enjoy.

Am not in this club yet - but am going to sign up after reading your responses - makes me think of something I read or heard once - that we (people) don't purchase things (perhaps referring to antiques or perhaps all things) but we purchase the ideas or thoughts behind the things - not an exact quote, I'm sure- but have remembered it often - especially when purchasing a not so useful thing - "what appeals to me about this?" -

In the first read where the author mentions why the same wine tastes better when served in a delicate beautiful wine glass - don't we all know that "presentation is everything"? - food also tastes better when served in a restaurant with a white tablecloth and served to us as if we are royalty? - of course the food must be good as well - but think we all know the importance of the aesthetics of life? - so what else is new? -

I could also relate to the color on the computer screen - many years ago when we first began using computers in my work, rather than the manual way, a technician one day had to work on my computer and deemed the job "done" - so I sat back down to work, but before he got out the door I called him back "to put the color back like it was!" - could not even tell him what the difference was but knew it was different and I did not like the difference - and it was not a case of "change" - it had to do with the "easier on the eye" factor - think that was a cognitive, not an emotional response -

Still, sounds like an interesting read, giving us food for thought -