UX and Emotions
We are living in the age of rigid touch screens and need emotional design to make them softer.
I believe in this age emotional design must take a larger place in the UX design process. Because in almost everything that has screens eventually with designs; we have interactions and we are emotional human beings.
Emotional design can be “unnecessary?”
Actually maybe; if you think that your shoe orders section nothing to do with your emotions. But you are probably didn’t hear: “Interaction with any product produces an experience (emotion) whether it had UX or not.”
Birds flying high, you know how I feel
Sun in the sky, you know how I feel
Breeze driftin’ on by, you know how I feel
Thanks to Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for this amazing song but we, designers, don’t exactly know how you feel.
Yes, we all have experiences and our experiences address new emotions. It is flowing and changing. It is also unpredictable and can be unexpected. When it comes to design: “We can’t know people’s emotions or create. It is also art or intuition.”
According to psychologists Paul Ekman and Wallace Friesen, there are six basic emotions that all humans can experience. These emotional responses are Happiness, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, Anger, Surprise.
What you felt after reading the Mailchimp title? That felt supportive? Let’s dive in.
Headline: We’ve got your back.
Can be meant: You are not alone.
It can be meant: You don’t need to do it all.
It can also be meant: You don’t have to fear!
In the end, you will remember this headline that makes you feel good. You probably don’t feel bad about this supportive call except for the hand image in the middle. (I am a little bit scared of three thumbs)
The product’s impact has to put a positive feeling on the users. But it is a little bit complicated. Chip Heath & Dan Heath made it simpler:
“If you want your ideas to be stickier, you’ve got to break someone’s guessing machine and then fix it.”
In this case: replacement of negative emotions with positive emotions. Because emotional responses have lasting effects. Because good products want you to remember them whenever you need them. Designers can’t guess all your feelings but they probably know all humans’ have common emotions and those emotions create feelings that also totally different!
“Details trigger an emotional response, and if used purposefully and fittingly, they will help to form a personality that people will respond to positively when interacting with the product.”
While Zalando says fill my shopping bag with hopes and dreams they actually want to make me happy?
Not exactly. But why not?
But it is not always easy. Before emphasizing emotional design, a product that makes you feel happy must have a personality.
“You create something unique that transcends your own style and that evokes a positive response in users;
You consistently use that style until it becomes a body of work, a personality layer.”
If you are using the product that makes you feel unique it apparently is a successful product and their UX is well-considered with an emotional design approach and has personality from the cart section to the payment section. Their tone of voice is consistent and trustable and probably tested very well.
References
https://www.nngroup.com/books/emotional-design/
https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/07/the-personality-layer/
https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/general/feelings-vs-emotions-is-there-a-difference-between-them/
https://www.toptal.com/designers/product-design/design-for-emotion-to-increase-user-engagement
https://medium.com/@yujsocial/what-is-emotional-design-d091c383c6ee#:~:text=Emotional%20design%20is%20a%20design,emotional%20response%20from%20the%20users.
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/tone-voice-users/
https://en.zalando.de/cart/
https://mailchimp.com/
note: I chose to explain the topic mostly around e-commerce platforms which have a lot of interactions.
