Critical Analysis of Video
My understanding of Don Norman's blog is that he is changing his outlook towards product design in order to understand what can be defined as beauty. Should a product perhaps, be called beautiful because of the way it functions? or should a product only be called beautiful if its aesthetic quality is pleasing to the eye. What Don Norman is trying to find out is how emotions towards a product can greatly impact on the products success in the global market. If a product is fun and inviting rather than ugly and functional will it ultimately sell more products on the market? I believe it will, as Don Norman states during the video, subconscious emotional feelings play a massive role when analysing products and when he also states ‘I really have the feeling that pleasant things work better,’ we see that human emotions, whether it be fear, anger, happiness can be evoked through design and will ultimately contribute to the success or downfall of a product.
What was interesting to know is that experiments and tests have shown that, being even a little bit happy allows you to think outside the box and promotes creative thinking, whereas being anxious and fearful, due to a deadline, allows you to get your work done, but lacks the creative thinking that you would normally get while you were happy. The Visceral level of design is actually very important to understand as it explains human nature, e.g. what humans are naturally inclined to like, due to the colours, textures and sounds that represent individual feelings and emotions. The behavourial side of design is all about subconscious levels of thinking where you design a product that people automatically feel connected to and in a way feel like they have total control.
The third level of design is called the reflective level of design and although I did not understand Don Norman’s explanation completely I think it refers to designs that are especially designed ‘over the top’ so that people can feel part of something big and grand. For example, products like Hummers, Rolexes and Doc Martins create a sense of belonging to a particular group of people and we as humans want to show off that connection by buying these expensive products. Like Don Norman said, ‘people buy products for their image and not for the products themselves.’
All in all, this video is interesting because it explains the three levels of emotional design, visceral, behavioural and reflective and how they control our thinking on a sub-conscious level and allow us to choose the best product that’s right for us.
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