Last November, I was very fortunate to have been able to attend a web design and development conference hosted by FOWD (Future of Web Design) in NY.
The topic of “Designing for Emotions” was given by Aaron Walter, a user experience designer at MailChimp. His knowlege had left a deep impact on my thoughts as a web developer and designer. What I should be doing is creating quality designs and interactions that provoke positive emotions.
These are some notes that was taken from the seminar.
Why should we design for user emotions?
There has been a shift in focus in the functionality of design. Usability was ignored in the past, but now it’s getting more attention since emotions are being recognized as an essential part of user experience. It’s not enough anymore to simply design our interfaces to be usable. We need to design to evoke emotions, to make user experience pleasurable. Design for emotional engagement so we can create that powerful bond with our targeted audience. It’s the connection that makes users come back to a website.
How do you define a good quality design?
A pleasurable design generates good feelings. A delightful experience is memorable. Walter mapped the Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs to a collection of web users needs. Understanding how non-technical humans relate to computers is important. Functionality is at the fundamental base of pyramid. Then comes reliability and usability. Pleasurability exists at the top layer of the pyramid, but it is often forgotten, and thereby missing in the design process. Trying to design usable interfaces is like a chef making edible food, but is that enough? Humans need more than just edible food. It has to taste good and satisfy our refined palettes. Likewise, a design not only needs to be functional, reliable, and usable, but it has to reward users with a positive emotion. Walter provided the audience some design tools to create a pleasurable experience. He provided examples of good and bad quality designed websites to support his discussion.
Example:
Basecamp is an online project management tool with a simple interface and some shortcomings. It is functional, reliable and usable. It’s all about getting tasks done, but the interface takes us no further.
Personality
Personality is a collection of behaviors and emotions unique to each of us. It is a platform for emotions. Personality is the key to what is most important in what we do. It’s the way we connect and feel. Humans are often logical, but everyday we use emotions to make decisions. When designing, think of the products, services, websites, etc. as “people” too.
Examples:
VW beetle. Herbie the lovebug. The old car design resembled a smiley face. The VW beetle was the most successful automotive design in history because it had anthropomorphic traits. It possessed a strong human connection that transcended through history. When we see ourselves, we see personalities. Personality invites empathy and we can connect with the design.
Wufoo is a form builder with a fun, fisher price style and use of primary colors. It’s whimsical with an easy to use interface. Most importantly, personality is injected into it. It’s less intimidating for those who don’t build forms/database everyday. This website satisfies the hierarchy.
Treats
A little treat can make a day fun. It can change the course of a day for someone.
Example:
MailChimp. There are witty jokes from the mascot monkey on the top of main pages that doesn’t interfere with the user interface/workflow. An emotional treat creates an enjoyable and more usable experience, especially if users are going through tedious tasks. However, there are risks when personality is involved in design. Some users don’t like personality injected into designs.
Conditioning
Create emotional cycles so users can trust your website over others by using a stimulus. Conditioning can train people to have positive tones. People remember emotional experience in their long-term memories. Users keep coming back if it’s a positive tone or they will stay away if it’s negative.
Discovery
Another helpful tool is the discovery of a fun feature, a great experience, or unique interactions. The discovery in itself makes the user want to continue using the interface and return to the website.
Example:
Photojojo is a website that sells photo gifts and gears, shares photography tips and gives DIY tutorials. In the storefront interface, smiley and sad faces are seen on the cart depending if it is filled or not. There is also a “Do Not Pull” lever that triggers a delightful experience. Many people click on do not pull lever regardless and are more likely to purchase the items because of their fun discoveries.
Skeptics
Humans are doubtful when it comes to security. Need to create a sense of trust in a design suitable to the audience. “Trust is a gut feeling more than a rational process, and visual design affects emotions in a very powerful way, perhaps more than any other stimuli.”
Examples:
Mint.com is an example of a successful interface design that earns your trust. It makes you want to hand over all your financial credentials because the modern looking interface design was compelling enough. They didn’t use humor like MailChimp. Subconsciously, users think: if the design is designed well, then the interface must be built well.
Forgiveness
Emotional collateral is created. After users have gone through the trust cycles and have established a strong connection with your brand, they will forgive you even if something goes wrong. If the users are willing to stand behind your website because they think it’s worth it, then you have developed a successfully captured their emotions.
Examples:
Flickr thought they had lost people’s data awhile back in 2006. They added something extra fun during their downtime. On their homepage, Flickr had 2 empty circles and asked users to fill it with something, take a picture and post it up when the site came back online to win a free pro account. The number of submissions showed that people still believed in them. Flickr provided an extra incentive to bring people back even though they were experiencing back-end problems.
CssDrive is a website that fails due to clutter. The user is unsure on where to focus. They can’t boil it down to making a simple decision so there is frustration upon going through the site. People don’t visit the site due to poor layout design and a negative user experience. Humans have limits and attention in finite. We tend to try and find the path to least resistance.
“Attractive things make people feel good, which in turn makes them think more creatively. How does that make something easier to use? Simple, by making it easier for people to find simpler solutions to the problems they encounter.” – Donald Norman
Other examples of great interfaces and designs mentioned were Dropbox, Twitter, and Tumblr.
Walter sums it up with this emotional design principle.
People will forgive shortcomings, follow your lead and sing your praises if you reward them with emotions.