Design for Emotion – Chapter 2

In this chapter of Design for Emotion, Walker wrote about designing for human. Humans are born with emotions as a way to communicate with our caretakers. Emotions are very powerful. When we see a baby, we are programmed to think they are cute. When we see something that is cute, we associate them with being good. That’s why illustrators use cartoons to promote their brands. There are thousands of different examples like that, but what it all boils down to is that the way we design needs to be a reflection upon the human race. We are attracted to ourselves. If we can identify consciously or subconsciously to a design, we will like it. There are ways to do this by using contrast, limiting, and aesthetics.

Contrast is the difference between “Is it good for me?” or “Is it bad for me?” We use contrast for almost every decision we make.

Limiting is having an amount of something and controlling how much is used. For instance, the Tumblr homepage. The only thing on the homepage is the login entry boxes. By limiting the user to one action on the homepage, it limits distractions. Therefore, if there were advertisements on the homepage as well, the user might be inclined to click on the ads instead of logging into the site.

The last design term I learned was aesthetic. Aesthetic is the style that a designer uses to design. For example, the aesthetics of Apple is clean, sleek, hip and streamline. Their aesthetic is used in all of their products.

Overall, I enjoyed this chapter. I took a communication and emotion class last semester and a lot of the same concepts were taught it my class. I really enjoy learning about the psychology behind human thinking and actions. I agree with Walker in this chapter. There are certain aspects and patterns of design that almost all humans are attracted to. Something that I disagree about in this chapter is that Walker makes the human mind sound like a computer. It makes humans sound so cold and not human; however, I understand his reasons for using such terminology.