Designing for Emotion: Chapter 1

This week in PR Publications, we were asked to read and evaluate the first chapter of Designing for Emotion. The first chapter was interesting and gave me a better understanding of the emotional aspect within our designs.

After reading the first chapter, I considered what I agreed with. I agree with the idea of creating connections through your designs. When designing publications, you are designing them for a certain public. Designs usually aren’t simply for the artist’s pleasure. Making connections with your publics and stakeholders to draw them in is important.

I somewhat disagree with the emotional design principle explained in the later part of the first chapter. A key component of this principle is “people will forgive shortcomings, follow your lead, and sing praises if you reward them with positive emotion” (Walter, pg. 14). I disagree with this statement because there are brands that have been forever ruined for some consumers due to a certain circumstance. Consumers won’t ‘always’ forgive you. I personally don’t believe a design with positive emotion can completely mend a relationship between the brand and the consumer will be okay again.