Designing for Emotion | Chapter 1

Again for my Public Relations Publications course, I’ve been charged with reading Aaron Walter’s fantastic book “Designing for Emotion.” Walter acted as the creative spark behind Mailchimp’s unique experience. In the inaugural chapter, Aaron lays out his case for reaching beyond simple functionality in design to surprise and delight users. He firmly believes creating an emotional bond with users will eventually develop them into raving fans.

I love this book. Despite the fact the first readings weren’t assigned until this week, I’ve already read it cover-to-cover. In his opening and throughout, Aaron delivers a compelling argument for baking intentional delight into every menu bar, landing page and loading screen users encounter. The idea is effortlessly simple, but profoundly transformative: humans should design for humans. Playing the pathos-tinged design game invites risk, but can produce powerful impact.

My only objection lies with something Aaron didn’t state outright: sometimes emotional design just isn’t worth it. Of course, pouring sweat and soul into a shining example of killer-sleek UX to evoke smiles from users can prove incredibly beneficial. But not always. Sometimes a relatively boring, flat or emotionless design works completely fine. In fact, sometimes it’s preferable. Although frustrating for designers, some managers and enterprise users could conceivably prefer a no-frills interface (even if it requires switching on “party-pooper mode.”)

All things considered, Aaron starts off a remarkable book with some great points about creating design that truly works for users. However, it’s important to remember Aaron remains a designer first and foremost — and his bias shows a lot. For consumer-facing designs and emotionally-viable projects, adding a splash of Mailchimp-esque strategy is a godsend. But for some purposes, trying to integrate Freddie Von Chimpenheimer III’s cousin will only hurt and confuse users.