Designing for Emotion – Chapter 1

This has been a busy week folks! Along with identifying, understanding and defining my first stakeholder for my direct mailer project, I also designed my first draft of my direct mailer and read chapter 1 of Designing for Emotion by Aaron Walker.

To begin, I will say I thought this book was going to be a super dry read, but to my surprise Chapter 1 was really interesting and inspiring. In the beginning of the chapter, Walker addressed industrialization as a problem in our society. Before machines and factories came about, people would do things by hand. Farmers would plant, water, and pick their plants. Blacksmiths would manipulate metals into tools, art, and weapons. In today’s society, we have lost that human touch in our products and services. Walker paralleled this with design. He said that any interface/design can be functional but it’s personality and the “human touch” that makes it special. I agree with him. It is functionality and personality that takes users and turns them into loyal customers.  It should be the duty of the designer not only to design something, but they should strive to create something that their users can relate to in their lives. I really enjoyed this chapter. I cannot say there was anything I didn’t agree with. Walker’s has a strong voice in his writing and was very inspiring to me. I look forward to the rest of the readings as I am certain it will help me in developing my design skills.

If you are interested in reading Designing for Emotion by Aaron Walker, you can by the ebook for $9 here.