Designing for Emotion, Chapter 2

This week we continued reading Designing for Emotion by Aaron Walter. In chapter 2 Walter discusses creating emotional connections and the ins-and-outs of relating designs to other humans. I thought it was interesting when Walter pointed out that design is sometimes seen as indulgent frosting and I completely agree, especially when he points out that it is definitely not. Walter compares treating design like a bonus instead of a necessity kind of like showing up to work in pajamas; that some would say, “who cares about the visual as long as the functional is still there.” This is really important because public relations professionals always need to put time and effort into design because of how important it is in creating connections. It should definitely never be an afterthought, especially if “beautiful design creates a positive emotional response in the brain, which actually improves our cognitive abilities” (Walter, p. 25)

I somewhat disagreed with Walter when he was discussing the narcissistic nature that humans have when connecting to each other. He talked about the physical connection we make to things and how we see ourselves in everything around us. I would argue that this is changing, especially with so many brands and causes calling for a connection to things anti-human – whether that be technology or nature. I think we are growing a bit tired of ourselves and are searching for new things to connect with. I think that what Walter says is true in some ways and maybe not all humans are moving out of that egotistical mindset, but some definitely are and I think because of that, public relations professionals can take some risk and start to move away from connecting via our image as well. As long as the audience, product and client are all considered, why not break the mold and find an emotional connection elsewhere.