Designing for Emotion Chapter 4

Part of our assignment this week was to read the fourth chapter of Designing for Emotion, the textbook (e-book) we’re using for our PR Publications class.

I agree with the idea that people react positively to ‘you may’ statements as opposed to ‘you must’ statements. The book talked about Twitter and its redesign in this instance, stating that “rather than simply forcing people to switch to the new interface when they were selected, they gave everyone the option to stick with the old design if they wanted to. Giving users the power to choose changes the tone of their response. When forced to change, people often react negatively. Allow people to change on their own schedule, and you empower them, diffusing animosity.”

I disagree with the idea that surprise always fuels delight. I think surprise can be a tool to make people happy and it definitely creates an emotional response, but I don’t think surprise is the most effective way to do this in design.