Designing for Emotion, One Last Time

Designing For Emotion is a very rational book and I like that its how-to’s and step-by-step guides feel like casual advice. One thing I really liked, and will keep in mind in my future, is the story published on pages 90-92. The book talked about offering “middle ground” to consumers. The author created a fun website that fit the personality of the brand well, but some people were complaining that the website was too flashy. To appeal to those people, the author provided an option for users to turn that “personality” off and use a much more straight-forward site. I liked this example because it also goes along with the idea of not being able to please everyone, while not giving up on trying to please everyone.

One of the things I was hesitant to agree with is found on the first page of the paper. The book states,

“Not every customer is right for your business. Some will be so high maintenance they will cost you more than they contribute…If people complain about how your product, service or brand are unlike your competitors’ then you’re doing something right (84).”

I do not necessarily disagree with this, however, I have been through many PR classes that teach you “a leader should want to be liked”. I think it is dangerous to go into a campaign assuming some people won’t like your product or brand, because in my opinion you should be trying as hard as possible to appeal to everyone (even though ultimately, that is impossible).