Personality in Design

This week we read chapter 3 of Aarron Walter’s book, Designing for Emotion. This chapter spoke all about the power of personality in design. Below are a few notes I made while reading.

I agree that injecting personality into design can be a defining factor for a brand, that is if it’s done properly. I love the example of the Mac vs PC commercial. Mac literally turned their product and their competitor’s product into humans to show brand differences that wouldn’t have been visible with just images and statistics of their machines.

But, personality can also be risky. It’s safe to have a straightforward user interface. While it may be boring, it’s also not going to be off-putting to users. Like Aarron says, personality can either attract or repel others. Done incorrectly, your brand could turn into one that people don’t like–just like that person who you don’t like for reasons you just can’t seem to put your finger on.