The Art of Emotion — Norman’s 3 Levels of Emotional Design
Strengthening the emotional impact of product experiences through visceral, behavioral, and reflective design.
To be an exceptional designer, it is not enough to just understand how your users are reacting — you must understand why. Why are some users delighted by this new dashboard, while others are not? Why has engagement flattened after we revamped our palette? Why do some people share their experience, while others do not?
In his book Emotional Design, Don Norman explores three different levels of design that capture how people emotionally react to visual experiences: visceral, behavioral, and reflective. These experiences capture how we emotionally connect to objects.
Delight
Delight (enduring, lasting pleasure) is at the intersection of visceral, behavioral, and reflective emotional design (which we’ll explore further). It is critical that designers understand that these emotional reactions are not accidental — they can be cultivated and crafted with a people-first design approach that truly delivers enduring and impressionable value.
Likewise, there is an inherent hierarchy and set of prerequisites that must be met before we cultivate these emotional experiences. Before people can love an experience, they must first desire that experience. This could be through marketing or how you present the experience.
Then, people must be able to use the product and derive some expected value. If that value is exceptional, then they will begin to trust the product and feel compelled to use it.
Finally, people will love the product and tell others about it if the experience evokes positive behavioral, visceral, and reflective emotional reactions.
Now, we’ll explore the basics of these levels and how they apply to real life examples. We’ll also frame these levels from the viewpoint of cognitive science.
Emotional Design Elements
Emotional design can transform functional products into memorable and enduring experiences. This typically manifests through 4 facets:
- Emotion-Memory Link — emotionally charged events persist in our memories beyond the product’s base functional value. We remember things that make us feel a certain way.
- Aesthetic-Usability Effect — aesthetically pleasing experiences empower usability and increase the user’s willingness to learn and adapt.
- Persuasive Emotion (Gut Feeling) — emotions enable users to make gut and swift decisions. We use cognition to understand and interpret our world, but our emotions catalyze decision-making.
- Ownership Effect — users place more value in experiences where they feel a sense of personalized ownership, as if the experience/product is an extension of themselves.
Visceral Emotional Design
A visceral reaction is triggered by an initial sensory experience. It is that first impression that sets the mood and initial framing for which you’ll explore everything else.
Powerful and positive visceral reactions have the following benefits:
- They set a positive context for every subsequent interaction.
- Users are more likely to forgive faults down the line if the initial experience was overwhelmingly positive.
- “Love at first sight” will encourage positive socialization of the product.
Some unique ways that products evoke visceral reactions are through playful and delightful onboarding and success states — typically carefully woven together with motion design.
Visceral design includes the user’s pre-conscious state, the product’s initial attractiveness, and the user’s overall feelings.
These states become ways to express your product’s brand and cultivate a relationship with the user.
Behavioral Emotional Design
A behavioral reaction is how we feel as we are immersed in the product experience. It is how we react to our product interactions and derive value from the products we use, also more commonly known as usability.
From an emotional perspective, when our interaction behaviors are fluid, expected, and familiar, then we derive joy and satisfaction from the product’s usability.
Behavioral design includes usability, product function, performance, and effectiveness of use.
Powerful and positive behavioral reactions have the following benefits:
- They allow users to feel a sense of empowerment.
- They cultivate trust and reliability by creating a direct correlation between a user’s actions and expected value.
- They encourage repeat reactions, as people are more inclined to want to experience that delight again.
Reflective Emotional Design
A reflective reaction is how we feel after we have been immersed in the experience. It is how we remember the experience itself and how it made us feel. It determines whether we want to try that experience again or shun it all together.
Powerful and positive reflective reactions have the following benefits:
- They encourage users to share their experiences with others.
- They evoke a sense of pride and identity from using a product that extends beyond the product itself.
Overall, reflective emotional design captures the meaning of the product, the impact of thoughts, the share-ability of the experience, and the cultural impact.
Tips for Augmenting Emotional Impact
To create delightful experiences, designers must cultivate appropriate and positive emotions for each level (visceral, behavioral, and reflective). Here are some tips for cultivating that positivity:
- Personalization and Customization — Personalize the user experience so your users feel a sense of ownership. Allow users to tailor the experience as an extension and manifestation of themselves.
- Expressive Imagery — Use images, illustrations, and animations that your users can relate to — the visuals, themselves, can demonstrate emotion and help your users empathize.
- Positive Surprise — Evoke positive emotional reactions by surprising your users with delight.
- Relatable Voice— Use a tone and voice that speaks with your users in a more human way. Express emotion, empathy, and encouragement through conversational UI.
- Humor — Laughing and glee are very strong positive emotions that alleviate fear and uncertainty, while evoking a sense of joy.
- Storytelling — Helps people understand the journey of the experience, frame their interactions, and recall their experiences even after using the product.
- Microinteractions — Subtle affordances and indicators make interfaces feel more alive and fun, which encourages interaction.
Summary
Together, visceral, behavioral, and reflective emotional design creates enduring and delightful product experiences.
It is critical that designers understand how emotional design envelops the entire experience, from first discovering the product, to using it, and finally to thinking about the product after it has been used.
It is not enough to cultivate an experience with just ‘love at first sight’. That love must be perpetual, enduring, and shareable.
Thanks for reading!
I frequently write on a variety of design and tech topics. Feel free to follow for more :)
