Don Norman: Emotional Design

Don Norman talks about a product is not just about being functional, and how beauty and fun can bring up value of a product. He has a juicer that he displays at the front. The gold plate that comes with the juicer can’t be used to make juice because the acid from a fruit will ruin the plate. Even though the juicer doesn’t function, people still buy this because it is beautiful and give people a story to talks about. He defines 3 levels of process that connects with emotion.

People’s emotion has a great effect on purchasing. Not many people just buy a product that only serves its function, but people care about how they look. Visceral is the first stage which connects with its appearance.

Second stage is ‘Behavioural’. Behavioural design is feeling in control and having an understanding of a product. When we use sharp Global knife, we feel in control of cutting, when we take a shower, control the water.

The third level is ‘Reflective’. It is a  ‘little voice’ that say what is good and bad. People buy environment friendly car because they care about the environment, people buy expensive watch to upgrade their value.

This video was very interesting and useful for industrial design student. It teaches the values of design and how to communicate with emotion and costumers. 

Seymour and Powell: Designing Dream Machines

Designing Dream Machine reflects that good designs should consider the function and mostly importantly, customers. Powell and Seymour think designers should do lots of research before they design a product. There are lots of products on the market but only the best ones are sold. They went to India to design a scooter because the standard of the beauty is different in every country the research is just not about how it looks, it is about how it used and how they effect on people.  This video also emphasises on the importance of visual communication between designers and between designers and costumers. Hand drawing is the most practical way of deliver the ideas that pops up instantly. The project of motorbike company is also shows their great understanding of client. Even though their design is modern looking, but they still kept the classic design of the company. They also believe that good designs come from good teamwork and communication. They stressed on the importance of visual communication. They designed kettle and coffee machine for the kitchen appliance company. Their elegant and modern designs appeal to costumers and stands out in the display. I also agree with Powell and Seymour that designers should design what customers like and what they want. I sometimes see the designs that give me the impression of ‘show off’. I think the designs should consider users and suit to their life style, not just fancy  

 

 

Annie Leonard: The Story of Stuff

Some people say that climate issue and social problems are unnecessarily exaggerated, but I wonder that people still can say that after they watch this video. This video delivers some serious social issue with interesting animation. Annie Leonard seems to be interesting in human right and our environment. According to this video, after World War 3 government and corporate giants decided to make profit by mass production and produce more than people need to boost consumption. As the result, people wasting the resources and destroying the environment and we already used up 1/3 of the resources. Using up the resources. Producing is not the only problem. Processing is also a big issue and we are not only talking about the environment, also the human right. It Lots of harmful chemicals are made from the factories and workers from 3^rd world countries have to deal with them because we shipped the factories to overseas in order to reduces the cost of producing. According to Leonard, we are getting unhappier than people who lived in 1950’s despite that we have more consumer goods. The world resource is limited and we have been wasting it. The damage is coming right back to people. Industrial designers should consider the world and think green. The design that only focus to esthetical and human is gone. 

BAD DESIGN