Don Norman: Three ways design makes  you happy

This post is in reply to Kathleen’s comment on emotional design. I didn’t leave this in the comments because I thought the embedded video would get  better play here. I’ve been meaning to read Norman’s book for a long while now, but here’s his TED talk.

Considering emotions in design is so important. My ipod brings me joy or putting together these shelves bring me frustration. Today I was trying to get my printer working and realized I needed new ink cartridges. I would have been much less irritated if there was a feature where my printer sent a note to my computer, and therefor a note to me asking if I wanted to buy new cartridges. But, instead I had to fuss with the hardware for a while, get ink all over the place and search for some serial number. I felt like I paid a lot of this technology and it ought to be easier to use.

Getting back on point, emotional design is an art.