Of Course You Design Think, But Do You Design Feel?
Photo by S O C I A L . C U T on Unsplash
Design thinking as a process to bring ideas to life has been around for ages. Charles and Ray Eames called their process "learning by doing". "Throughout history, good designers have applied a human-centric creative process to build meaningful and effective solutions." (Design Thinking 101, Sarah Gibbons) Architects and designers are no strangers to such thinking.For some design thinking is simply a natural, intuitive way to work. Sometime in the 1990's David Kelly and Tim Brown officially coined the term "Design Thinking" to refer to applying these "human-centric creative processes" to business problems. Since then, design thinking has come to refer to a process of creative iteration applied to a broad range of issues ranging from product design to business management. There is so much written on the subject that there is no need for me to do the same.(There is a great article from ungroup.com on design thinking if you would like to learn more.)
However, what I am very interested in learning and writing about is something called "Design Feeling". I stumbled across this idea while researching for the Ivy Ross article. (which you can read here) Design Feeling may be Design Thinking 2.0, or Design Thinking -“The Expanded Edition”. Its science and application is still in relatively early development, but the potential to change the way designers and creatives work is pretty exciting. Where design thinking is a cognitive process measuring and analyzing a user's need and a product or service's usability (which is very important); design feeling cues in on a user's emotion. It could be described as a more human and holistic way of designing. Ivy Ross seems to have come to this process quite intuitively, while Don Norman (another proponent of design feeling) arrived here through the study of cognitive science. He calls it "emotional design" and wrote a book titled the same in 2004. (Emotional Design by Don Norman) In this book he explores and explains various theories that consider emotions as a process of thinking. He argues that the emotional affects of design play a more crucial role in the success of a product than the practical or analytical.
“The objects in our lives are more than mere material possessions. We take pride in them, not necessarily because we are showing off our wealth or status, but because of the meanings they bring to our lives. A person’s most beloved objects may well be inexpensive trinkets, frayed furniture, or photographs and books that are torn, dirty, or faded.”
Don Norman proposes a theory of emotional design that involves three degrees or levels that reflect three facets of human cognitive function.
The Visceral
The first of these approaches is called the visceral level. At this level of perception we are dealing with immediate and powerful first impressions. This is the point at which appearance and attractiveness matters most. This immediate emotional impact is instinctive and subconscious, though it is heavily influenced by personality and culture. This is an incredibly important design consideration because it is this initial level of design that sets the stage for what comes next.
As a designer or architect, how often does this particular consideration part of your process?
Or do you feel that it is addressed in a more intuitive manner?
Does this approach change the way you assess any projects, past or present?
The Behavioral
The next level, Norman calls the behavioral level. This level is also subconscious but is solely concerned with performance. How well does the object, app, or space function for its intended purpose? It is especially important in relation to expectations. It is at this level that traditional design thinking serves us best. To create a design that functions there needs to be tenable understanding of not only the user's needs but their behavior. This is design thinking's bread and butter and the area in which designers and architects are probably most familiar working in. This behavioral dimension may be the most quantifiable of the three and therefore the one we feel we have the most control and influence over. Iteration and assessment are critical for a developing a well functioning design. We are not talking about innovation necessarily, but just developing something that does its job really well.
What are your basic tenets for judging function?
What questions do you ask yourself during every project to assure a well design structure or space?
The Reflective
Norman calls the final approach reflective. It is the reflective level that is arguably the most complex aspect of design. Of the three levels this is the only one that we are in conscious control of and is capable of superseding the other two levels. Rather than being formed in the moment of introduction (the visceral), or during use (the behavioral) reflective thought happens after the fact, as you live with something. This is when we consider our relationship with an object and decide what we ultimately think of it. On this reflective level we decide how something makes us feel or what it says about us or what story it tells. It is here that objects become tools and methods of interpreting ourselves and our world. Especially in this age of social media the way we use products to represent ourselves is more important than ever. At best, the designer has a small amount of influence but no hope of control over the object. It is here at the reflective level that natural disposition, culture expectations, personal interpretations and the influence of peers collide. And how this pans out for an individual is anybody's guess. Geoff McFetridge talks about how context comes from without. And When your work comes into contact with context it becomes something else. This is exactly what we are talking about here. The reflective is where your work becomes something else when it comes into contact with context; in this case it comes into contact with the untold interior world of an individual. How do you design for something like this? I think on a base level advertising and marketing have it mastered, but they are just taking advantage of the low hanging fruit. Art, poetry, extraordinary architecture these tap into something deeper, more human, but even here it seems so subjective that you accept that it is "not for everybody." I suppose that it is here that the challenge lies, how deep and personal verses how universal do we want our work to be? Reflective design is a beast.
Does this way of thinking, considering the Reflective, factor into your process?
Where does the universal and personal meet in your work, in which projects?
So there you have it. A super brief introduction to emotional design theory. And like I said early on, though the science and research is relatively new, I suspect that designers and architects have been doing this intuitively all along. By being aware of our intuitive processes and mapping them onto our more intentional working methods could possibly lead to something truly great. Harnessing intuition alongside training and understanding is a powerful methodology, regardless of the project requirements.