Based on the book Why we love or hate everyday things by Donal Norman, it tells us about three levels of processing which is visceral, behavioral and reflective. I have read his book from chapter one until chapter three which is he continuously elaborated that process in variety of style in each chapter. For the first aspects is visceral design which concerns itself with appearances. Next, behavioral design has to do with the pleasure and effectiveness of use. Finally, reflective design considers the rationalization and intellectualization of a product. In his writing in the 1980s, The Design of Everyday Things, he was infuriated by poorly designed objects. But that attitude has changed since he understand that how emotion and cognition are thoroughly intertwined. I was intrigued on what the writer saying that everything we do, everything we think is tinged with emotion, much of subconscious. In turn, our emotions change the way we think, and serve as constant guides to appropriate behavior, steering us away from the bad, guiding us toward the good.
Emotion is a necessary part of life and it makes the person smart. In the mean time, its affecting feeling, behavior and someone's thoughts. If we have no emotions, our decision-making ability would be decrease. If we look to the word 'emotion', its allow us to be more imaginary person indirectly. After I read his book, I realized that Donald Norman make an 'imagination session' in this book. So that, the readers can be more feeling and understand on how to express the emotion mood. For some example in that pages, "Imagine a long narrow plank ten meters long and one meter wide. Place it on the ground. Can you walk on it? Of course. You can jump up and down, dance, and even walk along with your eyes shut. Now prop the plank up so that it is three meters off the ground. Can you walk on it? Yes, although you proceed more carefully." The paragraph obviously shows that Donald Norman raise the mood of conversations between him and the readers. Similarly as I am which is also get the feel of the imagination.
"Design is important to me." - Donald Norman
I am quite interested when the writer said that, "If the roller coaster is so frightening, why is it so popular?". I agreed with his opinion which is there are at least two reasons. First, some people seem to love fear itself such as enjoying the high arousal and increased adrenaline rush that accompanies danger. The second is the feelings that follow the ride. So that, the pride in conquering fear and of being able to brag about it to others. If we talk about 'design', it is essentially a rational, logical, sequential process intended to solve problems. Like what the writer said that, "A successful design has to excel at all levels." I am totally agreed with that statement which is before the design process, the designer should know about do and dos 'things' that they are going to design. Design is an area of human experience, skill and knowledge which is concerned with man's ability to mould his environment to suit his material and spiritual needs. Donal Norman also have said that if the performance is inadequate, the product fails. We cannot make things that half-heartedly. The challenges should be thought of as opportunities. Designers must explore new things.
However, there is another facets of the three levels process can be mapped to product characteristic like visceral design which is the writer considered as appearance, behavioral design regarded as the pleasure and effectiveness of use and reflective design reputed as self-image or personal satisfaction. It is quiet interesting even these simplifications are difficult to apply. So that, the designer should know for whom the product is intended. Moreover, knowing their target audience is a critical piece of design. Skills and knowledge of customer psychology will plan an important role in helping them to get a message out to consumers. As a designer, they need to keep up or be left behind. According to Donal Norman, there are large individual differences in the degree of a visceral response. Such individual differences are the basic components of personality, the distinctions among people that make each of us unique. At the visceral level, the physical appearances of the consoles and controllers need to be changed. Different markets should have different designs. Some design should be more outstanding, especially for the educational marketplace. These changes wouldn't make the product dull and unexciting.
Hence, from my perspective view of this book, what the writer try to present mostly about emotion and three levels of design which is visceral, behavioral and reflective. I loved the way he elaborates the subjects. He elaborates that subjects with variety of view to make sure his writing will attracted the readers to get the point. On top of that, this book was quite interesting to read although the writer used some term of aesthetic word but it is easy to understand.
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