Hi Guys,

A thousand apologies for the delay. The universe just wasn't conspiring with
some of us on holiday and some really busy. Besides Yahoo Group failed to
upload the ppt time and again.

But all's well that end's well. Sorry for the cliche. It is Monday.

Below is an "article" on the talk on emotional design and Flow held at IDC
last week. The ppt is with me and if you want the same, please email me a
request. Make sure you have at least 5 MB space free. A tad primitive but
highly effective.

Do send us your feedback and comments. Please feel free to ask questions
(only professional:). And do refer to the ppt file as you go through the
article below.

- Vikram

*******

The presentation on Emotional Design and Flow at IDC was nothing less than
Ozzy Osbourne biting the head of a dove on stage in cold blooded animal
brutality. In other words, it went well as predicted.

Appa, Anna, Dude had an audience of about 50 people out of which few were
from IDC and a few from IIT. The rest we suspect were there just for the air
conditioning.

Atul "Appa" W., the more authentic looking of the Tridev because of his
overactive holandric genes, started the presentation.

He made sure the "disclaimers" and "fine print" were sounded off before we
got to the "controversial issues". Atul also presented some established
papers that pointed towards emotional design. Check ppt for the details.

Then Vikram "Dude" C stepped in to explain the concept of Emotional Design
(ED) and Flow. He started by saying how his sister wanted to know: "Why
would you want to lecture in IDC on putting emotions in interfaces? Why were
emotions taken out in the first place." Good point, Sis.

Vikram blamed it all on Don Norman's Design Of Everyday Things, which waxed
eloquent on usability, unfortunately downplaying on other aspects of a human
being. Vikram, however, did point out that Don was quick to redeem himself
with an apology in his next book, Why Attractive Things Work Better. Though
a decade later.

Emotional Design according to Don Norman's latest book is divided into
Visceral, Behavioural, and Reflective.

Visceral is the appearance of the object. This is pre-wired in our system.
For example, regardless of culture, the reaction to a sword world-wide is
that of danger.

Behavioural is the usability and functionally part of Emotional Design. This
means how effective and easy it is to kill with a sword. A little medieval,
but good ol' Rajput fun nevertheless.

Reflective is the self image: How does the sword make me look? Reflective is
also about the meaning of the product: Does the sword hold special meaning
to me, especially if it is legacy in my Rajput clan?

These levels of ED were later substantiated by giving Web examples of where
these three levels of emotional design have been applied on the Net. See the
ppt for more details.

Then Vikram moved on to explain the concept of Flow. Flow is a state where
you are so involved with the activity that nothing separates you from the
activity. Time seems to pass away, you lose a sense of self and your
physical space.

It's like a climbing a mountain with no harness. Remember Tom Cruise in MI
II? When one is involved in such an intense activity, banal thoughts like "I
shouldn't leave my girlfriends in the freezer" should fade away. Nothing
should distract you. The dance should not separate itself from the dancer.

Flow was substantiated with online examples of where Flow can be found on
the Net. For example, an interface for a budget traveler is different from
the interface of a backpacker. And also how Amazon has immersive content
when you search for a book. But the check out process is patented 1-click so
that the Flow is not broken.

Atul "Anna" Joshi explained other ways of how ED and Flow can be achieved
online. According to him, one such way is the use of narrative content. He
took examples from movies and music to explain the same, ending most of this
statements with vegara vegara (etc etc) that made Atul W and me snicker like
little girls.

We had some interesting questions like: The trade off of usability for
Emotional Design. We observed that the audience often ends up thinking that
we are pitting usability against Emotional Design. But that is not the case.
Emotional Design and Flow is not about making interfaces unusable. It is
about looking at other aspects of a human being for a more holistic
experience that is not only high on emotions but also usability. It is about
successfully marrying the two so they walk hand in hand in to the sunset.
Like the Mills and Boon vrsion. Only to be decimitated by a manical Rajput
with a sword. Like the Quentin Tarantino version.

Towards the end of the presentation exactly one guy wanted the PPT file.

One guy stalked us, officially making us celebrities.

Six people walked out of the presentation midway visibly disgusted. We
believe they were mothers of the brides-to-be.

- Vikram