Answers to questions that Suresh asked on the presentation at IDC which will
be of interest to everybody:

- Is Amazon site a persuasive or immersive. From business perspective it is
persuading you to buy more & more things with minimal effort. [Is persuasion
part of immersive or vice versa][ will immersive become persuasive when
money is involved. :)]
Atul W: These are not related.

Persuasive is specific to an environment where the system/design needs to
convince and persuade the user to perform a specific task. E.g. an
e-commerce site like Amazon should persuade the user by giving information
that can convince him/her about buying the specific product by giving the
user convincing data like so many people have bought this, these are the
good reviews, celebrities bought it, how this is better etc.

Immersive: This is specific to an environment where the user needs to become
a part of the system and get involved completely in the system environment.
E.g. Virtual reality, games, etc

- Is visceral really pre-wired into our system. [Is it part of our basic
instinct] Is it always regardless of culture as stated in example or always
based on culture or otherwise. [Isn't culture part of emotion]
Vikram Chauhan: Yes. Visceral is pre-wired. For example the viseral reaction
to vomit is the same all over the world. However, I believe that over a
period of time, due to cutural and social conditioning, these reactions can
be changed. For example, according to Don, "some cultural prefer fat people,
others thin; but even within those cultures, there is agreement on what is
and is not attractive." Advertising and Media have long since been changing
our perceptions and reactions to every day things. The change is present,
though it is slow.


- What exactly are these 3 [V, B, R] - Are they the kind of reactions or
thoughts towards the product
Vikram Chauhan: Visceral, Behavioral and Reflective are three levels of
emotions, according to Don Norman in his book Attractive Things Work Better.

Below is more information on V, B, R from an interview that Don gave top The
Guardian some time ago. You can find it here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1166468,00.html



"Visceral design is what nature does," says Norman, and he reckons it's
"biologically prewired". Visceral design is about how things look, feel and
sound - the world of blue skies and apple pie. One of Norman's examples of
visceral design is the 1961 E-type Jaguar: it's the kind of car people fall
in love with and want to own. How well it works, and how much it costs, are
afterthoughts. Some people will buy a bottle of Perrier water for the
visceral design of the bottle, even if it costs more than similar water in a
crude but functional plastic bottle. Putting iMacs in colourful plastic
cases is another example of visceral design.
"Behavioural design is all about use," says Norman. "Appearance really
doesn't matter: performance does." This is the area where The Design of
Everyday Things was a huge success. Behavioural design is about getting
products to function well, and about making that functionality easily
accessible - an area where technology products often fall down. Some things
are complicated, so users may still have to learn how something works.
However, they should only have to learn it once, he says.
"Reflective design is about the meaning of things," says Norman. "It's about
message: what does using this product say about you? It's where your
self-image is. It depends on your age, background, culture." The reflective
level is where things like brand image and marketing come into play, selling
products not on their functionality but on things like prestige and
exclusivity. Reflective design about creating things you want to show off to
your friends. An example, on the cover of Emotional Design, is Philippe
Starck's Juicy Salif, about which the designer reportedly said: "My juicer
is not meant to squeeze lemons, it is meant to start conversations." Norman
says he has one, "but I don't use it for squeezing lemons".
Visceral appeal is fast, sometimes instant, and most products have it to
some degree. (Things that don't obviously have it are known as "acquired
tastes".) Behavioural design is useful, if not essential: there is a market
for clocks that make it really hard to tell the time but, outside design
museum shops, it is not a large one. Reflective design is often a part of
people's long-term relationship with a product - do they love it or hate it?
- and can be enhanced by brand marketing and cultural conditioning.
"Branding is pure reflection," says Norman. To reduce things to basics, the
visceral is what something looks like, the behavioural is how it works, and
the reflective is what it means to you. And every product works on all three
levels, whether the designer has thought about it or not. In Emotional
Design, Norman quotes Del Coates's book, Watches Tell More Than Time, where
he explains that "it is impossible to design a watch that tells only time.
Knowing nothing more, the design of a watch alone - or of any other product
- can suggest assumptions about the age, gender, and outlook of the person
who wears it".
In other words, there is no escape. Wearing a cheap, functional watch sends
a different message from wearing an expensive, but fashionable, model,
regardless of how well it tells the time. In the same way, Norman's "smart
casual" open-necked shirt and pullover send the message that he's a designer
rather than an accountant, while the fact that he's still immaculately
turned out shows that it's not accidental. They're the kind of assessments
we all make, but Norman brings them to the surface. (He likes the folk tale
about fish being the last to notice water.)
Norman points out that reflective design becomes more important as products
mature. In the early days, it may be a struggle to get something to work
well - the first cars, and the first computers, were examples. But when you
can take functionality for granted, how do you choose between different
products? You choose the ones with emotional appeal, the ones you can fall
in love with, the ones that say more about you than cash ever can.
"Reflective design is where companies live or die," says Norman.
Reflective design reflects the real world. "Look around at the wide variety
of things you can buy - chairs, for example. Different people have different
homes and different tastes and different chairs for different uses," says
Norman. "That's a good thing: it makes life richer." Negative Norman might
have criticised their usability drawbacks, but Mr Positive is more concerned
with appreciating what each one offers.
Norman hopes the new approach will lead to something of a career shift. For
the past 20 years, he has been closely associated with personal computing
and the web, having been a "User Experience Architect" and fellow at Apple
Computer in California, and co-founder with Jakob Nielsen of the web
usability company, Nielsen Norman Group. (He's also professor of computer
science, psychology and cognitive science at Northwestern University in
Chicago.) "I'm trying to move the Nielsen Norman group towards product
design," he says, "and I also want to expand the focus on usability to
include things that are enjoyable." The new book is taking him in that
direction.



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Suresh JV [mailto:sjv@...]
> Sent: Monday, April 04, 2005 12:37 PM
> To: vikram@...
> Subject: RE: [EmotionalDesign] Details of Emotional Design and Flow
> Talk @ IDC
>
> Hi Vikram,
>
> Can you mail to this id please. This is different from my "reply to" id.
>
> mailto:cre8tvt@...
>
> And some questions...
>
> - Is Amazon site a persuasive or immersive. From business perspective it
> is persuading you to buy more & more things with minimal effort. [Is
> persuasion part of immersive or vice versa][ will immersive become
> persuasive when money is involved. :)]
> - Is visceral really pre-wired into our system. [Is it part of our basic
> instinct] Is it always regardless of culture as stated in example or
> always based on culture or otherwise. [Isn't culture part of emotion]
> - What exactly are these 3 [V, B, R] - Are they the kind of reactions or
> thoughts towards the product
>
> Thanks for the Group. I wish there are more and more discussions here.
> [Not much of activities were found since quite some time. As moderator,
> please start new discussions frequently both on ED and FLOW.]
>
> PS: Is it a prerequisite to read Don's both the books on ED to know things
> here.
>
> Regards,
> Suresh JV.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vikram Chauhan [mailto:vikram@...]
> Sent: Monday, April 04, 2005 11:51 AM
> To: EmotionalDesign@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [EmotionalDesign] Details of Emotional Design and
> Flow Talk @ IDC
>
> 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
>