3 ways good design makes you happy

Don Norman

Don Norman’s insightful presentation on how good design makes you happy was a very engaging and compelling talk which helped me understand design on a deeper level. Norman’s talk made me apprehend how important aesthetics are in good design and how a product can trigger certain feelings of emotion. He also talks about the role the subconscious mind plays when interacting with certain products and how that product shapes your thinking.

During Norman’s talk he mentions the balance between aesthetics and functionality and how they complement each other. An example he uses is the Philippe Starck juicer by Alessi, he has a positive reaction towards this certain product, not based on how well it functions, but rather how good it looks, its visual appeal. This certain example made me understand that recent successful designs do not sell solely on its functionality capacity but rather how we feel when we look at it and how our conscious mind reacts to it. I feel this is a significant point to remember since it is the absolute basic of successful design.

Prior to watching this interesting talk, I believed that functionality and aesthetics were to be balanced in order to create a successful product. However after Norman’s insight I began to understand that aesthetics are considered somewhat more important than the functionality in some designs. The example used during the talk was with the review on the MINI cooper, it mentioned that “this is a car that has lots of faults. Buy it anyway. It’s so much fun to drive.” This is a prime example of the point I mentioned above where the visual look and feel of the final product over shadows the actual functionality of the design. Norman pointed out that the MINI was ‘fun’, even though it may be faulty in other aspects. I now clearly understood his idea that pleasant things work better.

This approach to design that Norman has presented I feel should be the absolute basics of design. It is a new way of thinking for the future. I discovered that if humans interact with a design visually and are drawn to a products beauty is a major contributing factor to the success of that design. I feel as though all serious Industrial Designers need to watch this talk when designing products. Designers need to understand emotional design, and how good design will make people happy. The success of a design is a lot more than just its functionality with the end user, but rather how that product stimulates positive emotional responses within the individual. Norman’s talk is a perfect example of how this is achieved, and his insights should be introduced to all Industrial Designers.

Don Norman’s talk helped me better understand emotional design. It made me realise the significance of the aesthetics factor in design. I also realised that when functionality and visual appeal are apparent in designs and when they come together in a product, the product itself can trigger an emotional attachment to the user. In turn, this results in successful design.