Emotional Design Part Two

1. "Whether we wish to admit it or not, all of us worry about the image we present to others--or, for that matter, about the self-image that we present to ourselves. Do you sometimes avoid a purchase "because it wouldn't be right" or buy something in order to support a cause you prefer? These are reflective decisions. In fact, even people who claim a complete lack of interest in how they are perceived--dressing in whatever is easiest or most comfortable, refraining from purchasing new items until the ones they are using completely stop working--make statements about themselves and the things they care about. These are all properties of reflective processing."

I thought this was interesting because this statement is very true and many people do say that they don't care how they present themselves to others but that is completely false in my opinion. I think that the majority of purchases today are all for a way to present ourselves to others in a positive way. Many people buy certain clothes to gain attention and get recognition as being in style and they try to act better then others because of what they where. People try to make there self-image look better then it really is most of the time. I think designers take this statement and put it into use all of the time and they are successful by making things people want to wear or want to use to make that person feel good about themselves.



2. I do think these categories are useful to me. I never realized that design could be separated into three different categories. I now think about all three when I evaluate products. I think that other phrases could make the categories clearer to people that might see the words for the first time. I think that Visceral Design could be changed to Impression Design. Behavioral Design could be changed to Function Design. Reflective Design could be changed to Self-Appearance Design.

3. A designer could decide which type of design is best by listening to the demands of the public and try to reach out to consumers by a certain way. They would have to evaluate their product and try their best to reach out and get customers to buy their product. I think that there are a lot of products that are more one type of design then the others. An example could be clothes. Clothes are more visceral and reflective then behavioral. With clothes designers are trying to make something that is flashy, colorful and something that is a good way to help someone improve their self-image. A majority of products now a days are based on appearance. Things that used to be based on behavioral design are now even being combined with visceral design. Microwaves, toasters, and other household appliances are being more visceral design and are being designed for appearance. They used to be designed with behavioral design and the function was most important.