What is Emotional Design Concept in UI UX Design

Emotions – the sweet, the sour, and the good that make you feel everything!

Emotions have existed since the dawn of time, and stuck by our side. Technology, fire, houses, animals, schools, societies, or anything you can think of from the wheel of life is based on your emotions. You make decisions and choose direction based on what you feel and even create your path taking into consideration your emotions and feelings. 

But emotions and feelings are not the same. In order to design a project that sparks something we need to understand how those two work. Emotions are caused by certain triggers, are reactions to a certain situation, and usually appear uncontrollable, or without us controlling them. But, feelings stay with us longer. They are sensations experienced consciously, you can feel tired, hot, or cold. But emotions happen automatically, you can experience anger, love, excitement, and sadness within seconds, being the way you react, your primary feedback. 

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An Attractive UI design will always spark positive emotions! 

We can’t ignore how a certain emotion makes us feel, and good design sparks emotions! We want our users to enjoy our designs and have a great experience. We want them to feel good and have a flawless interaction that doesn’t make them exit our project. And Don Norman is one of the first ones to write about how to create a great experience.

In his book “Emotional Design”, Don Norman explains how attractive products can evoke more feelings and senses that can trigger a better user experience. Colors, images, buttons, and other graphic elements like shapes and textures can lead to certain emotions, so choose wisely how your design should look.

Don Norman also talks about how visual elements can cause certain reactions that are divided into three categories:

1. Visceral

When it comes to the art of design, visceral feelings reference the deepest feeling, an immediate reaction that is born due to a certain trigger, which can be the design. It’s the reaction a user has when interacting with a new product. The visceral design is a powerful and immediate reaction triggered by the sensory scan of the experience. 

2. Behavioral

As the name might imply, behavioral design takes care of the way a site behaves. It relates to the usability that can result from the function, feel, usability, and performance of the product. This is the stage where users form their opinions regarding the product.

3. Reflective

Reflective design is the final stage a product can have. Is the period in which a user reflects and predicts or anticipates whether the product is useful and what impact can have in his life. In the reflective stage of the emotional design, users take into consideration and understand how the product interacts and reflect whether or not they need it or not.

It is the stage in which the design convinces the users that they should buy the product. Here, Don Normann also believes that the cultural aspect, the meaning, and the function or features of the product are reflected upon, being an overall opinion that is formed. 

The emotional design concept is divided into three stages.

The first stage of emotional design one is the appearance - the visceral stage, the behavioral stage – the one where the function is analyzed and the reflective stage that marks the long-term impact the product has. 

And he continues talking about the common ground that the three reactions have delight. The American researcher states that any UI UX designer should know that these emotional responses are not accidental, even more so, the first reaction is crucial.  And, for users to experience a UI UX design, they first need to desire that experience, in our case, to enter the design world we created. 

However, the emotional design is not only in the hands of the UI designer – the UX design is just as important as it delivers the answers before the users ask them and it helps them with the reflective and behavioral design. 

The user interface establishes the relationship between the user and the digital product that the designer or the designers have created. When we think about the UI we can think of the beauty, the feelings, and the emotional journey the user can have when entering for the first time in your design. 

So, a UI designer needs to make sure that the design looks and is suited for the target range that the product is aiming for. And a customer analysis followed by design research is the way you can do it,  helping you deliver the right storylines to your users. The user interface also focuses on how the designs interact and if it is or is not responsive.  It takes care of the prototyping and how the design can respond and feel to the users. 

The UX designer is the one responsible for the user experience. Think of a UX designer as the skeleton that holds together everything. Is the work that can be seen but can be felt. The UX is the solution that comes before even asking them, like a meal served when you are hungry but too shy to ask for it. 

If you are just beginning your design journey, these are a few tips for creating an emotional design!

• Know your audience – You can’t spark any emotion if you don’t know who you are addressing to. So, do your research first! Imagine your persona, find what they like, and what they don’t, analyze the market, and see how you can improve your voice. Find out what is emotionally appealing to your targeted audience and apply the information you gathered in your design.

• Determine emotions – Find out which are your priorities, and what you want to design to evoke. If you are launching a new product you will probably need to spark excitement, and be trustworthy and reliable. Be user-friendly and do your research carefully in order to deliver an immersive experience for your audience. 

• Define the concept – In order to deliver a good design you need to imagine it first. Predict how your design can interact with your audience and see if it fits. Imagine your target audience is formed from Gen Z. So, your design needs to be colorful, with illustrations and bold fonts. All black and white? – Absolutely not. So, defining the concept is mandatory in the process. 

• Choose your colors wisely – Choose your color wisely. Pick the right colors and see which one suits your persona best. Colors have more power than you would think. They can deliver certain emotions and help you create the right atmosphere. For example, shades of green can be seen as admiration, trust, and acceptance. Or, different stages of purple can represent disgust or boredom. 

• Follow the three emotional contact points – visceral, behavioral, and reflexive emotional design scheme.

• Choose the right images – As the old saying goes, a  picture is worth a thousand words. Well, it is true, we can all agree on that. Finding the right pictures to spark emotions can be harder than we would imagine. So, pick them wisely!

We at uinkits understand the importance of inputs in great user experiences and creating amazing UI designs. That’s why we’ve developed a Figma UI Kit with design components that include these essential UI elements that enable you to design intuitive and user-friendly interfaces effortlessly.  

“You press the button, we do the rest,” – Kodak.

Inspired by this iconic tagline from Kodak, we believe in simplifying the design process for you. Our Figma UI Kit, uinkits, is a complete design system with UI components that allows you, as a UI UX designer, to create your products as quickly as pressing a button.

Our design system includes components, icons, variables, cards, buttons, and everything you need for your design process. All you have to do is take your UI design component needed, and you’re ready to use it in your designs!