How People Work Reflection 2
Authors: Nicole Yu, Chelsea Liu
We found the lectures surrounding designing for emotion very new and interesting, how something physical can effectively assign a certain cognitive value in your head. Before, we had never consciously reflected on the thoughts we had in our heads when we interacted with products, and yet we knew what we were feeling subconsciously. We think it is amazing that we, designers, can influence that. However, in turn, this “power” is definitely a double-edged sword. We can either influence bad behavior (that benefits companies) on consumers by targeting spur of the moment emotions and planned obsolescence, or we can influence good behavior, by designing a product that encourages the consumer to hold on to it for a long time, reducing waste.
Something that Jonathan pointed out in his lecture that really stuck out to us was the fact that emotions simply don’t last. It’s a really simple fact that everyone doesn’t seem to know. As a result, we found that everything made sense, how companies target those spur of the moment emotions, especially during events, like Christmas, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, etc.
Now that we know about this, as consumers, it has become easier to guard against these tactics, and hold off on buying something that we “want” in that moment. On the other hand, as designers, it has also led us to think beyond simply the product we are designing but also consider the rest of its life after the customer becomes disinterested. What else could we do to make the object adapt to the customer and combat hedonic adaptation? What can we do to create meaningful interactions, rather than shallow connections that can be broken? Being able to create products that can grow with the user instead of something the user grows out of is definitely very relevant now and in the future due to the need to be sustainable and control climate change. Knowing how emotion plays a role in how a consumer interacts with the product is definitely an important key to designing meaningful and quality products that can literally last a lifetime.
We also found Professor Lockton’s lecture on how people think very interesting. In his lecture we learned that human factors, also known as “ergonomics”, do not pertain to just physical factors, but also cognitive and organizational factors. This is eye-opening because in our previous design classes, whenever the word “ergonomics” came up, it seemed to be addressing only the physical fit of a product to a person, and not the cognitive side of it.
In addition, we learned that human behaviors have everything to do with the environment and the mind. A memorable analogy Professor Lockton used was that “context” and “cognition” are two blades of the same scissor — they cannot be separated when examining people’s behaviors. This concept reminded us of the ancient debate around “nature” versus “nurture” — which is greater in determining the behaviors of a human being, genetics or experience? We know that we are not a blank slate at birth, that genetic makeup already determines a lot about a person. But we realize perhaps it is better to think of one’s “nature” as something that keeps growing instead of something permanent and unchangeable. Like how “cognition” and “context” are inseparable factors in determining a person’s behaviors, “nature” and “nurture” can be seen as an infinite loop that affects each other constantly. Experience can shape a person’s personality, just as their personality helps determine their experiences.
Another important point Professor Lockton brought up is people’s mental model of how things work. Sometimes, this mental model differs from how things actually work, and it is often better to design things the way people think they work. We found this a very helpful and applicable concept in our future design endeavors. However, we wonder what would happen when people’s mental model of how something works differ, especially when these users come from a wide variety of backgrounds. Would there be a compromise? Or would the mental model of the majority be prioritized? In Marysol’s lecture, we learned that everyone brings different perspectives to the table simply due to the way they were brought up. As a result, everyone has different associations. That is precisely why when designing with emotion in mind, it is so important to research and fully understand a culture before, since every culture, and in fact every person will have different reactions to a design.
