1. In this chapter, Norman discusses three types of design that are meant to make products more appealing to consumers. These three types of design are visceral, behavioral, and reflective. While all three of these design types are important, they must be addressed in different ways. Visceral design deals with a much more subconscious, emotional response of the consumer. It is meant to elicit a positive initial response. Consumers may see an object and just the appearance of the object will lead them to want to make the purchase. There are many different ways that designers can create a better visceral design. This includes making things symmetrical, choosing appropriate colors, creating good odors, etc. The interesting thing about visceral design is that it is meant to take advantage of the biological predispositions of humans, so this type of design is meant to hold true for everybody. Behavioral design relates to four components listed by Norman: function, understandability, usability, and physical feel. Unlike visceral design, behavioral design is primarily interested in the actual function of the product. The product is useless if it does not perform its intended function. Designers can either enhance products or innovate them in order to improve function. Innovation is easier than enhancement because it implies creating something new to address undeclared needs of users. The understandability of a product has to do with the conceptual model, an idea previously discussed by Norman in another book. In short, products should be taught once and then the user should be able to use it forever without questions. Norman also says that products must be comfortably usable for a variety of audiences. Instructions should be provided in different languages, products should be comfortable for people of different body sizes, etc. Norman presents the idea of a “universal design.” Though difficult, he says that there is no reason it cannot be done. The last aspect of behavioral design is physical feel, and most of the characteristics of physical feel such as weight and texture fall under the broader term of “tangibility.” Products should feel nice to the hand whether it be nicely polished metal or ergonomically designed keyboards. The last type of design that Norman talks about is reflective design. This is very much intertwined with cultural norms. People want to buy products that they will look back on and be happy about the purchase. People want to show off what they have bought, so they pay attention to things like prestige, rarity of the product, etc. Norman says that designers can take advantage for this by simply increasing the price of certain things such as alcoholic beverages because people think that the more expensive something is, the nicer quality it is. Reflective design is very culturally connected because different people from different cultures value products for different reasons.
2. Norman’s writing style is very similar in both excerpts that we read. He uses a very conversational tone, which makes it easier to understand. One major difference between the two passages read is that, in the most recent passage, he provides far fewer anecdotes to illustrate his ideas. However, he still does provide examples of all the different types of design.
3. The Macbook Air definitely succeeded in having a good visceral design. The computer is extremely thin and has a nice silver color. It has a smooth, somewhat rounded casing and a lovely Apple in the middle of the back of the screen. A product with good behavioral design would be certain types of winter coats. There are many winter coats for kids that are extremely puffy, and they do not honestly look very good. However, that is irrelevant so long as it functions well and the kid does not get hypothermia. It is very easy to understand what to do with a coat and how to use it too. The coats generally feel nice and cozy too. A good example of a car with good reflective design is a Rolls Royce. An incredible amount of prestige is attached to the ownership of this car, and most people would like to tell other people that they have one.
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