Emotional design is the art of crafting products that evoke emotions, resulting in positive and impactful experiences for the user. According to Donald Norman, author of the book “Emotional Design,” “it is not enough to build products that work and are understandable and usable. We also need to build products that bring joy and excitement, pleasure and fun, and beauty to people’s lives.”

The focus on this emotional layer is what is known as creating products that bring “delight,” satisfaction, and captivate people. It is accomplished with the balance of the three pillars of emotional design: visceral, behavioral, and reflective.

When it comes to visceral design, we consider the user’s instinctive reactions or the initial impressions of a product. For example, when we are on the street and smell freshly baked bread from a bakery, we haven’t interacted with the “product” yet, but we already have a feeling and pre-awareness.

The behavioral design, on the other hand, is related to the use of the product and the user’s perception of functionality and usability. Here, function, physical sensation, and performance are crucial—like when we use a knife to cut bread and the knife behaves as expected, cutting a perfect slice in a single stroke.

Regarding reflective design, after interacting with products, the user consciously judges their performance and benefits. If they are happy and have an emotionally positive experience, they are more likely to use it, form emotional bonds, and even share and recommend it to friends. The product takes on meaning in people’s lives and how they think. How many do not feel satisfaction and joy when eating a favorite meal and think about how good it makes them feel?

Various tools allow designers to bring this emotional layer to users so that the product has meaning and has an impact on people’s lives. Visual elements are the key to conveying emotion and are highly effective in demonstrating empathy. Microcopy, storytelling, personalization, customization, or gamification are also relevant instruments that make interfaces “alive,” encourage interaction, and bring emotional impact to the product.

Emotional design is a powerful concept that can create products that are not only functional but also provide more meaningful experiences, captivate users, and establish lasting, memorable, and meaningful connections that go beyond the basic functionality of the product. It is necessary to focus on creating good usability (rational) and making interaction enjoyable (emotional). People are rational and emotional, and it is crucial to balance the three pillars of emotional design without neglecting any of them.

Opinion article by Hugo Carrapatoso Silva, DesignOps | Product Design Specialist at Bliss Applications, originally published in Portuguese on Meios & Publicidade.