Emotional Design and Storytelling

3rd part of an MDes Dissertation, produced for Ravensbourne University London

Human Needs and emotions:

American Psychologist Abraham Maslow introduced one of the most prominent accounts for human motivation, with his hierarchy of needs, in 1943. Comprising of a five-tier hierarchical pyramid of human needs, Maslow denotes that to obtain self-fulfilment, one must surpass their basic, physiological needs. An inability to achieve the lower levels of the hierarchy prevents us from investing time and energy into the levels higher up and thus leaving more complex needs unsatisfied. Maslow was a big advocate of viewing people through what drives them and his pyramid has long been used to understand what drives us as humans.

Pictured above is Maslow’s pyramid denoting five tiers of needs. The most basic ones are shown at the bottom of the pyramid which ensures our survival. They are then followed by the need for safety and security for ourselves and our loved ones. The middle-tier represents relationships in our lives that include the desire for love and attention from family, friends, and intimate relationships. It is followed by the esteem needs which comprise of our confidence, self-esteem, respect from ourselves and others. At the top of the pyramid is self-actualisation which includes “expressing one’s individuality, creativity, the quest for spiritual enlightenment, the pursuit of knowledge, and the desire to be a part of society and/or a community” (Komninos, 2019). Carl Rogers, American psychologist self-fulfilment as “man’s tendency to actualise himself to become his potentialities…to express and activate all the capacities of the organism” (Komninos, 2019). From the concept of Maslow’s pyramid, we can gather the idea of meeting our basic needs such as having food and shelter is essential, to provide the time or energy to fulfil our secondary needs. An inability to do so leaves one with feelings of inadequacy and negative experiences.

User needs and emotions:
The field of design has evolved over the years to be a multifaceted one and above all, designers are always on the lookout for finding ways to fulfil society’s needs and deliver the best experiences. The same way that our general individual needs are categorised in a pyramid — making one dependent on the other as Maslow suggests, user’s needs can also be classified into the different levels similar to that of Maslow’s pyramid. Products, services and systems may be looked at as designs that in some form or the other, fulfil a human need. Suggesting that a comparison between Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs and a hierarchy of consumers needs that provides different levels of satisfaction and fulfilment when they engage with products, services and/or systems — must exist.

Aarron Walter, Vice President at InVision, has mirrored Maslow’s pyramid to one of users’ needs, in his book Designing For Emotion. The idea of this comparison stems from the view that user delight and satisfaction can only be achieved when any design fulfils its basic needs such as functionality and usability, hence suggesting that those must be the first few levels a design must achieve. Based on this, the pyramid of user needs looks something like this. But what exactly is it about user delight that makes it
crucial within design? The Nielsen Norman Group defines it as “any positive emotional affect that a user may have when interacting with a device or interface. User delight may not always be expressed outwardly but can influence the behaviours and opinions formulated while using a website or application” (Nielsen Norman Group, 2017).

Walter’s pyramid of user needs is very similar to that of Maslows, but what does it mean for design? The lowest level of functionality suggests that any design can be merely approved, if it is functional. It must perform a certain task or in a certain way that can allow the user to then complete a task. It must be useful. Next, the design must be reliable in a way that a functional design should always work as expected, otherwise, it becomes seen as unreliable and once again fails to fulfil a user’s needs. This is especially the case when referring to the design of interfaces as Walter does in his book. When it comes to usability, interfaces must allow us to learn and perform tasks fairly quickly, without a lot of relearning. Traditionally, usability has been the accepted mark in the design industry, and while it is an experience that fulfils our need — it doesn’t get us to the top of the pyramid where we may feel accomplished, aware and happy. So the idea of user-delight is to deliver a pleasurable design that “could help you complete a critical task and put a smile on your face” (Walter, 2011, p.22). With the concepts of usable designs being accepted as ‘great’, there still may be more to achieve in an ever-evolving world of design. This aspect, not greatly understood or delved into, is delight. It is pleasure and true fulfilment, and one that elicits an intense emotional response within a user. Usable design is good, but can be compared to consuming edible food. Most definitely, food that is edible is necessary to give one a nutritional value to fulfil their daily needs, but when we crave flavour, we desire something that blows our mind. While a mind-blowing experience can definitely be delivered from a good meal and everything you experience before and after consuming this meal, a well-designed product, or service can deliver the same satisfaction.

Designing for the output of such experiences is a relatively new aspect of design thinking and is challenging. Moreover, with people feeling a plethora of complex emotions, design for delight and satisfaction can be even more tricky to define and measure. But it is crucial, as Norman suggests the idea of attractive things working better, he explains how the initial perception of a product or service affects the emotions that drive the user to want to continue engaging with it. But there is so much more yet to be discovered about such outputs, that accepting this as the only way forward is naive.

Upon understanding this idea behind Walter’s pyramid, as designers, we open a new window of possibilities that bring together design and emotions. This concept, first introduced by Norman, is presented as ‘Emotional Design’. An idea that brings together a deep understanding of the design and the complexity and psychology of human emotions. He argues that emotions change the way a human mind solves problems and the “emotional system changes how the cognitive system operates” (Norman, 2003). But what is it about emotions that are so important, they must alter our design thinking process? Because delight in humans is not always experienced and expressed in the same way, it is complex to study and identify what makes up our processing and emotional system.
Currently, three levels of processing that take place in the brain have been identified and studied — 1) The Visceral, 2) Behavioural and 3) Reflective are cognitive responses that can be accounted for when designing for pleasure and delight (Norman, 2003).

While these levels are not newly identified, they are not widely incorporated into the design process, today. However, despite the differences in how these responses are used in our brain, it is certain that different dimensions of the emotional system are all interconnected as they each play a role in influencing our overall emotional experiences. This leads us to understand that, as designers, tapping into one or all of these levels of the emotional response system, is how we begin to create pleasurable designs. Moreover, having identified the stages of processing, designers can perhaps even begin to manipulate the responses and actions of users.

Design and Emotions:

The history of emotions was relatively ill-explored and thought to be something that could be overcome by rationality and logic (Norman, 2003). More recent work has shown that human beings are the most emotional of all and use emotions in almost every situation to make decisions. Research in psychology has suggested that being happy is a facilitator for creative thinking and psychologist Alice Isen has noted that “when people are relaxed and happy, their thought processes expand, becoming more creative, more imaginative” (Norman, 2003). This theory may inform the idea that attractive things make people feel better and hence trigger a more creative thinking approach, providing a better user experience. “The fact is that the emotional design of a product or service affects its success — and thus the bottom line” (Interaction Design Foundation, 2011). How then, can a designer make sense of the complexity of human emotions to understand and form new approaches to emotional design?

As the comparison between both pyramids suggests the presence of emotions, we can begin to uncover connections between one’s emotions and design. The breakdown of ‘user-experience’ implies the experience the users go through when using a product or service. Moreover, knowing that emotions are responsible for our experiences, implies that designing for the user’s emotions is about giving users the best experiences and is of utmost importance.

Walter’s pyramid elucidates that atop of usable designs, delight and satisfaction are what adds flavours to our experiences and we know from Norman’s point of view that to experience the ‘flavourful designs’, the emotional system is the one responsible. Here is where the connection between design and emotions really begins to illuminate the true meaning of emotional design. Is it about attractive things? Yes. Is it about functional
things? Yes. It is also about pleasing our senses. And even about usability. The previous chapter explored that design is about creating change thereby allowing us to integrate these learnings and suggest that emotional design is about creating a balanced amalgamation of delight and usability that provokes the intended responses in a user, causing them to take conscious actions. We learn from Walter’s writing, that delight is
not just about attractiveness, just like a good meal is not just about how it looks, but the whole experience of consuming it from start to finish can make you experience delight. So, while attractive things do contribute to ‘working better’, the experience and actions it causes the user to then take are as important as their initial visceral response. This is precisely why the emotional experiences of design make certain products and services
more successful than others. They tell a story.

Stories create emotional experiences:
Storytelling is all about the good narratives. The ones that succeed are those that successfully elicit one or multiple emotions in a person. A great story is the one that drives people’s emotions and memories. As designers, we don’t really write the narratives of the story, but rather we must ensure that when our products/services become part of the narrative we sell, it makes a positive impact. This leads me to believe that emotional design is about the impacts the narrative creates and the actions taken by the user, which in this case, are deliberated and controlled by the designer.

Is the way of creating a delightful and satisfactory experience just about a good narrative that is responsible for creating positive change in ourselves? Or perhaps in our immediate surroundings? Or even the ecosystem we live in? There is surely much more to emotional design and the power of great stories that are capable of creating change in ways much bigger than just ourselves. When thinking of powerful storytelling, it is important to consider this — “The further you push yourself into “storytelling” mode the more likely you are to end up in the realm of fiction because you feel compelled to create a narrative” (Weaver, 2019). One example suggestive of this idea is Disney. Consider Disney as a brand and as a company that is known for its films, its theme parks, its merchandise, and its unique DisneyWorlds. The thing that connects all these dots is great storytelling. Disney have established themselves as a brand that can create powerful narratives and have been recognised for their work ever since they began. The Walt Disney company’s Imagineering team have done more than just design their theme parks, they have mastered the art of compelling narratives that create a world of hyper-reality, transporting customers into an immersive space and bringing their wildest imaginations to life. The truth is that very few industries have managed to integrate such powerful storytelling, customer experience and brand loyalty. Disney has done what most brands are striving to achieve: finding the overlap of customers emotions, strong stories and ever-evolving technology. Cristian Lachel, executive creative director at BRC Imagination Arts, says that the aim “is to create an engaging experience that allows audiences to become emotionally invested and to participate in the narrative. That’s what leads to a transformative experience that deepens brand loyalty” (Alton, 2018).

What does this tell us about great storytelling and designing emotional experiences for customers? Perhaps that emotional experiences in users drive successful brand loyalty as we have seen with Disney, and even encourage consumerism? Outside of their theme parks, Disney has continued to empower their customers through successful marketing and advertising. Their approach of capturing one’s fantasy has really given consumers the flavour and fulfilling experience that they desire, undoubtedly leading to more mass
consumption. Storytelling is an important factor in designing and branding because “in business creates a competitive advantage — helps to create an effective marketing communication strategy, triggers interest with potential clients and strengthens loyalty with your existing ones. Your story affects how your clients remember you” (Smith, n.d.).
If good storytelling and advertising strategies are ways that businesses increase brand loyalty, it could be a means to encourage consumption. Would that mean emotional design is a way to encourage users to consume more products and services? And what does this tell us about sustainable behaviour? The short answer is — yes and no.
Businesses have the opportunities to use emotional designs to immerse their consumers in their services, which would ideally lead to more engaged and loyal customers, thereby bringing them back to that product/service constantly. But brand loyalty doesn’t necessarily mean an increased unnecessary consumption from the users side. Brand loyalty can be seen as a means to create competitive advantage wherein a brand makes their own space in an individual’s life causing them to choose Brand A over Brand
B for the same product or service. Considering an item such as a toothbrush, the experience of using a particular one may increase loyalty towards brand A and increase their sales. This, however, does not necessarily mean that the consumer is using more of this product than they would need and hence will not directly increase their consumption of it. In contrast, if the business
were to design one or multiple accessories that would accompany this toothbrush, for example, customers already loyal to the brand would be inclined to purchase this accessory in the hopes that it may increase their fulfilling emotional experience of using that toothbrush. In this case, it may be considered that selling the desire for emotional experiences to customers may increase the amount of unstable consumption in the industry. Going back to the example of Disney that does exactly this — they use their ability to create and sell emotional and immersive experiences to their advantage for
their merchandise that consumers don’t necessarily need, but still purchase, in the desire to have a better, more delightful experience. It is worth noting in this example that when Disney creates films they sell a story, they sell the fantasy that allows people to escape reality, even if momentary — and thus with every such film, comes a growing body of products that follow, making consumers feel the need to own, in order to be part of the whole experience. And that’s where the cycle begins. When brand loyalty is successfully created, consumers are trapped in a circle of endless consumption which reinforces their emotional experiences while allowing the brand to make more money as they continue to serve. The difference here is how a company would use this loyalty to drive the right kind of actions in the industry.

Emotional Design to form Habits:

The other to emotional design might link to conscious consumer behaviours; where businesses strive to create more sustainable consumption patterns. One where emotional experiences are designed to create long-lasting bonds with consumers. In a growing world where products are consumed and disposed at a concerning rate, and sustainable design methodologies lack a philosophical approach but rather are system focused, a new way of thinking and developing products that make use of our emotional and behavioural systems is discussed. This is the approach to creating habit forming products and services that tap into our behaviour patterns and needs. American Author Nir Eyal presents the answer to products forming habits in the first place is — ‘they are manufactured’. It is the beginning of a Hook Model: a four-phase process that companies can use to form habits. “Through consecutive Hook cycles, successful products reach their ultimate goals of unprompted user engagement, bringing users back repeatedly, without depending on constantly advertising or aggressive messaging” (Nir Eyal, 2016). The four steps of the Hook model is a behavioural and design framework for businesses to create habit-forming products. The theory behind the model focuses on the fact that habit-forming products that tap into our behavioural and emotional needs are ones that we never want to get rid of. The ones that we can hold onto and the ones we keep on using. Eyal’s argument is that bringing consumers into a habit zone will mean they engage with the product with little to no thought. This methodology may be one that brings businesses and consumers one step farther from the ‘use and throw’ mentality. The habit driver strategy looks something like this

New habits need a foundation that they can be formed upon. These are the triggers, the first stage of the Hooked cycle and the actuator of any behaviour. There are two types, the external and internal ones. “Habit — forming products start by alerting users with external triggers like an e-mail, a website link, or the app icon on a phone” (Nir Eyal, 2016).

Following the trigger, is the action. It is the behaviour that follows in anticipation of a reward. The action is important because it is a response to the trigger. It will only happen when there is minimum effort — both physical and mental — required to perform it. The Fogg behaviour model developed by B.J Fogg suggests that behaviour occurs when motivation, ability and trigger are present at the same time in enough quantity. Motivation is what “defines the level of desire to take that action” — it is through motivation that we as humans are influenced to perform tasks and undertake behaviours, conscious or subconscious. The more motivation, the more desire to take action. These elements of motivation can be very much seen in the advertising business that “tap into people’s motivations to influence their habits” (Nir Eyal, 2016). To keep users engaged and build upon their habits, companies can use variable rewards, which Eyal describes as “one of the most powerful tools companies implement to hook users”. American Psychologist B.F. Skinner found that unpredictable rewards keep behaviour going. Behaviours are not rewarded every time and rewards are given based on how many times a person does that behaviour. Robert Sapolsky an American neuroendocrineologist’s research suggests that when the brain is expecting a reward, dopamine level surge which allows us to suppress judgement and reason (Hogan, 2018). Skinner says that variable rewards are beneficial because they result in behaviours that “are hard to extinguish”. “Only by understanding what truly matters to users can a company correctly match the right variable reward to their intended behaviour” (Nir Eyal, 2016).

The last phase, the investment, is where the user does the work, which businesses can take advantage of to keep their customers engaged and devoted. It is also the phase that increases the odds of the user going through another hooked cycle in the future. The commitments in this phase imply the actions that improve the user's experience. They can be maximized to make engaging triggers, easier actions and more exciting rewards. When thinking about the hooked cycle to design and develop certain behaviours in users, it is now easier to see how each phase of the cycle can tap into our emotional system and initiate behaviours turned to habits. However, the idea of emotional design being only a ‘delightful’ experience seems almost superficial. To think about the negative responses of one’s emotional system may be just as important as the positive ones. Surely, emotions as we experience them are both positive and negative — but when design is thought to be a driver for certain emotions, we see emotional design described as ‘positive’, ‘pleasurable ‘, ‘delightful’, something that users ‘want to keep’ and ones that ‘lasts’. After having understood more about the psychology of behaviour and emotions, the value of emotional design seems more relevant and actionable within design.

Positive emotions create a wealth of opportunities for people, but, because design is a tool for change that can be fabricated right from the design stage to the end of consumption, tapping into a user's negative emotions, may allow design to be the ‘trigger’ for certain behavioural and actionable changes. In that way, is it possible that emotional design can also encompass a design that triggers negative emotional responses in a user whilst the action they are prompted to take, instils positive and promising behaviour. After all, the shift to circularity is all about the change in behaviour and the Hooked model tells us that changing habits is arduous due to the function of neural pathways in the brain. While there is little to no research on how designing for negative emotions can help play a role in changing behaviours, Eyal, briefly addresses how these can also be powerful motivators for action. Once again, the advertising business can be seen designing strong narratives that instil emotions such as fear.

The image below is a campaign created by Ogilvy and Mathers for the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation to encourage motorbike riders to wear helmets.

The approach for this advert was to create fearful emotions in the reader, by showing them the consequences of their actions, or lack thereof. It sends a chilling message of the outcomes one faces when they choose to ride without a helmet. While triggering a negative fearful response, it prompts users to make certain choices — leading to a positive outcome. In the hooked cycle, the fear of what one might experience would be a trigger, leading to action that creates changed behaviour for the better. “Within four months of the launch of the campaign, the proportion of people wearing helmets in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City almost doubled” and “motorcyclists wearing helmets when driving out of the cities increased by 15.7% to 77%.” (Wppstream.com, 2020). This can be compared to the framework of ‘rich experience design’, where negative emotion produces subjective transformation. This emotion transforms both that person’s perception of the situation and their attitude toward it and can lead to action when there lies an opportunity to realise that what’s being done is somehow good in the long-run.

What does this say about emotional design as a concept? We know that user experiences are a direct result of design. And the better the design, the more delighted the user feels. Storytelling is a powerful tool when attempting to deliver these experiences but sometimes can lead consumers to patterns of unsustainable consumption. However, the Hooked model can be a strategy that businesses may choose to use to rightly address these consumer patterns and drive sustainable changes. Moreover, an emotional model can be woven from this to tell us that people have emotional responses when something happens that directly concerns their wellbeing. An appraisal precedes this response as it is a direct result of a concern or stimulus. This is finally followed by the action tendency which urges certain actions. As designers, initiating the right kind of change is crucial, but deliberating the consequences of the emotional experiences can have a ripple effect on society. For better or worse emotions always lead us to actions.

…End of Chapter 3…