1.6 Emotional Responses to Product Qualities

Product features can contribute to both positive and negative emotional responses. Our perceptions of strong product quality are often influenced by positive responses. For example, if you end up with a sharp pencil each time you use your pencil sharpener, you will likely think it is a well-made pencil sharpener. If you sometimes end up with a broken pencil, you will decide it is a poorly made instrument. Likewise, a well-designed product can have product features designed to trigger a negative emotional response to reinforce appropriate behaviours. For example, a jar may be designed to be difficult to open to prevent children from unsupervised access.

Negative emotional responses may also contribute to richly nuanced user experiences. For example, your loud morning alarm is likely an unpleasant disturbance, but it is an instrument that achieves the goal of waking you up. Hopefully, it also serves as an enabler that leads to a feeling of satisfaction at starting your day as planned. In this case, according to Fokkinga and Desmet (2012), a negative reaction to a disturbing alarm helps a person, ultimately, transform their perception of and attitude toward certain situations. Although we are initially annoyed by the loud alarm, we end up appreciating the on-time wake-up call to start our day.

Although that negative reaction to the alarm may lead to a positive user experience, designers are usually not hoping for a negative association or frustration while using a product. If a potato peeler doesn’t peel potatoes the user will want to discard it. If a computer doesn’t work, few of us will destroy it, but we welcome enhancements that make it easier for us to do our desired tasks or make a different brand choice when we need a new one.

EMOTIONAL RESPONSES TO PRODUCT QUALITIES

Physical pleasure or discomfort toward a product can come from the actual feeling of materials – a cozy blanket, a sharp knife, a scratchy clothing label, or a slimy object’s surface. Touching something cold like an ice pack can make you shiver, touching something ancient and rusted like a rusty tool can make you feel dirty, or touching something soft like a blanket can make you feel cozy and secure.

Affection is often associated with the meaning we perceive of products – I love my teddy bear, my delicate fishing lures, my freshly washed and polished car, or conversely, I really don’t like this camera my father gave me, but it was a special gift from him, so I keep using it.

A product’s visual qualities and your emotional responses to them can seduce you to select and cherish it or avoid it. For example, a beautiful hand-crafted wooden picture frame with a family photo in it may bring back good memories for you, whereas a dented car fender that reminds you of an unpleasant experience does not bring back good memories. These emotional responses to products are often subjective and differ among people. You could be thrilled with your new coffee maker because it makes amazing espresso, whereas I might be disappointed with its complicated features and shiny black surfaces that require a lot of cleaning to remove fingerprints.

Pieter Desmet (2009) notes that “seeing, touching, hearing, and smelling an object can be a strong emotional stimulus” (p. 390) before and during product use. In other words, specific sensory design features contribute to how the product is perceived, used, and enjoyed. Qualities discussed in the following chapters such as appearance, colour, composition, surface textures, sounds, and smells are sensory elements in the overall design of the product that can contribute to and sometimes elicit emotional responses.