Design for Emotion

Design for Emotion introduces you to the why, what, when, where and how of designing for emotion. Improve user connection, satisfaction and loyalty by incorporating emotion and personality into your design process. The conscious and unconscious origins of emotions are explained, while real-world examples show how the design you create affects the emotions of your users.

This isn't just another design theory book - it's imminently practical. Design for Emotion introduces the A.C.T. Model (Attract/Converse/Transact) a tool for helping designers create designs that intentionally trigger emotional responses. This book offers a way to harness emotions for improving the design of products, interfaces and applications while also enhancing learning and information processing. Design for Emotion will help your designs grab attention and communicate your message more powerfully, to more people.

Foreword by BJ Fogg,

Founder & Director, Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab 

Creative professionals who design consumer products, entertainment, software, websites, marketing, and communications are beginning to appreciate the importance of evoking emotions and personality to capture viewers' attention and create satisfying experiences. Design for Emotion addresses the basic questions around designing emotional experiences; why, what, when, where and how do we design for emotion? With extensive real-world examples to help illustrate how emotion and personality are communicated through design, Design for Emotion isn't just another book on design theory - it's an imminently practical guide to applying and eliciting emotion in design.

• Explains the relationship between emotions and product personalities
• Details the most important dimensions of a product's personality
• Examines models for understanding users' relationships with products
• Explores how to intentionally design product personalities 
• Provides extensive examples from the worlds of product, web and application design
• Includes a simple and effective model for creating more emotional designs

The book also features interviews with Stephen P. Anderson, Aarron Walter, Marco van Hout, Patrick W. Jordan and Trish Miner, and case studies from Moni Wolf, Matt Pattison, Shayal Chhibber, Chris Fryer and Damian Smith. Harness the power of emotional design to enhance products, websites and applications while improving user experience and increasing customer satisfaction. Design for Emotion will help you communicate your client's message and brand values with the appropriate emotions and personality for their target audience.

Formerly a user experience consultant at nForm User Experience, a leading Canadian User Experience firm, Trevor created information architecture, performed interaction design and conducted user research and usability evaluations for clients like the City of Edmonton, Comcast, Ancestry.com, and the Government of Alberta. Presently, he helps his clients develop more usable, useful and pleasurable websites, applications and products as the principal of Affective Design Inc., a user experience consultancy.

Trevor is the author and editor of affectivedesign.org, a popular blog on the intersection of design and emotion. Other recent works include contributions to Deconstructing Product Design by William Lidwell and articles for Boxes and Arrows, a noted industry web magazine. Trevor has given presentations on the topic of designing for emotion at conferences both in North America and internationally.
Edie Adams is the Principal User Experience Manager for the Mac Business Unit (MacBU) at Microsoft Corporation. Prior to joining MacBU, she was developing an understanding of the premium mobile consumer market for the Platform and Core Innovation team in Windows COSD. Edie is trained in occupational ergonomics, product design and design research. She is a CPE (Certified Professional Ergonomist), and holds a M.E.Des. in Industrial Design and a B.Sc. in Psychology from the University of Calgary, where she has been an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Environmental Design.

To begin her career at Microsoft, Edie led a team in the research of physical, cognitive and emotional interactions of people and products for Microsoft Hardware and Strategic Business Divisions. Her innovations have been recognized with over 50 US patents. She has held numerous research and design manager positions in Windows, including Windows Mobile and Tailored Products, the Windows Hardware Innovation Group, and the Windows Hardware and Emerging Markets Group.