I’d like to continue a comment about bringing emotion into the design process because I think it deserves its own post. Kip said:

Design has some valuable roots in its ties with emotion, but in many ways we’ve lost touch. Can we bring a sophisticated discussion of “emotion” back on the table and include it in our design process?

I don’t know if we’ve lost touch or if emotion has been neglected in the bustle of quickly changing technology and products. But I think we can do more to bring emotion into the process. There might be an expectation that design is by default about emotion, and it does not need much attention.

Looking at my Basic Interaction design syllabus, emphasis is placed on the design process and methods. Although some of the methods, like personas and narrative scenarios are supposed to help get at the motivations and the experience, and by extension, the emotions. Video sketching is another method that I think helps to understand what the emotional aspects of the product might be like. Though we typically talk about video sketching as being about the experience, which leads me to ponder the relationship of emotion and experience in design (thesis paper topic for some grad student?).

I remember a recent comment about “shit in, shit out” in regards to the design process, which I took to mean you get what you bring into it. If you aren’t excited about the design process or problem, for example, your solution will not be very exciting. Perhaps if you are not emotional or consider emotion throughout the process, emotion will not be a strong component of your solution.

Last semester, when Kip and I were working on our TSA service design project, we spent a lot of time considering the emotional aspect of going through airport security. Taking lots of photos of people in context and having those photos surround us during design meetings really helped keep emotion at the forefront of our discussions. Though it also helped that we are both very aware of and keen to recognize the role of emotion in design.

Another suggestion I heard last summer at Adaptive Path came from Dan Saffer, who suggested considering the aesthetics sooner using an image, music, or word. This is similar to my experience with the TSA project, where we referred to certain photos to constantly remind us of the emotions involved currently and those we wanted the end result to embody.

Just finished watching Crash, and am now thinking about the ability films and other media have on stirring emotion and changing our perspective. I used to say that I never felt more emotional than during or after watching a film. There was a time when I would go to a film on a weekend night, then head back to my apartment to write while under the influence of my zealous mind, trying to capture the feeling in my own work.

From poetry to fiction to music to screenplays and now to design, I seem compelled to create for the purpose of influencing—stirring emotion and changing perspective—changing the world for the better, I like to believe. That seems like a rather presumptuous and egotistical task. And the passion behind it I find rather mysterious.

Is it passion for beauty? Is beauty the realization of a more humane world? Is that what we strive to do as designers? Reflect the beauty of the world and provide hope for the human condition?

Or are we just trying to make cool stuff? And is making cool stuff still sticking to the path? Do products and services that look and feel better, that treat us well, ultimately affect change and enable a more humane world?

I think they do. And that’s why I’m passionate about what I do.

In response to my post on this site and my post on Adaptive Path’s blog, Marco Van Hout, of design-emotion.com, admitted that I busted him on having only men on his site. He is now looking for expert female designers to interview.

I appreciate his transparency.

Unfortunately, the essay I was researching that spawned the posts got nixed in lieu on another topic (as of yet unpublished).

I’m not one to go around telling people it’s my birthday, which is why this post is coming 40 minutes after my birthday (unless you’re on the west coast).

It was a fun experiment to see if anyone would say anything. My number one suspect for getting the word out: Facebook. At around 4 p.m. today, someone noticed. Got to love Facebook.

Or do you?

For our seminar 2 class, we’re writing a 15-page paper for which we needed to turn in an abstract today. My paper topic addresses the mixed emotions people have regarding Facebook. Here’s the abstract (mind you, this is beta, having been written before the paper, per our instructions):

With mobile devices becoming more prominent than personal computers, the social applications designed for them have great potential to impact social behavior and the emotions of those using them. Designers will need to consider the negative impacts of the products they create for this burgeoning space. This paper reflects on discoveries of coexisting positive and negative emotions related to the use of the online social networking tool, Facebook. In addition to creating a positive social community for communication and entertainment, the negative emotions associated with Facebook include feeling overwhelmed, dependent, and guilty. I argue that the unintended consequences of online social networking provide design implications for new ubiquitous social experiences using mobile devices. Designers will need to focus not only on making their mobile social products usable, useful, and desirable, but also account for the potential negative impacts of their use on social and cultural values.

Oh, I just thought of a way to contradict my first statement in this post. As I had at some previous point in time entered my birthday into Facebook, I indeed am someone who would broadcast his birthday.