Week Two [Emotion & Design]

I shall be using examples of the standard fixed-line phones to illustrate the three aspects of emotion and design. As mentioned during the lecture, visceral design refers primarily to that initial impact of the phone’s appearance. The new age cordless phone aptly represents this aspect (as shown in the figure). It is black and sleek, promising the freedom and ease to talk and walk around the house, and to always be in a reachable distance for you. However, over the years, due to constant charging and abuse (the fault is shared among my family), the battery life has depleted, and the sound is much softer now. Moreover, the ease of carrying it around the house has become a source of irritation for me as the cordless phone is difficult to locate and moved around in the house by everyone.

Next concept is the behavioral design that is more about the look and feel, the total experience of using the product. This phone (the red one) has been with us for almost seven years if I recall, even though I have no significant memories of it unlike the traditional dial phone, it is easy to use, and it has a redial function that is not found in the traditional phone. Moreover, the ringing tone for this phone is much softer than the jarring ringing sound from the traditional phone. This phone is much better than the cordless simply because it will always be found at the same place, and there is no need in charging it.

For the reflective design, after much thought, I have chosen the traditional phone found also in my house. For this aspect, I have chosen a traditional phone, which belongs to my grandma. She bought this in the 1980s but till today, she still keeps (and it works) in the house. This phone just looks wonderful to me with an almost antique feel to it. But the best part about this phone is the sound of the dial turning and this just brings back so many memories of times spent at my grandma’s place since young. This phone is not sold anymore on the market, so using it does have a unique and exclusive feel to it. In my opinion, the phone is just as functional too. Firstly, I do not have to keep charging it (unlike the cordless technology), this phone will always be found at the same place hence, easier to locate than my cordless phone which keeps appearing at different places all the time.

Different objects are bought with different objectives in mind. For instance, a picture or vase or expensive watches and cars, would be bought purely for their appearances, others, functionality would rule, such as kitchen appliances perhaps, even they could be use for decorative purposes. For me, the most important factor is still its functionality, the cordless phone is still in my house, but due to the hassle of using it, I have gradually preferred the normal red phone. As for the cordless, initially the convenience and sleekness appealed to my, but when obvious deficits occurs, the desire to use it also greatly decreased.