How does emotional design impact user experience?

The Psychology Behind Emotional Design

Getting Started

If you are involved in creating websites, apps or any other digital product, you should learn about emotional design.

Emotional design is the process of creating products that evoke emotions in users, which can lead to increased engagement, loyalty and conversion rates.

This guide is for website content authors, designers, developers and anyone else involved in creating digital products.

How To

1. Understand your audience: Before you can create emotionally engaging designs, you need to understand your target audience. What are their needs, desires and pain points? What emotions do they associate with your product or service?
2. Use color psychology: Colors can have a powerful impact on emotions. Use colors that are associated with the emotions you want to evoke. For example, red is associated with passion and excitement, while blue is associated with trust and calmness.
3. Use imagery: Images can also evoke emotions. Use images that are relevant to your product or service and that evoke the emotions you want to associate with it.
4. Use typography: Typography can also play a role in emotional design. Choose fonts that are easy to read and that evoke the emotions you want to associate with your product or service.
5. Use microinteractions: Microinteractions are small interactions that users have with your product. They can be used to create moments of delight and surprise, which can lead to increased engagement and loyalty.

Best Practices

• Understand your audience and their emotions
• Use color psychology to evoke emotions
• Use imagery and typography to reinforce emotions
• Use microinteractions to create moments of delight

Examples

Let’s say you are creating a website for a luxury hotel.

Your target audience is likely to be affluent travelers who are looking for a high-end experience.

To create an emotionally engaging design, you might:

• Use a color palette that includes shades of gold, which is associated with luxury and wealth
• Use images of the hotel’s amenities, such as a spa or pool, to evoke feelings of relaxation and indulgence
• Use a serif font for headings and a sans-serif font for body text, which can convey elegance and modernity
• Use a microinteraction on the booking form that shows a small animation when a user successfully submits their information, creating a moment of delight