In chapter two of the book Designing for Emotion by Aarron Walter, the author gives some interesting insight on the prospective of humans and how their attitudes effect design. In the beginning of the chapter, Walter explains how emotion is something that all humans have in common and they develop over the persons life span which dictates how they perceive things. I thought his in depth analysis on “human nature” and the psychology of the evolution of the human was helpful in learning more about how and why we interpret things the way we do. The most interesting example was that of “the baby-face bias.” This helped me make the connection with how every design principle is somehow connected to human nature and emotion and to influence audiences. The one thing I didn’t agree with in this chapter was the cognitive contrast theory that police try and use to penalize speeders. In some cases, like mine, instead of deterring from repeated speeding, it could make the subject or audience more inclined to rebel. Though I agree with most all of Walter’s other arguments, I agree most with the analogy used to demonstrate everyone yelling in a party to have a conversation; that if everyone’s design is loud and abrasive then no one is heard.

Originally posted at Taylor Ashley's PR Pubs