This chapter explained concepts I had never really thought of before. Most of them are simple concepts that are right in front of our face but they lead to some fascinating and more complex questions about design and even human nature in general. One major concept that stood out to me and one that really never crossed my mind was that all humans “emote”.

Charles Darwin postulated that we were all born predisposed and ready to express emotions such as fear, sadness, and anger. It is who we are and we as humans can express emotions better than any other species on the planet. It’s what makes us complex and so hard to figure out at times. We can hide emotions, repress them, and even change them on a whim. How does one design for a human race that constantly changes the way they think, feel and therefore act? I had never thought about how truly difficult it could be to make something that pleases a large number of people seeing as those people have had different experiences throughout their entire lives and have learned to handle their emotions in dramatically different fashions.

I am not sure I agree 100 percent with the “baby-face bias” or that we has humans evolved to think baby faces were cute so we wouldn’t kill them. It is however interesting to think about and discuss.

The main point at least that I got from this reading is that we are all born with a set of guidelines for our emotions that is predisposed. We use these emotions everyday; to convey how we are feel in and even what we are thinking. Design seems to be born from emotion. Its how we communicate and a good designer, whether it be web design or any design really has the complex task of conveying his/her emotion in an understandable and creative way so that it will be receptive to others and their specific emotions at the time.

Originally posted at Spenser Hicks's Blog