Overcoming Obstacles is the title of the fifth chapter of Walter’s book. Suitably, chapter 5 deals with overcoming the myriad reasons why consumers would dislike or choose not to use a specific product or brand. The main reasons given by Walter that need to be overcome are emotional ties, laziness and apathy.

I somewhat agree with Walter on the claims that purchases we make or products we use are selected on instinct. In many cases, yes, people will choose a brand or product based on how they feel at that moment or how they fell about that particular brand. Many times, consumer instinct is to remain in their own comfort zone and their purchasing behavior reflects that.

On the other hand there are many times thatI would consider one brand or product to be of a higher quality or more personally appealing to me, but I will buy a different product because it may cost less or last longer. Purchasing decisions can’t be made purely on emotion. At times logic must be applied as well.

I did like Walter’s discussions on failure. It is okay to make mistakes as long as we as designers look bar at our brand and make sure the right message is being communicated to consumers. A design must function reliably and connect emotionally.

Originally posted at Nick Edwards

I thoroughly liked that the author prefaced the chapter by stating that, as humans, we are skeptical of new people and ideas, so, therefore, your website has to persuade without evoking skepticism. I thought that this tied really well into the whole emotion (gut) as a deciding factor theory. Not to mention it was nice to see the basics that we learned at the start of the class (typography, color, contrast, etc.) in relation to using them to instill a “gut reaction” within consumers. Furthermore, I felt the Mint.com example was spot on with the overall concept of the chapter. The word “free” really does instill skepticism within our minds. The idea that we can overcome that barrier and gain trust through web design (i.e. keeping “gut reaction” in mind) is solid. Having never seen Mint.com’s website before, I actually saw the concepts the author was talking about within the layout. The colors, the accessibility, the tone – all done strategically and, I think, done well.

I also completely agreed with the “laziness” obstacle to overcome. In fact, I know many people who do not use Dropbox simply because of the hassle. This concept is the reason why I don’t exactly agree with the idea of the success rate of the “games” that Dropbox utilized. To me, those types of steps are even a further turn off. However, that is just one person’s opinion. It could also be due to the fact that I have never tried Dropbox, for the suggestion that accomplishment could be used as a viable incentive seems pretty feasible, in general.

The last facet of the chapter – apathy – is, I believe, the hardest to overcome, but, as the author noted, not impossible. I do firmly believe that a well developed idea presented in an emotionally engaging manner is apathy’s kryptonite.

Originally posted at CK1

In Chapter 5 of “Designing for Emotion”, Aarron Walter discusses overcoming the obstacles with design. One statement I had never thought about was when Walter said, “People really aren’t as lazy as we think they are. They’re just looking for the path of least resistance to their destination,” (72). Thus meaning every time we criticize someone for being lazy, this is not a true characteristic of the person. They are looking for an easy way out of things, and who doesn’t these days?

However, I almost disagree with this statement because although I wouldn’t say laziness is a characteristic, I would say that it is more of a habit. When a person is lazy and his or her friends know it, they don’t go to them as much for things because they don’t think he or she will get the job done. For example, if you were to do a group project, you wouldn’t want the person perceived as lazy to be one of your group members. You would want someone who could give back and participate in making it the best project possible. Therefore, although I did realize this statement was interesting, I do not necessarily agree with this thought.

I enjoyed this chapter, and liked how he did not write too much about this topic. Sometimes writers can write too much about a certain subject, but Walter perfectly explained overcoming obstacles without exaggerating his writing. I did not realize how short this book was, so I’m surprised how fast we’ve read through it already! I’m interested in seeing how he ends this book, so I’m planning on finishing Chapters 6 and 7. I’m curious in finding out what “Forgiveness” is in Chapter 6. Overall, it’s been an interesting book that I’ve enjoyed thus far!

Originally posted at Megan Young - Gaylord Student

Chapter 5 in Designing for Emotion is called Overcoming Obstacles. The chapter is mainly about overcoming all the reasons why people may choose to no like your brand or use your product. This chapter talked about the three reasons you have to overcome to convince people to use your product. Those reasons are emotional ties, laziness, and apathy.

Something that I did not agree with the author with on how people make what we call “gut decisions” or decisions based purely on emotion. Walter first talked about how we make everyday decisions like what we are wearing just because we feel like it. He then compared this to the decision making process about the products or services we use. If something doesn’t “feel” right we tend not to use it. Although I do agree with this partial I do not think we make decisions on products solely based on emotions. For example I do not buy into a product until I read reviews on it or have read more about what I am thinking about purchasing. It is not all about making it “feel right.” You have to be selling a reliable and functional product or people’s gut feeling about your product will not last.

What I did like about this chapter is how at the end Walter talks about failure. As beginning designers it is important to know that there are times where are designs are not going to have the affect we want them to and that’s ok! What you need to do when this happens is go back, look at your brand, and make sure it is conveying the right message. You have to make sure your design is making the right emotional connection, along with being functional, and reliable.

Originally posted at Mary Morton- PR Publications Course

In the first part of this chapter, it discusses how design can win most customers over. I have never thought about how much a design can really persuade somebody. The example that the book used was Mint. They were a free service, so, that automatically makes people skeptical. But, the organization and light colors of their web page is what drew people in. The design also used shadowing to attract to the customer’s eye. When I think about the decisions that I make about something, design does have a huge impact on whether I am going with the product or not.

The book also discusses the process of using Dropbox. It explains that many people find the signing up process difficult because you have to download it onto your computer and incorporate your phone as well. I personally do not find this difficult or time consuming at all. I found Dropbox extremely easy to use from the start. But, this could also be because of the generation I have come from. I am used to having to download things and incorporate my phone as well. The generation that my parents have come from might find it a little more difficult.

Reading this chapter really made me think about design in a whole new way. It is all about making the customer feel comfortable and happy. In times of trouble, the customer should always be able to rely on something like a website to find exactly what they need.

Originally posted at Taylor Jurica- Gaylord Journalism Student

The start of the chapter immediately engaged me because it was like dejavu. Earlier today I was driving around the city and my favorite song came on the radio. I remember thinking, “It’s so much better when I hear it spontaneously like this!” Consequently, I found the remainder of the chapter very intriguing. The entire concept of surprise and memory imprint is definitely something to think about in terms of web design. In fact, making a lasting impression in a split second should be, I think, a top goal during the website creation process. Therefore, I found the author’s explanation of how to achieve this goal very helpful. I had never previously thought of how to reach this phenomena on purpose, so I thought this information was very interesting. Furthermore, the Photojojo explanation made this seemingly complicated process seem legitimately achievable.

On another note, I thoroughly enjoyed the way the author mentioned statements from previous chapters. As a writer myself, tying in the thesis to create a complete, organized piece is my favorite style of writing. Seeing the Wufoo example from Chapter 1 reintroduced and utilized in a new way for this chapter was excellent. I also found it paralleled nicely with the course, as we just discussed MailChimp for our current assignment. Lastly, I liked the overall emphasis on psychology found in this chapter. Exploring emotional response was an excellent way to fine tune my psychological skillset.

Originally posted at CK1