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How Does Your UI Make You Feel?

As the field of User Interface Design matures, the professions that chart its course must also explore new boundaries. For example, how do we use emotion to create unique products? What process must we use to develop the products and user experiences that evoke intentional, quantifiable emotional responses?

Interface design experts agree that common user-centered design processes are becoming widely adopted. And as the common processes of User Interface development become commodities -- much as hardware and software have already become commodities -- new differentiators must emerge. Two intertwined aspects have emerged already: effective brand management, and the ability to evoke emotional responses through interactive experiences. In fact, it is probably safe to say that managing emotion will be an essential component to successful brand management of the future.

At last years' ACD Living Surfaces Conference, Bill Moggridge, one of the founders of IDEO, presented an eloquent history of Usability Engineering and alluded to an upcoming shift in emphasis for user interface design professionals. He described the evolution of the field, from 'Measuring how people work' (or Tailorism ala the assembly line), to 'Measuring man's physical size' (or anthropometrics ala Henry Dreyfuss), to 'Measuring how people think' (Cognitive / Behavioral Psychology), to 'Measuring how people feel' (User Experience Audits). Each remains a discipline, important in its own right, with a logical connection to the others.

Another sign of impending change comes from the father of affordances, Donald Norman, and his new book "The Invisible Computer." Norman details the shifts that occur as markets mature and warns that corporate evolution must occur in order to develop products with any hope of succeeding in the market. He feels the best results are achieved through a multi-disciplinary design team employing an iterative process, focussed on the simplicity and clarity of user task completion. He reinforces his ideas through case studies of diverse products and industries. One that most of us can relate to is the evolution of watches, which he describes as "high-technology marketed as jewelry, as fashion, as objects of emotion." Consumers have come to expect technology and ease of use. In our own user testing, we often hear people talking about "trying on" an item (such as an automobile) before making a decision to purchase it.

Rosalind Picard applies emotion to technology in a different way. In her book, "Affective Computing," she envisions a computer and systems that will recognize and react to a user's emotions. Her ideas are based on the premise that "the latest scientific findings indicate that emotions play an essential role in rational decision making, perception, learning, and a variety of other cognitive functions." She even goes so far as to say "too little emotion can impair decision making." For too many years in the software industry, emotion has been left at the door. Let's face it: who's been truly moved by a product that rigidly followed the Windows 95 User Interface Guidelines?

Most companies have a set of core brand attributes they wish to convey to their customers via their products and services. These attributes are described by emotionally charged adjectives like "reliable," "compatible," and "innovative." If the features, functions, and cost are the same, what differentiates one company and its products from the other? It is the customer's experience with the brand, the emotion it evokes, and the totality of the experiences with that company. The elements of marketing, sales, service, and support combine to create an emotional experience. To date, these elements have not been fully exploited. And all that's about to change.