Humans have always sought pleasure. We’ve gained enjoyment over the years from nature: from bathing in gentle waters, the seduction of sunset, and the refreshment of a cool breeze. We have actively sought pleasure by creating activities and pastimes to stretch our mental and physical capabilities or to express our creativity. Cave dwellers wrestled to test their strength and expressed themselves through painting on the walls of their dwellings. Today, we add another source of pleasure to this list: the products and services with which we surround ourselves.

‘Hedonics’ is the study of the pursuit of pleasure, and in this book, it’s the examination of how an individual actively pursues pleasure by responding to certain objects and experiences. In short, people are passionate about their belongings.

Shopping, as a social activity, is an inherently hedonic pursuit. A need for hedonic design logically follows: design that delivers the sought-after hedonic experience of consumption — a pleasurable product purchase and usage experience.

Shopping has been driven into the digital age (as seen in the Kate Spade example, Figure 1.11, see p17.) Therefore, this chapter explores the concept of hedonics through the digital consumer. The goal? To create digital affect. This chapter will expand your understanding of emotions to explore how products and experiences can create meaning and reflect our values.

EMOTIONS 101

There is a lack of consensus in existing research as to the definition of emotions. In 1960 Paul Ekman classified emotions by having his research participants contort their facial muscles into distinct expressions. From this, six emotions were classified as basic: anger, disgust, happiness, fear, sadness and surprise.

Robert Plutchik confirmed Ekman’s biologically-led viewpoint and extended it to become a ‘wheel of emotions’, proposing a positive or negative footing for eight primary emotions: joy versus sadness; anger versus fear; trust versus distrust; and surprise versus anticipation. In some cases, basic emotions can evolve into more complex (or secondary) emotions. Such complex emotions can result from primary, basic emotions being combined with cultural conditioning. These include envy, jealousy, anxiety, guilt, shame, relief, hope, depression, pride, love, gratitude and compassion. Alternatively, similar to the way primary colours can be combined, primary emotions can mix to form complex emotions.

Emotions are as difficult to define as they are to measure. Studies have had subjects self-report using verbal scales or protocols, and non-verbal instruments such as visual cues and photosets. Emotions have also been gauged by measuring physiological reactions, such as changes in heart rate or pupil dilation, that are associated with emotions.

EMOTIONS AND AFFECT

‘Emotion’, ‘feeling’ and ‘affect’ have many overlapping uses in the social sciences. Companies aim to lead customers to action, hence ‘affect’ is a more useful principle than ‘emotion’ as it provides the context for how the emotion is gained. As explained in chapter 1, ‘affect’ is used to describe the topics of emotions, feelings and moods collectively, and is commonly used interchangeably with emotion.

Table 2.1 shows the conditions that arouse certain affective states as synthesised from the work of Pieter Desmet. While a broad emotional spectrum is catalogued in the table, since this book focuses on hedonic emotions (ones in the pursuit of pleasure), these are the ones that are isolated and further discussed. (This is because the majority of organisations wish for their customers to experience only positive emotions during their interaction with the company.)

COGNITION, AFFECT AND BEHAVIOUR

Social psychology is based on the ABCs of affect, behaviour and cognition:

All three work together to produce the customer experience. The emotions we feel during consumption experiences are glimpses into the unconscious mind of the consumer. The initial experience with a product (stimulus) creates the emotional and symbolic value, i.e. its meaning.

Pleasurable experiences with a stimulus over a period of time will create an emotional attachment. This has many implications for marketing and advertising, as the customer experience is vital in building up brand loyalty and driving repeat business. However, this has become harder and harder to do as customer expectations have increased in the digital age.

One example of a new digital channel designed to provide their customers with a unique store experience is the Australian women’s clothing store Sportsgirl. They introduced a ‘digital change room’ (an interactive mirror) in one of their Melbourne stores. It worked by taking a photo of the customer after they had come out of the change room in their newly tried-on outfit. Using the touch screen display, customers could then share the photo on social media sites for their network to vote on. After receiving feedback from their friends online they could opt to purchase the outfit even after leaving the store, and have it promptly delivered to their door.

In this case Sportsgirl were able to tap into their customers’ mindset by following their existing behaviour: either going shopping with friends to get their opinions, or taking selfies inside the change rooms and sending them to friends for approval. With the digital change room they were able to capitalise on both behaviours and leverage their online brand presence.

Another example of behaviour shifts was in 2014 during the World Cup. Pepsi launched a campaign where customers who purchased their special edition cans could play a football game on their smartphone by scanning the code on the can. Augmented reality technology was used to create the impression of firing cans at a virtual goalpost ‘on’ the Pepsi can or bottle, playing against the world’s top five World Cup players. Over 60 000 hours were played on their game, with Pepsi brand placement being front and centre at all times. This had the additional benefit of providing Pepsi with valuable customer data in real time, such as how many users were interacting with it, how many times they did so, the lengths of the interaction and their location. Figure 2.1 shows the Digital Affect experience of this Pepsi campaign. When someone first learns about the campaign, they could see it as a creative way to join the world cup experience. This then evokes a sense of competition and enjoyment through the gamified experience, and the behavioural impact of this experience is through the hours spent on the mobile app, and in sharing this experience with others.

They gamified the experience of drinking a fizzy cola and, more importantly, sold out of all the limited-edition cans. (They’re now a collector’s item.) This took sports sponsorship to a whole new level, as gamifying the experience led customers to feel a part of the World Cup in a way that a soft drink brand had never done before. This approach is similar to that of Meat Pack, discussed in chapter 1.

This example can be seen as one of a set of interactions (human to human, user to product, customer to company) that will evoke an affective response, starting with feelings, which evoke emotions that over time will create a mood. The affective response to the interaction will inform the customer’s experience, which can change their attitude, behaviour and associated meaning towards the initial interaction. It is believed that this process will need to happen more than once and produce a consistent affective state through the experience in order to change behaviour and influence attitude and meaning.

Damasio’s theories (discussed in chapter 1 and illustrated in figure 1.10, see p14) illustrate that cognition (what we think), emotion (what we feel) and behaviour (what we do) are related and influence each other. A customer’s expectations, evaluations and perceptions of an experience trigger an emotion, resulting in a behavioural response or output.

Emotion envelops design. Fundamentally, all the choices and judgements we make in life are based on either how we feel, or how we think we will feel. The field of neuroscience has proven that without an emotional response, we would find it difficult to make the simplest of decisions, such as deciding between tea or coffee in the morning.

THE LIFE OF PRODUCTS

The interaction between consumers and products elicits an emotional response. Affect is a part of the consumer’s response to the sensory attributes or design message of a product. Consumers may experience a variety of emotions, potentially contradictory, in response to a product. These emotions may include intrigue, disappointment, satisfaction or amusement. However, they typically can be confined to a limited selection of possible emotions and, as they are directed at a product, can generally be categorised as on the less extreme end of the emotional scale.

The following are examples of such elicited product emotions from Cara’s history. (Karla is too young to remember analog phones and too sensible to have such ridiculous hedonic purchases plague her past.)

Juicy Salif

Juicy Salif (the spaceship-looking citrus-juicer) designed by Philippe Starck (see figure 2.2) is a truly iconic design object of the past century.

In my days as an industrial design student, many of my peers had this Alessi-made product marked as number one on their Christmas wish list. This juicer was a must-have for all envious design students who worshipped the form and function debate Starck entertained in his designs. This juicer took pride of place on coffee tables, bathroom shelves, and even on some bedside mantels in crowded student share houses — everywhere except the kitchen drawer (where most juicers are kept). I loved it! It represents all things design — good design and affective design (see figure 2.3).

Smart Roadster

Fast-forward to five years later. Upon graduating from design school, I purchased my first car: the Mercedes-owned Smart Roadster. Nicknamed ‘Smartie’, she was gold and black with Lamborghini doors (that opened upwards — see figure 2.4).

To the young designer I was at the time, it drove like a Lotus. Now, upon reflection, I realise it was more like a go-kart. I took out a huge loan to buy that car, paying the exact figure the dealer had advertised (so young and naive) — but I loved that car like it was a member of the family, as ridiculous as that sounds. It had very little space and I couldn’t get much more than two bags of groceries in the front boot. It was so low to the ground you felt like your backside was barely hovering above the road. Sporting a 60-kilowatt motorbike engine, it might not have been the safest choice of car for the rough Australian roads. Regardless of all its impracticalities, it was loved!

In the end, it had to be sold back to Mercedes in order to finance the purchase of a house. It was a sensible financial decision at the time. When I walked away from the dealership that day, I felt the same emotional distress as if I were saying a final goodbye to the family dog at the veterinary clinic. It truly felt like a missing limb. Figure 2.5 (overleaf) illustrates the Affect Framework for the Smart Roadster.

Lipstick phone

Fast-forward another few years to my days as a postgraduate student — a time well before the smartphone. Nokia were the biggest player in town. Their point of differentiation was their ever-changing physical designs, as well as the game Snake. While most mobile phones were flip-oriented or brick-like, the one I purchased was dubbed the ‘lipstick phone’ — for its unusual shape and mirror façade (see figure 2.6).

The mixed textures of leather, plastic, mirror and decorative decals was such an intriguing design. It had a matching lanyard so it could be worn around the neck like a piece of jewellery. In order to type a text message, you had to scroll through the alphabet using the circular dial until you found the letter or number you required and then press the centre button to select. You can imagine how time-consuming it was to send a text message. As a result, calls were made instead, resulting in many painfully large phone bills every month. Regardless — this phone was also loved (see figure 2.7).

DESIGNING FOR EMOTION

Designers need to understand emotions and the lengths to which people will go in order to pursue a hedonic experience. This knowledge should inform their design decisions, resulting in better, more enjoyable products, services and systems.

Back in the 1990s we realised that designing for implicit and explicit product qualities, such as form and function, was no longer enough. We needed to now design for the holistic interaction between consumer and company over time. Today, not only does the design approach have to create positive experiences before, during and after product interaction, an organisation also needs to elicit the same emotional experience across all products, services and channels (intended and unintended).

Both our behaviour and cognition — at an individual level and also in social surroundings — influence affect. Emotional affect can change how we process thoughts by changing how we perceive and interpret the world around us.

The nature of the circumstance (for example stressful/dangerous or trivial/relaxed) has an impact on how we process thought. In the majority of cases, cognitive thought follows the same path as affect. When deciding whether or not to purchase a product or service in a relaxed situation, we will draw from our unconscious affective responses to make a decision. Compare this to the purchase of a large investment in the stock market (for most a stressful situation): conscious appraisal and knowledge are relied upon to make a judgement and unconscious affective cues should be ignored or suppressed.

Take this concept into the design field. It is the designer’s role to cater to sought-out hedonic experiences by communicating to the consumer through the physicality of their design. Introducing ‘product rhetoric’, the process of product communication. Product rhetoric is communicating the message from the designer (source) through the medium of the product (transmitter) to the consumer (receiver), thus enabling them to understand, perceive and appreciate the product and the value it holds (as seen in figure 2.8).

Shannon’s model of communication

Claude Shannon’s basic model of communication is a useful way to examine the dialogue between designer and consumer. The designer (or anyone involved with creating the product or message) is the source of the communication, transmitting their message via the product they design; thus, the product becomes the transmitter of the design intent. The environment within which the consumer and product interact becomes the medium by which the message is transferred from source to receiver. The consumer appraises the product using sensory information; thus, the consumer’s sensory perception can be considered to be the receiver of the design message, much like a radio receives radio waves that are then converted into sound. Continuing the analogy, the interpretation of radio waves to produce sound can be likened to the consumer’s ability to interpret sensory information, to process and act in response to the product. Much like the production of sound, the consumer’s response can be considered the ‘destination’ of Shannon’s communication model. Studies into consumer behaviour further delineate such a response into ‘cognition’ and ‘affect’ and a corresponding, and outwardly observable, ‘behaviour’ or action.

Product experiences

A connection can be created with the consumer when products elicit, communicate and share emotions. Designers elicit emotions through the manipulation of the sensory qualities of a product. However, emotional satisfaction can only be achieved if the product collaborates with the user in a positive experience. Rather than singling out emotion as an object of attention and working to explicitly trigger it, it is more fruitful to recognise emotion as a multilayered, emergent aspect of experience. Therefore, experience, where the subject and object meet and merge, becomes a key issue in designing emotionally meaningful stimuli.

Emotions are a biologically and experientially determined process and, although rough correspondence can be made between a class of emotion inducer and the resulting emotion, particular emotional responses vary from person to person. An individual’s stage of development, knowledge, environment and culture are just some of the influencing factors that alter the expression of emotions and their meaning to the individual.

A variety of needs are fulfilled by consumer products, including aspirations and cultural, social and emotional needs. The relationship between a product and its consumer has created a great amount of interest in various product innovation and marketing fields; every object is significant in its own way to each individual through different memories and experiences. Thus, a designer must develop their designs to meet and empathise with the specific user group targeted by the product.

In general, a designer works in a space that is constrained by a number of outside variables such as cost, time to market, brand identity or style, internal organisational communication issues, resources and so on. All these influences moderate the effectiveness of the consequent design in transmitting its intended message. For example, a designer given a quick time frame to design for an emergent niche may be required to spend less time on the product design, with more time spent on researching the market. So the appearance of the product may not be as appealing to its consumers as anticipated. Similarly, budget limitations may reduce the achievable quality and finish of the materials used.

The individual differences between consumers result not only in variations in the preferences they express, but also in the importance of those preferences. For example, some people place more value on the appearance of products than others.

A consumer’s response is also heavily moderated by cultural influences, which contribute to how a design is interpreted and to what extent it is accepted by the consumer. This can become even more complicated if the designer and consumer are from different cultures.

A consumer’s personal situation at the time of viewing a product also has the potential to influence their response. For example, their financial situation may dictate the price range of products they will consider and whether a product may or may not be purchased.

Cognitive appraisals

Once knowledge is acquired about the product, we rely on these cognitive appraisals to make further decisions. For example, once the Juicy Salif was decided upon (drawn from affective reasoning), the decision of whether to purchase the gold-plated version was consciously deciphered (gold plating reacts with the acidity in the juice if you were actually going to use it). These cognitive appraisals also take into consideration how we would navigate the task the product is designed to carry out. Now, not all decisions and interactions are as simple and as quickly carried out as this example. The impact of cognitive appraisals is much more obvious when the information is ambiguous (rather than strongly positive or negative) — the affect is reduced.

Affective states raise or lower our motivation by fluctuating the amount of physiological stimulation or angst, influencing cognition. This is due to the fact that we can easily recall events and experiences that occurred when we were in a similar state of arousal. Such nostalgia allows consumers to reflect on their direct experience with an object, and the meaning is unique to each individual.

Changing the meaning of products

The meaning of a product is powerful. Following are two examples of how the meaning of a product can change, for the better or worse.

Nintendo Wii

This last decade, the ‘PlayStation vs Xbox’ console rivalry has consumed the marketplace of the gaming world. With both jostling for control of the sector, competition was fierce and cutthroat. They competed for the most part on high-end, realistic graphics and sound, creating addictive gaming environments. This kind of investment from Microsoft and Sony did not come cheap, and as a result research and development budgets ran high and were constantly expanding in the race to beat each other in technology advancement. Their target customer was the addictive gamer, usually male, aged between 18 and 35, who would spend on average 40 hours a week playing along with people online.

Until a third competitor joined the ranks: the Nintendo Wii. It was the simplistic underdog of the gaming sector. Why? Because instead of joining their competitors and jamming their consoles with the most high-powered tech they could find in an effort to appeal to serious gamers, Nintendo developed the Wii — a lovable, low-cost, gesture-controlled console that innovated by targeting a broader demographic, from 8 to 80. Its competitors were family trips to the cinema or the family board game night. Unconventional? Maybe. But by looking outside the gaming world at different types of competitors, such as the cinema, and changing the meaning of the product, it successfully disrupted the marketplace.

Nintendo’s turnaround began when they looked to address two troubling trends: their targeted consumer began to limit their gaming time to focus on their family and careers; and as technology became more advanced producing games become more expensive, with these costs being passed on to the consumer.

The technology was more than a decade old, the graphics were simple and, while their competitors lost money with every console they made, hoping to make it back with the high-profit margins on their games, the Wii was designed to be immediately profitable. The meaning for the product went from addictive gaming to inclusive gaming. Nintendo realised that if they changed their product and what a video game meant to a different market, they would change the behaviour of those using it. ‘Gaming’ was no longer just a solo online activity held in dark basements with large TV screens and headsets; it was instead a Friday night in with the family playing Wii tennis (see figure 2.9).

Driven away from cars

Another example of an obvious shift in meaning in recent years is in the mobility sector. Generation Y are famously reluctant to buy cars. As they approach the legal age to drink alcohol, go to war and vote, these ‘digital natives’ are quite different from the previous generations. These Gen Ys learned to digitally interact soon after birth and demand their products be designed differently than, say, products meant for the Baby Boomer generation. This generation learned to text well before they were old enough to learn to drive. So driving is seen as the inconvenient obstacle to texting or being online with a smart device. Most adults (us included) can remember their first car: a product that symbolised freedom, independence and social status. It meant that we were mobile — able to go where we wanted, when we wanted. Today such teenage status is created very differently, online.

In Australia, there are laws preventing texting while driving. Engaging with a mobile device is seen as a distraction to the driver. However, Google contends that texting is not the distraction — driving is! They are introducing the autonomous vehicle — more evolution than revolution, really, when you think about it. The latent customer needs of this new generation are met by the birth of smart mobility. Figure 2.10 (overleaf) illustrates the changing meaning of driving.

THE DIGITAL HEDONIC AFFECT

As previously explained, ‘hedonism’ is the doctrine that pleasure is the highest good; it’s used to describe the pursuit of pleasure and a lifestyle devoted to pleasure-seeking. Consumers experiencing and seeking pleasure through the attainment of a product is called ‘consumer hedonics’.

In our connected world consumers have information readily available, a range of different purchase options, and are able to change brands or services at any given time digitally.

Online purchases are one of the most rapidly growing forms of shopping, and its growth rates are outstripping buying through traditional retail channels. In digital consumption, the consumer’s interaction or contact with the organisation is purely through a technology platform. As face-to-face interaction is a central part in relationship development, its absence leads to a relatively poor customer experience. Online customers rely entirely on sight and sound, whereas in physical experiences all senses come into play.

However, digital consumption has many advantages, including not being constrained by distance and opening hours, that provide a higher level of convenience to customers. Companies need to understand the importance of the digital experience in the establishment of trust and relationships with customers. For example, responses via digital platforms are often unidentifiable, leading customers to question if the response is that of the company or that of an employee acting on behalf of the company. Responses may also differ between employees, leading to inconsistencies in communication.

To manage such issues, new technologies have been introduced to digital channels, such as automated responses. However, such interactions have led to more one-sided rather than two-sided communications due to the generic, impersonal responses. The speed of response and reaction to the customer’s message can heighten a customer’s perceptions of a company’s interactivity. A positive perception of the interactivity of a company can give the consumer a positive impression of its functionality and overall experience. The development of new technologies, such as wearable computing (including Google Glass, discussed in chapter 4) will continually change the way customers interact with companies, gain information and make transactions.

Just like consumers shopping in a store, digital consumers expect pleasurable experiences while shopping online. Consumption is a social activity; however, it is also very personal. Emotional shopping involves feelings that surround fantasising, purchasing, procuring and even designing their own fashion (explored more in the Burberry case study in part II). In digital hedonic consumption, this is experienced via technology, including but not exclusive to the purchase, usage and overall experience online.

A challenge of digital hedonic consumption is creating hedonic experiences with a range of different products. An example of this is the difference between purchasing clothing and purchasing music online. Clothing would be classified as a ‘high-hedonic’ product due to its symbolic, experiential and pleasing properties. The process of buying clothing often requires the consumer to touch, feel and most likely try on the article. Colours and textile feel may also not be fully conveyed through digital technology, leading to uncertainty or disappointment once the article is received. Compare this to purchasing music online. It is a ‘low-hedonic’ product as it is a digital article, which does not require an experiential process in its purchase, but rather later, in the use of it.

Examples of high-hedonic items include two highly customisable products launched recently — Nike By You and Shoes of Prey. Both companies have a well-designed 3D digital platform in which to customise your shoes and model them realistically online. As far as designing your own shoes goes, it is a high-hedonic experience. Nike entered this space to tap into the collector mindset of those shoe fanatics sometimes known as ‘sneakerheads’ (explored in the Cj Hendry case study in part I). Shoes of Prey approaches a different demographic, allowing women to completely customise a pair of shoes (heel height, materials, strap size, toe design, etc.). A pair of Shoes of Prey heels will be delivered to your door in approximately four weeks, while Nike got this time down to 90 minutes in their New York (invite only) studio.

As more retail companies take this leap into the world of advanced customisation, the quality and function of the product itself must not be forgotten. In the case of Nike By You, there is a smaller choice of options (limited to a selection of graphics, colour schemes and text) to customise. The design is then digitally projected onto a blank pair of sneakers the customer is wearing in store to demonstrate the resulting look. The limited choices ensure the final product will be functional as well as aesthetically pleasing. For Shoes of Prey (as brilliant as this Australian retail innovation is) the personalised combinations can at times compromise the overall function of the shoe design.

Digital consumption can be transformed into a type of entertainment, allowing digital consumers to devote their leisure time to searching for a range of products online. Designing experiences that are hedonic can increase the likelihood of engagement. Technological advancements make it possible to translate multisensory inputs such as colour and music online. These influence the level of pleasure felt by the consumer, generating a positive attitude and directly influencing the digital consumption.

A consumer’s hedonic choice is the decision made to purchase a product for the enjoyment, pleasure and excitement it affords. In a digital environment, which lacks many of the cues for hedonic purchases, external justifications, such as targeted promotions, sales and exclusive discounts can encourage a hedonic purchase decision. Examples of this are discount codes and exclusive sales for online members. There are different levels of interactivity, from digital screens to virtual fitting rooms, however just like customising a pair of shoes, the digital experiences should always be a balance of enjoyment and functionality.

In a digital context, the experience must cultivate a relationship in the mind of the consumer. The use of digital channels for browsing increases a consumer’s awareness of the product, service or promotion as well as their chance of purchasing through it. Equally, if someone has a positive experience buying online, it will also have a positive effect on their shopping activity as their confidence in the internet will be high and they will perceive less risk in purchasing through multiple channels. Here lies the opportunity to influence decisions with positive hedonic experiences across multiple channels simultaneously.

Avoiding digital hedonic temptations could be more challenging for consumers due to technological advancements that enable individually targeted advertising. Hedonic responses in this context become more important in consumer purchase decisions than utilitarian criteria. The immediate ‘real-time’ response that the online world can easily replicate (the gratification of purchasing at any time, anywhere) holds many implications for impulse purchases. In addition, more leisure time is spent browsing digital channels now than ever before, uncovering more opportunities to trigger hedonic experiences through such interactions.

FROM NOKIA TO APPLE

Hedgehogs are operation oriented, process driven and vital in managing an effective team. They don’t miss anything — they have high standards, drive home compliance and are brought in to cut the fat. (They usually make the best engineers.) Nokia are a typical Hedgehog, as they were one of Finland’s most famous exports for many years (with a history dating back to 1865). They were a heavily operational-driven organisation.

In the early 2000s, Nokia were a large player in the mobile telecommunications device industry. Their many handset designs helped them dominate the market. Flip phones were produced in every colour imaginable, creating an entirely new market for personalised casings. Product design was the majority of the design portfolio at Nokia’s research headquarters.

However, their inability to progress past the physical design of hardware into a service offering was evident with the unsuccessful launch of their internet service, Ovi. They eventually sold the handset division to Microsoft in 2014. Other major reasons for Nokia’s demise include an indecisive management team, destructive internal competition and the failure to forecast the impact of the smartphone. By 2007 Nokia had designed, manufactured and released over 307 different handsets, and they were losing their market position. Conversely, once the Apple iPhone hit the market in 2007 it went from strength to strength, despite the product design being very simple, with limited changes between the few new product releases.

Nokia were operationally driven and a victim of their own success. They got comfortable making incremental changes and defending their market position rather than disrupting it. They lost the ability to look to the future and the opportunities it held — much like Kodak.

In contrast is Steve Jobs’ ‘lovemark’, Apple. A lovemark goes beyond the creation of a brand to build a symbol for people to fall in love with due to the experience it creates. The product, the packaging, the marketing messages and the physical retail experience are consistent. While others (such as Nokia) can try and compete on a product level, they are unable to provide the same customer experience as Apple in the Western markets in which they created this lovemark (see figure 2.11).

THE PERSONALITY OF OUR POSSESSIONS

Consumers can create meaning through the process of personalisation (as seen in Nike By You and Shoes of Prey), as through this process the consumer changes the functionality, interface or content of a system to increase its personal relevance. Possessions are especially important for personal identity, as they are a way for an individual to symbolically define and express who they are. By injecting meaning into products consumers own and view as valuable, they are able to display a piece of themselves through that stimulus. Therefore, possessions have value for their role in expressing or reinforcing the ‘sense of self’, especially when the product has had an influence or effect on the individual’s personal history.

Strong emotions, memories and enjoyment during use can also contribute to the level of attachment an individual feels towards certain objects. This is seen when we become attached to certain objects while others remain easily disposable. Memories the individual associates with an object — for example, a clock that has been passed down from a deceased grandmother — also influence their level of attachment.

An emotional bond between consumer and product can be created before it is purchased, as products can elicit a range of emotional responses. It is this emotional attachment that determines the success or failure of a product. The immediate response of the user to the sensory aspects of a product is known as ‘visceral design’. It has the power to immediately make consumers feel good about the product they are about to purchase, even before they have attached any specific emotions to it. There is a demand for hedonic benefits or a positive emotional response and experience when using a product.

Visceral design is achieved by designing products that focus on the emotional responses and experiences of the consumer instead of focusing purely on functional aspects of the product. The effort invested, whether mental or physical, when personalising a product is a major contribution to the bond between the consumer and the object. When mental effort is invested into personalisation (for example, choosing flattering colours), the level of attachment is greater than if purely physical effort was expended (such as putting together IKEA furniture).

This process has been referred to as ‘consumers becoming co-designers’, and it has an impact on the level of attachment and emotional value of an object. Permitting the consumer to make design decisions and be involved in the design process can also enhance the customer experience. Many companies are beginning to offer mass customisation of products online by allowing customers to either select or eliminate certain design criteria to suit their needs. This design technique offers more variety and has the possibility to expand a customer base. Research has also found that the types of consumers who value the opportunity to custom design products are willing to pay more. Mass customisation does not necessarily have the same benefits as personalisation, however, as it relinquishes a certain amount of design authority.

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The term ‘emotion’ has long been used as a somewhat vague word to describe a wide range of affective phenomena considered to be irrational and external to rational decision making. However, research conducted on emotion in the fields of medicine, psychology, computer science and product design have firmly posited emotion as central to the cognitive reasoning process. Additionally, emotion is an integral and inescapable part of everyday life, involving the individual’s engagement with the physical world. A consumer’s emotions have a significant impact on purchase and consumption decisions.

The aim of this book is not to debate what emotions are, but to understand how the theories of emotions (regarding psychology, design and marketing) can be used to design digital channel engagements.

Consumers and designers operate in different spheres. The consumer must evaluate and interpret a product’s beauty, function and message through interaction with its physicality, their experience with similar products, and within the environment of the consumer-product meeting. A designer may only communicate their intended design message via a product’s physical manifestation.

In this context, the ‘affect coding scheme’ is used to identify emotions, moods and feelings (more on this in chapter 4) for the designer (source) to communicate through the medium of the stimuli (transmitter) to the consumer (receiver) — as shown in figure 2.8 (see p33).

This has strong inferences for the design of stimuli aimed at diverse user groups. Those who are new to the product, service or system are more susceptible to the affective elements of the digital product, while those more familiar tend to discount or even disdain affective cues. By harnessing the consumer relationship and using product rhetoric to design for positive emotional states, designers can increase the odds of the consumer receiving the intended message.

The next chapter shifts gears away from the internal state of consumers into the digital world of channels and all their complexity.