Don Norman’s three levels of design

People form emotional connections with the things they use or go over in their everyday lives. And, the same emotions often evoke when people come across them again.

In order to create brand loyalty and improve customer experience it is important for the designers to help users develop emotional connections with the product. In the book, “Emotional Design: Why we love (or hate) everyday things” Don Norman explains the three levels of the emotional system (The emotional system involves all the parts that create emotions in human beings).

What are emotions?

“Emotions refer to the psychophysiological response that occurs due to some external factor or due to some mental processing.”

Emotions are about feelings that we experience. We feel a wide range of emotions in our everyday lives, positive emotions like happiness, excitement, relief, etc, and negative emotions like sadness, violence, disappointment, etc.

In UX it is vital to take into account the emotional response of the users. By evoking positive emotional responses like trust, delight, etc, and decreasing negative emotional responses like confusion, frustration, etc you can create a more engaging and meaningful user experience.

Three levels of design

The three levels of the emotional system i.e. visceral, behavioral, and reflective decide how we feel before, during, and after interacting with an object. These three levels altogether shape the overall product experience.

Visceral Level

The visceral level is about the first impression of the product, it generally happens unconsciously. Visceral responses mainly depend on physical appearance or aesthetics (like color, text, shapes), but they might also depend on sound and smell. The quick judgments that we make by just looking at a product are due to visceral processing.

People make an instant perception by just looking at the product and decide whether it appeals to them or if they want to further engage with it. For example, a product with a pleasant appearance will attract you more than one which is unpleasant or reflects danger.

Benefits of positive visceral response:

• Instant connection — A product with good aesthetics will help users to build an instant emotional connection with the product.
• Motivation & Engagement — People are motivated to engage more and use products that attract them by physical appearance.
• Influence & Persuasion — When people associate positive feelings with a product by looking at it, they have a favorable opinion and get influenced by it.
• Grabs attention — Nowadays products in a particular range have the same functionalities so it’s crucial to grab the user’s attention at the first view. If your product is aesthetically pleasing, it will instantly grab the attention of your potential users.

Behavioral Level:

This is the middle level of Norman’s model. The behavioral level is about usability i.e. how intuitive, enjoyable, efficient, and easy to use the product is. When the user does not get the expected results on interacting with the product it fails in evoking a positive behavioral response. To provide a good emotional experience the product should help the users to achieve their desired goals in the most seamless and enjoyable way.

You can support behavioral processing by providing the proper guidance and actions at the right time to the users.

Benefits of positive behavioral response:

• Build trust — Creating an instant correlation between the action and the expected result helps build trust in the users.
• Sense of confidence & control — People feel a sense of control by getting the right feedback at the right time, getting expected results for every action, and adopting familiar patterns.

Reflective level:

The highest level of emotional design is the reflective level.

“User’s reflection about the product — before, during, and after using it makes up the reflective level of design.”

To tap into the reflective level a product should not only fulfill user goals and motivation but also associate with them personally or culturally, or fit into and enhance their lives. At this level, people consciously evaluate or judge a product, compare the pros and cons, and decide what it means to an individual.

Apple smartwatch is an excellent example of this. Users consider smartwatches as technologically advanced and a luxury stylish product.

The perception of being an easy-to-use and visually appealing device is influenced by visceral and behavioral levels. Whereas the perception that it will enhance their image and the enjoyment of owning a smartwatch is influenced by the reflective level (What will my friends think when they see me wearing this watch).

Also, sometimes the behavioral level is influenced by reflective behavior.

“The first version of the smartwatch had many usability and functional problems but in spite of that Apple generated the second largest revenue in the watch industry within a year of launching the product.”

Reflective processing happens when we evaluate products by accessing information that is stored in our long-term memory. When people reflect on their past experiences and relate them to the product they are using, it becomes part of their memory which enables them to share and tell stories about their experiences.

Benefits of positive reflective response:

• Share experience & recommend to others — When users have a positive reflective response, they are more likely to share their experiences and recommend them to others. For example, my amazing experience of visiting the apple store.
• Remember the product — Users remember and recall products/experiences that associate with them on a personal or cultural level.
• User retention — People tend to use the products again when they have enjoyed the customer journey once.

Conclusion

Visceral, behavioral and reflective are separate but inter-connected levels of Don Norman’s design model. Products can build emotional attachments and significant connections with the user when it satisfies all three levels.

It is very important to understand how the users feel or what emotions they evoke before, after, and while interacting with the product.