The 3 Levels of Design by Don Norman — The First UX Knowledge Piece Sketch
I’ve started a new series called UX Knowledge Piece Sketches. This is going to be a shorter format: bite-sized knowledge chunks that you can easily consume :)
The topics are going to be: UX design, UI design, service design, sketching & visual thinking, cognitive psychology, behavioral economics, product development and basically anything that might be useful for designers working on digital products or services.
The first UX Knowledge Piece Sketch is about the 3 Levels of Design defined by Don Norman in his highly recommended book: Emotional Design — Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things.
The 3 Levels
According to Don Norman, there are 3 levels of design:
- Visceral, it is about appearance, first impression, initial impact, how something looks or feels (or even sounds) and aesthetics. It’s based on an immediate response (like Kahneman’s Sysytem 1)
- Behavioral: it is about usability, effectiveness of use, pleasure of use, performance and function. (How something works)
- Reflective is about having a good story about the product, it’s about being a part of our identity or self-image, or being satisfied due to owning something. It’s also about special meanings, memories, past experiences.
To quote Norman: “These three very different dimensions are interwoven through any design. It is not possible to have design without all three […] note how these three components interweave both emotion and cognition”
To put it simply, “Our emotions change the way we think”. The key takeaway is that we should design with all these 3 levels in mind!
Why did Norman write his book, Emotional Design?
“In the 1980’s, in writing The Design of Everday Things, I didn’t take emotions into account. I addressed utility and usability, function and form, all in a logical, dispassionate way — even though I am infuriated by poorly designed objects. But now I’ve changed. […] We scientists now understand how important emotion is to everyday life, how valuable. Sure, utility and usability are important, but without fun and pleasure, joy and excitemnet, and yes, anxiety and anger, fear and rage, our lives would be incomplete.
Along with emotions, there is one other point as well: aesthetics, attractiveness, and beauty.
When I wrote The Design of Everyday Things, my intention was not to denigrate aesthetics or emotion. I simply wanted to elevate usability to its proper place in the design world, alongside beauty and function. I thought that the topic of aesthetics was well-covered elsewhere, so I neglected it. The result has been the well-deserved criticism from designers: “If we were follow Norman’s prescription, our designs would all be usable — but they would also be ugly.” […] the critique is valid. Usable designs are not necessarily enjoyable to use. And […] an attractive design is not necessarily the most efficient. But must these attributes be in conflict?”
I hope you like this new format, please let me know what you think, I always appreciate you feedback! 💬
If you are interested in my UX Knowledge Base Sketches, check them out here: Table of Contents of the UX Knowledge Base Sketches
Coffee is my fuel — you can buy me one if you want to boost the sketch-creation process! ;)
If you like my sketches, you can buy me a coffee to support my work! Thanks, I really appreciate your encouragement! 🙏
If you like my sketches, check out my Sketching for UX Designers course on Udemy, use the coupon code SKETCHFORUX22SUMMER to get 86% off! Click here to apply the code.
