Daily Life Esthetics. An Analysis of Emotional Patterns

Modern industrial design successfully combines beauty with usefulness. To describe this trend the term „emotional design” has been created so as to emphasize that utility is a necessary but not a sufficient condition of market success. This form of design might have been a response to a customers’ need for everyday objects not only to be practical but also to be beautiful and to evoke emotions. The basic model of emotional design by Donald Norman involves emotions on three levels: visceral, behavioral and reflective. The application of psychological knowledge seems reasonable on each of these levels. Most importantly, such knowledge will contribute to a better understanding why associating an object with emotions works and how it can be used most effectively.