Why Product Design Should be Driven by Emotion

Think about the products in your life that you love. Maybe it’s a certain pair of shoes, or your smartphone, or an iconic object.

TOM FORD shooting, flying bike designed by 3e-oeil.

Maybe you love how they work, but you also probably love how they make you feel. It’s probably no surprise to you that these products were meticulously designed paying special attention to  every little detail to ensure maximum pleasure, comfort, and performance. 

Now, think about the products you use in your everyday life. Your TV remote control. Your dishwasher. Your mobile . Your TV remote. What might surprise you that even the most mundane items in our lives are designed in much the same way that, say an iPhone is designed. But perhaps you don’t feel as connected these items as you do about other products in your life. Why is that?

With seconds to make a decision, product aesthetics are very important

Customers are spending more time than ever online, researching, and making purchasing decisions through a screen, how exactly can we generate an emotion that will connect users to your products in a short time?

Part of the reason is that these products don’t have the same level of integration with your life as your car or smartphone. But that doesn’t mean that the same design principles weren’t applied. 

For example, think about your toothbrush. Perhaps it has a certain curve in the handle that makes it fit perfectly into your hand. And perhaps that handle is covered in a soft silicone that makes it feels comfortable when you hold it. Even if you don’t think about it consciously it is the details of the design that create an emotional connection to the product. 

A product needs to be beautiful, elegant, and photogenic. But design isn’t only about making beautiful products as beauty alone doesn’t conjure emotion. 

It is key to focus on developing emotions through active shapes, sounds, and user-interface (UI) to deliver a variety of sensations and tell a story around the brand that communicates its values. We emphasize the physical feeling of the materials used and the intangible feelings a shape elicits. Ultimately, we seek to use design to magnify the soul of the product or service. 

One key part of this approach is to create a long-lasting experience that surpasses consumer trends. Decades from now, most people won’t know what the fidget spinner is (unless maybe they owned one), but they’ll certainly know what an iPhone is. 

Developing a product that delivers both a sense and ability of timelessness is a challenge. We want the products we design for our customer to exceed sustainability standards and avoid the throw-away consumer culture. We want them to last a lifetime, maybe more. What’s more, we believe this value can be applied anywhere in both B2C and B2B contexts.

Whatever the product, the final design should be precise and make people proud and confident because of its general sensorial perception, which then builds a long-lasting relationship between the product and its end-user.  We work to create reliable products that embody the brand vision of our customer and be a guide for future product or service lines.