
Emotional Interface Design: The Gateway to Passionate Users - duck
http://thinkvitamin.com/design/emotional-interface-design-the-gateway-to-passionate-users/
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blehn
I think the author makes a valid point re: emotional design, but he also seems
to confuse "pleasurable" design with his own personal taste (which appears to
be bright and bubbly with heavy illustration). I'd say that sites like Reddit
(and HN), Basecamp, Craigslist, Teuxdeux have their own visual personality
(that their users enjoy) despite lacking animated cartoon birds. Pleasurable
is subjective and will vary widely depending on audience.

I like the modified Maslow's Hierarchy, but I think he's overemphasizing the
top piece in this article. Businesses have enough trouble achieving the bottom
three pieces (Functional, Reliable, Usable), and often skip them to aim for
Pleasurable. [http://carsonified.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/maslow-
hie...](http://carsonified.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/maslow-hierarchy-
interface-design.png)

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moxiemk1
When I saw Basecamp as something that's a counterpoint to a 'pleasureable'
example I felt like he was missing a vital point - emotional is relative.

To people who value tools that do their job and get out of the way, Basecamp
beats Wufoo.

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quanticle
I don't get his examples. He talks about designs being both "usable and
pleasurable", but I don't see any real difference in the designs. They both
have fairly flexible layouts, attractive backgrounds and well formatted text.
The only element that WuFoo has that BaseCamp does not is a "warm" color
scheme.

The rest of it basically boils down to "give your users feedback, but do it in
a 'fun' way." I mean, that's a good lesson to have, but its nothing earth
shattering.

