Book 2: Emotional Design Chapter 1

     I just read the first chapter of Emotional Design by Donald Norman, which describes how the human mind works. In it Mr. Norman describes how the emotional state we're in effects how we interact with objects and solve problems. He describes how when in a good mood someone is more likely to look at the picture as a whole but when you're in a bad mood, you focus and look at details before the whole. He also goes into detail about the brain and describes the three levels of thought. There's Reflective, Visceral, and Behavioral and they behave independently but every thought and action you take is affected by all three.
     I think the points Mr. Norman makes complement the points he makes in "Design of Everyday Things". The chapter we read focused more on the brain and the human thought process than the writing in his other book but I can see how the chapters line up. For example, he talks about memory in Everyday Things and certain ways our brain organizes memories. One of the methods is our brain creates relationships, and in Emotional Design he talks about how across the world there are similarities in peoples vernacular. He says 'ssss' noise in a word is typically used of 'harsher' words and that we subconsciously associate it as harsh because it's like the hiss of a snake. He also mentions in Design how sometimes people will get things wrong then they get frustrated, and they try again but harder. This example is also used in Emotional Design when he describes a Fire Exit at a movie theater. In Everyday Things, Mr. Norman would describe how the door is poorly designed  and how it could be designed so people can use it, and also how the design effects the user. In Emotional he talks more about the state a person is in when using the door and it restricts them from opening their mind solving their problem.