Emotionally Intelligent Design: Mapping the emotional imprint in products
The book Emotionally Intelligent Design: Rethinking How We Create Products by Pamela Pavliscak offers a distinctive perspective on the role of design in our daily lives. Unlike approaches focused solely on functionality or even aesthetics, this work emphasizes that products and experiences should be emotionally intelligent.
The concept of Emotionally Intelligent Design means that design goes beyond delivering performance or ease of use. It aims to build lasting emotional connections, nurture human values, and improve individual as well as social well‑being. The goal is to create experiences that work on deeper levels—experiences that strengthen, activate, and give meaning to emotions, rather than merely facilitating mechanical or visual interactions.
In a section of the book titled Identifying the Emotional Imprint, Pavliscak introduces a conceptual model that categorizes four main types of experiences—each capable of supporting emotional well‑being in different ways. This model maps interactions along two key axes—Purpose and Pleasure on the vertical dimension, Self and Social on the horizontal dimension—resulting in four distinct experience types: Transformative, Compassionate, Perceptive, and Convivial.
Four Types of Experiences for Supporting Emotional Well‑Being
Transformative – Experience that facilitates personal growth
Transformative experiences create a context for an individual to grow and find personal meaning. They promise progress toward a goal—whether improving fitness, saving money, increasing productivity, or gaining deeper insight into one’s psyche or health.
Emotions: Curiosity, interest, anticipation, vigilance, pensiveness, pride, confidence, inspiration, fascination
Values: Love of learning, achievement, wisdom, judgment, accomplishment, independence, capability, self‑control, intellect, perseverance, prudence, self‑respect
Examples: Duolingo, Fitbit, Lynda, Headspace, Mint
Compassionate – Altruistic and prosocial experience
Compassionate experiences are built around shared purpose, mutual growth, and common causes. They enable acts of giving, helping, and the nurturing of empathetic communities—spanning charitable platforms to civic engagement tools.
Emotions: Acceptance, trust, caring, kindness, sympathy, empathy, respect, consideration, hope, altruism, courage, compassion
Values: Fairness, perspective, community, equality, forgiveness, helpfulness, tolerance, citizenship, open‑mindedness, integrity, mercy
Examples: Re‑Mission, GoFundMe, Resistbot, Be My Eyes, WeFarm
Convivial – Social and participatory experience
Convivial experiences are social in the more familiar sense—emphasizing bonding, shared activities, conversation, and reputation. Successful examples enable rich communication, sensory social engagement, mixed‑reality interactions, shared rituals, and collaborative storytelling.
Emotions: Love, admiration, lust, desire, amusement, relaxation
Values: Friendship, social recognition, harmony, humor, intimacy, trust, nurturing, vulnerability, fairness
Examples: Snapchat, Kickstarter, Pokémon Go, Google Photos, Twitch
Perceptive – Sensory‑rich experience
Perceptive experiences immerse users in rich sensory moments with opportunities for play. They might be purely in‑the‑moment fun—like games or music—or experiences that invite savoring and wonder.
Emotions: Amazement, surprise, arousal, tenderness, playfulness, fascination, excitement, amusement, relaxation, relief
Values: Humor, creativity, zest, curiosity, imagination, cheer, appreciation of beauty, comfort
Examples: Spotify, Monument Valley, Pinterest, Dark Sky, Keezy
Combinations and Overlaps
Few products fall exclusively into one category. Charity Miles, an app for social good, blends Transformative and Compassionate qualities. Prompt, a visual diary app for those with memory loss, is both Transformative and Convivial. Wayfindr might be seen as Transformative but also Perceptive. Skype could be classed as Convivial or Compassionate, depending on usage.
Consider Spotify: listening to music is clearly Perceptive; creating and sharing playlists adds a Convivial dimension; using Spotify Running to support fitness goals makes it Transformative; while launching charity channels or social‑impact games would add a Compassionate element.
The Emotional Role of Technology in Users’ Lives
Mapping the emotional landscape means considering the emotional role a technology will play in people’s lives. Does it enhance an emotion that’s already there? Does it activate new emotion? Does it help people process their feelings about the product itself? Or does it connect to something else entirely? Could the entire experience function as a coping mechanism? Has it come to represent an emotional moment, an experience, or even just a feeling on its own?
Recall Don Norman’s levels of cognitive processing—visceral, behavioral, and reflective—which we explored in depth in our earlier article “The Psychological Map of Great Design: Three Levels, Seven Stages”. This perspective reminds us that emotional resonance in design happens on multiple layers, influencing immediate reactions, interaction patterns, and reflective meaning over time.
Alternatively, Pavliscak suggests thinking about the emotional role of technology in terms of three functional categories:
- Source: The product itself elicits or inspires emotion.
- Support: The product helps people understand, process, cope with, or manage emotions.
- Symbol: The product or experience comes to stand in for a feeling, a memory, or a moment.
In practice, most products engage more than one of these roles. Yet the “emotional signature” each role creates can be distinct—offering designers a valuable framework to refine product strategies and ensure that emotional impact is intentional. The four‑quadrant model, when paired with these roles, becomes a powerful tool for analyzing and enhancing the emotional quality of design.
Source Metadata
• Title: Emotionally Intelligent Design: Rethinking How We Create Products
• Author: Pamela Pavliscak
• Publication Year: 2019
• Publisher: O’Reilly Media
• Place of Publication: Sebastopol, California, USA
• ISBN: 978‑1‑491‑95314‑3
• Number of Pages: 281 pages