From the course: Designing Emotion: How to Use Design to Move People

What makes you laugh?

(upbeat music) - What makes you laugh? - Witty sarcasm. - Clowns. - What makes you cry? - Injustice. - Clowns. - What gets you angry? - Oppression. - Clowns. - The point is, even within the same demographic, we're all different. All of the different emotions we evoke are triggered in different ways. As you would normally expect, we all have different experiences and perspectives. But see, that's the problem with most modern demographics, is that they fail to add emotional triggers to that list. Even within the same grouping, people respond differently to different emotions. I mean, most demographics, most personas, they're divided by three different things, age, occupation, or relationship. But even within those, you see vastly different emotional triggers. My mentor used to say, he's never met a woman 18 to 34 years old, and he's right. The emotional triggers for somebody who's 18 is very different than the emotional triggers for somebody who's 34. And occupation, it rarely defines emotional trigger. Now relationship, that's about as close to finding an emotional trigger as we could possibly get, but really only when that relationship is familial like a mother or father, rather than circumstantial like fans of something. How do we get down into their shoes? How do we understand what triggers certain emotions for each of those audience members? Really is a three step process for this, for designing with empathy. The first is about research, it's about discovery, it's learning everything we can about this particular group of people, their cultural systems, what makes them tick. But then the second step is about immersion. It's usually a step we as designers don't like to take. We have to walk in their shoes to completely understand their world view. And then lastly, it's about detachment. When you come back and do the real work, you have to remove yourself from it, your point of view, your perspective, you have to put it aside to be able to design effectively for that group. So before you start your next design project, take the time to understand your audiences' emotional triggers, what makes them laugh, what makes them cry, and make empathy your goal. (upbeat music)

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