Design for Emotion and Flow

Once again, Boxes & Arrows has an article that hits the UX nail on the head. Design for Emotion and Flow is an excellent look at the concepts of emotion and flow and why they are so important to UX designers. Usability is a great goal, yet as described here, it is only one part of what UX design does to really create value for customers – it gets things out of the way to help create emotion and flow, adding value and pleasure to the user experience. Simply put, usability makes things easy to use, but even beyond that, things that are easy to use are often more pleasant to use. Emotion and flow will set a product apart from competitors – if I enjoy using your program, I will choose it above others, even if they provide the same functionality. If I’m not stressing out about how to use your program, I can get lost in it for hours, get more creative, and therefore enjoy myself.