Assignment 1: Products and Emotion

The assignment is to find 3 examples of products that represent visceral, behavioural and reflective design. I believe that the wide range of televisions is a good example of the different types of emotional design.

Visceral Design

Hitachi's Ultravision Director's Series (60" Flat Panel Plasma HDTV)

• Visceral: This is a very attractive looking television. It is slim and extremely large. Gives you an excellent first impression .


• Behavioural: For the average television user this television is not very effective. It costs $6999 (USD) and has a large number of input/output channels that are not required for simple television viewing (picture shown on the right). As a result, the Hitachi 60" plasma is not an effective choice for most television users.

• Reflective: Not much show off value past the initial reaction unless someone knows a lot of technical information regarding televisions.

Behavioural Design

Dynex - 32" Flat-panel LCD HDTV

• Visceral: The television does not stun someone the first time they see it. Flat panels are quite common today .

• Behavioural: This television is an effective choice and uses current technology (HDTV). It costs $499 (USD) and is well whorth that price. 96% of customers at bestbuy.com recommend this product and reflect on it by saying "Nice Picture, Easy to Use, good quality!" Don't need a lot of other equipment to ultilize it.

• Reflective: This is not a show television or a status symbol. It does utilize present technology and does look good however it is only 32".

Reflective Design

Sony - BRAVIA SXRD HD Home Theatre Projector

• Visceral: This projector makes a great first impression and a lasting one. When utilized it is very attractive!


• Behavioural: If you intend to build a home theatre then this is an effective way of doing so. It is costy at $14999 (USD) however it is a great value when compared to other projectors. Projectors are fairly easy to use and makes for an excellent viewing experience. You do however need a lot of exra equipment to fully utilize it.


• Reflective: This is definately a status symbol. The projector can use a screen size from 40" to 300". No television can compare to it. It is by definition a theatre in your home.