Designs that Make you Feel Superior
Thursday, January 15th, 2009One major goal of cognitive design is to create artifacts that put customers in a particular frame of mind or mental state. Such states include pleasure, excitement, flow, pride, fear, sorrow, feeling safe, awe, self confidence, in touch with the past and so on. Putting customers in specific mental states typically serves a larger purpose such as entertainment, learning or performance. They enhance the primary functionality of the artifact or act to differentiate it from competing designs.
Cognitive designers are always on the lookout for features and functions they can add to designs that promise to create a specific mental state. A recent article in the Chicago Journal of Consumer Research on Feeling Superior, explores the impact of the structure of loyalty programs on customers perception of status. It holds some interesting insights for cognitive designers.
