"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel". This insightful quote from Maya Angelou, the celebrated North American memoirist, poet, and civil rights activist, establishes the foundation for understanding emotion-driven design. It serves as a powerful reminder that emotions lie at the very heart of how humans interpret reality. Emotions represent our natural response to the world around us, regardless of how rational we may believe ourselves to be. 

User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) design may initially appear as purely cognitive, rational disciplines. After all, brands and designers must focus on users' needs during their interactions with products or services, ensuring that design functionality enables users to achieve their goals as efficiently and effectively as possible. While these principles are an important foundation for all UX/UI endeavours, designers must also remain aware of their users' responses, or fundamentally, their emotions.

Understanding emotional design in digital context 

Think of a banking app which immediately makes you feel calm and secure. Or an eCommerce site that genuinely excites you about making a purchase. These aren't accidents; they're the result of deliberate emotion-driven design strategies that transform digital touchpoints into powerful tools for connection and conversion. 

Research from Harvard Business Review demonstrates that emotionally connected customers deliver 25% to 100% greater value in terms of revenue and profitability compared to those who are "merely" highly satisfied. Emotion-driven design goes beyond aesthetics: it's about crafting experiences through interfaces that understand, anticipate, and respond to human feelings at every interaction point.

The three levels of emotional processing

Don Norman, widely known as the father of UX, identifies three distinct levels of cognitive and emotional response that design must address:

Visceral level

This represents the initial emotional processing that occurs when users first encounter a product. These responses are subconscious and instinctive, driven by sensory information such as visual appearance and tactile sensation. First impressions form at this level, making visual design critical for positive initial engagement. 

Behavioural level

The intermediate level relates directly to product usability and user satisfaction. Here, users evaluate ease of use and the quality of their interactions and experiences. This level determines whether users find solutions genuinely helpful and whether they'll continue engaging with the product. 

Reflective level

The highest level involves conscious thought, interpretation, and reasoning. Users consider the product's impact on their lives, evaluating features, meaning, and cultural implications. Overall brand impression and long-term relationship potential are established at this third, reflective level. 

Effective emotional design strategically engages all three levels of Don Norman's cognitive processing framework. When designs successfully address visceral appeal, behavioural usability, and reflective meaning, users tend to develop comprehensive, positive associations that transform functional interactions into meaningful experiences, fostering lasting brand connections. 

The psychology of emotional response and cognitive load 

Understanding how users emotionally process digital interfaces begins with recognising that every design element triggers subconscious responses. This process is remarkably fast: research from the Nielsen Norman Group indicates that users typically abandon web pages within 10–20 seconds unless clear value propositions are communicated immediately. 

When interfaces overwhelm users with excessive information or complex navigation paths, they generate stress responses that create negative brand associations. Conversely, streamlined designs that reduce cognitive burden foster feelings of competence and satisfaction. This principle explains the consistent high satisfaction ratings for minimalist interfaces like Google's search functionality or Apple's iconic iOS design. 

The emotional journey extends throughout the entire user interaction. Micro-emotions triggered by loading times, error messages, success confirmations, and navigation flows create cumulative impressions that either strengthen or weaken the emotional connection between users and brands. 

Strategic approaches to emotional design implementation 

Implementing emotional design requires systematic integration across multiple design elements. The following approaches demonstrate how designers can strategically embed emotional triggers throughout user experiences to create meaningful connections.

Colour psychology and emotional communication 

Colours function as the primary emotional vocabulary of digital interfaces. For instance, blue conveys trust and reliability (hence its prevalence across financial services) whilst warm oranges and reds generate urgency and excitement, making them particularly effective for call-to-action elements (CTAs). 

Strategic colour implementation extends beyond individual components to encompass complete user journeys. For instance, insurance platforms often employ calming blues during quotation processes, transitioning to confident greens during policy confirmation to reinforce positive decision-making. 

Brand personality integration 

Some successful emotional design incorporates distinctive personality elements that users can identify with and remember. Mascots and character elements (such as MailChimp's Freddie monkey or Duolingo's Duo owl, to name just a few) create memorable touchpoints that humanise digital interactions and foster emotional attachment. It’s worth noting that while mascots may not be suitable for every brand, for those that do embrace them, they may offer powerful advantages for creating connection. 

Tone of voice and typography 

Crafting copy with appropriate emotional resonance involves understanding users’ context and needs. Effective messaging—like Slack's welcoming "You're here! The day just got better" greeting—demonstrates how word choices can transform routine interactions into positive experiences. 

Typography equally influences emotional perception. Font selections convey personality and set expectations even before users begin reading. A classic example of the typographic approach is that sans-serif fonts suggest modernity and approachability, while serif typefaces convey tradition and authority. 

Personalisation and emotional relevance 

Personalised interfaces demonstrate understanding and care, triggering positive emotional responses that enhance engagement. Netflix's recommendation algorithms exemplify this approach—they don't merely suggest content but create anticipation and excitement by presenting options that feel individually curated. This emotional relevance transforms passive browsing into active, engaged exploration. 

From strategy to execution – an emotion design use case 

A mascot can make or break a brand. As a powerful symbol, it has the potential to reshape how audiences perceive and engage with a product or service. 

One of our clients in the biopharmaceutical industry challenged our team to develop character illustrations for their plasma donor mobile app. What began as a straightforward request, to replace placeholder visuals, evolved into something far more impactful. 

The app previously used a standard illustration set with simple characters performing various tasks across screens. While effective in functionality, there was an opportunity for us to bring more cohesion, personality, and emotional resonance, reflecting the values at the heart of the platform.

Rather than simply refining what was already there, we proposed a new approach: the creation of a mascot. One that could personify the brand’s mission, particularly the altruism and empathy of regular plasma donors, and foster a stronger emotional connection with users. We presented three distinct mascot concepts, each with its own personality and visual direction, but all grounded in the same core idea: embodying the spirit of giving in a warm, engaging, and human-centred way.

The chosen character, a droplet-shaped figure that blends the form of plasma and a heart, symbolises both the life-saving nature of plasma and the compassion behind every donation. Its soft yellow tones and pink highlights introduced warmth and emotional softness to an interface previously dominated by cooler corporate hues like blue and green.

While those brand colours weren’t discarded, we created a thoughtful balance: blue remained present in supporting elements such as speech bubbles and contextual objects, helping bridge the visual language of the mascot with the app’s overall identity.

Illustration 1: Mascot design for the plasma donor app

This new colour dynamic served a dual purpose: it visually refreshed the app while creating a deeper emotional layer. Blue signals trust and professionalism; yellow and pink bring approachability and empathy. Together, they conveyed a more holistic brand message—one that feels both secure and human.

The mascot itself is fluid and dynamic: its body can shift shape to communicate different ideas, making it a versatile narrative tool throughout the user journey. This continuity builds familiarity and comfort, giving users a consistent, friendly presence that subtly reinforces trust and connection.

The response surpassed expectations, with the mascot making the app more engaging and memorable. It connected so strongly with users that the client has now requested a physical costume for real-world events and brand activations. This project highlights the mascot’s potential to go beyond its original digital context.

What began as a routine illustration brief became a case study in how character design, when done with intention, can unlock a deeper, more human-centred brand experience. 

Measuring emotional design impact 

Evaluating the impact of emotional design requires both quantitative metrics and qualitative insights. The following methods provide comprehensive approaches to assess how effectively design elements trigger desired emotional reactions and influence user behaviour.

Quantitative assessment methods 

Contrary to what many professionals may think, it is not necessary to reinvent the wheel to measure the impact of emotional design: its effectiveness can be evaluated through traditional metrics viewed through emotional lenses. Time on page, conversion rates, and return visits provide quantitative insights that gain meaning when analysed alongside emotional journey mapping. 

Heat mapping technologies reveal user hesitation or acceleration patterns, indicating emotional responses to specific interface elements. A/B testing emotional variations, such as different colour schemes, copy tones, or interaction patterns, provides data-driven insights into user emotional preferences. 

Qualitative research approaches 

User interviews and sentiment analysis uncover the reasoning behind emotional responses. Advanced techniques, such as facial coding, can capture subconscious emotional reactions during user testing, providing insights that users themselves might not be able to articulate. 

Another valuable approach to gathering a deeper understanding of the design's impact is post-interaction surveys that focus on emotional state rather than satisfaction levels. Questions exploring feelings during interactions reveal the effectiveness of emotional design choices more accurately than traditional satisfaction metrics. 

Organisational implementation strategy 

It is worth noting that the emotion-driven design should not exist in isolation but must form a core component of comprehensive efforts to build emotional connections between brands and customers. Whilst emotions are commonly associated with marketing and branding campaigns, all touchpoints require consideration to enhance high-ROI emotional motivators. 

For retail organisations, this holistic approach encompasses online interface design alongside physical stores, omnichannel experiences, and merchandising strategies, extending beyond traditional message targeting. Success requires alignment across all customer interaction points. 

As Harvard Business Review researchers emphasise, "embracing an emotional-connection strategy across the organisation requires deep customer insights, analytical capabilities, and, above all, a managerial commitment to align the organisation with the new way of thinking." 

Future considerations and emerging trends 

The evolution of emotional design continues alongside technological advancements. Emerging capabilities in artificial intelligence, voice interfaces, and immersive technologies create new opportunities for connection while requiring a sophisticated understanding of human psychology and cultural context. 

Organisations that successfully integrate emotion-driven design principles will create sustainable competitive advantages that extend beyond feature sets or pricing strategies. They will build emotional equity that supports long-term customer relationships. After all, it's not just about what brands say, do or sell. It's about how they make their customers feel.