Upon first reading this blog assignment, I immediately thought of tools and this one particular scene in the I.D. documentary Objectified where a designer from Smart Design is discussing a pair of hedge clippers. Do tools ignore people's emotional needs and only focus on function in their design? The designer from Smart Design explored several existing designs for hedge clippers and explained the negatives of each (obviously whichever design Smart Design created would ultimately be the best hedge clippers ever made). She discussed how the ergonomics of the clippers created frustration, which is a pretty strong emotion. So even if the design of the clippers ignored emotion and only focused on functionality, its inept design created frustration in the user. Ultimately, this design could not avoid an emotional layer in the user experience.
There are a great number of designers who do ignore the emotional layer and only focus on function but when you have an interaction that involves humans, there is no getting around the emotional component. Even if someone claims to be indifferent to a design, if a product like a tool for example, works well, that person is satisfied and most likely happy with the design even if it is a subconscious happiness. Design utilizes psychology and an understanding of human behavior to explore what humans value. This is done through careful research, user-testing, and creating iteration upon iteration. Going back to tools and its place on the spectrum of function vs. emotion, the company OXO comes to mind. The founder of the company, Sam Farber, noticed that his wife was having trouble gripping kitchen tools because of the arthritis that was developing in her hands. He decided to create comfortable cooking tools for all users, not just those developing arthritis. But clearly Farber was inspired by sympathy for his wife's condition and the frustration she was experiencing. In this particular case, emotion inspired a highly functional design, which leads me to believe that no matter how devoid of emotion a design is intended to be, it never truly can be.
Your post makes me think of the concept of "flow." When you have flow with the things and people around you, good things happen. You are productive and happy. If things are designed right, they will cause flow to happen. If designed wrong, they will break the flow. There is no question in my mind that flow or lack of flow causes emotion, so that's my long winded way of saying I agree with you!
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