Mood

A person’s emotional state can directly affect the way they interact with others and with design. A person who is emotionally frustrated by managing a toddler throwing a tantrum will likely have a hard time operating a complex screen-based user interface that requires attention to run. Mood affects perception. A person in a bad mood may feel that cereal boxes are harder to open, the traffic driving to work is unbearable, and office doors jam more often than usual.

Sometimes, the purpose of a design outcome is to facilitate a specific mood. For example, a place for spiritual worship is often designed to create a sense of awe and quiet meditation. These spaces are designed to alter a person’s initial mood, which could be weariness or feeling overworked. When designers consider people’s initial moods, they can are effectively design products, services, and systems to directly address these emotional states. In this example, experience design teams could create design objects that would help people transition into a different mood. In this case, the design could take the form of lighting design to give the room a dramatic sense of mystery, murals that depict ancient imagery, and sound design to create a din of ethereal sounds that feel other-worldly.