Why People Bond With Brands & The Role of Design

One of my favorite books, Emotional Design: Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things, was referenced in the below MIT blog post about a study that was done on how people bond with brands. What you'll witness below is the no duh, big a-ha phenonema.

"During the doctoral research, Ruth Mugge investigated the topic of product attachment – the strength of the emotional bond a consumer experiences to a specific product. Based on literature, four factors were distinguished that can influence product attachment:

1) self-expression (can I distinguish myself from others with the product?)
2) group affiliation (does ownership of the product connect me to a group?)
3) memories (related to the product)
4) pleasure (provided by the product).

Although these factors are all relevant for stimulating the experience of attachment to products, they differ in the degree to which designers can influence them through product design."

Agree! Read the aforementioned book to learn more about the submimenal effect design has on consumer and user emotion.

I LOVE Starbucks!

It makes me sooo happy. Today is my birthday and I treated myself to a Skinney Cinnamon Dolce Sugar Free Light Whip Latte and it just put a smile on my face. The bustling noise of the crowd working and conversing inside the Starbucks (feel like that's what saloons back in the day must have felt like), to the barista chatting with me and calling me by my first name ("Hey Margaret, how's it going today?"), to the cleanly designed white cups with the cutest insightful messages (like The Way I See It #267). Starbucks thanks for making me smile. Raise your prices, I don't care. My frequency might change, but my loyalty will not. Ahhhh....yummmm...Starbucks...