1. Principles of
Emotional Design
Garron Engstrom
@GarronEngstrom
Jake Maynard
@MaynardJ20
Sr. Interaction Designers
@Intuit

3. Mission:
To improve our customers’ financial lives so
profoundly…they can’t imagine going back to
the old way

4. Brief history of design at Intuit1
2
3
Principles of emotional design
Future of emotional design

5. 1993

6. HELLLLOOOOOOOOO!
Source: http://goo.gl/PHqIzS

7. Source: https://goo.gl/JcaJJX
Source: http://goo.gl/0gBnmL

9. TurboTax simplified
tax prep
1993

10. A turning point
2007

11. “We realized that we were no longer as proud
of the experiences we were creating — that in
many cases we were no longer any better
than our competitors.”
Kaaren Hanson
Former VP of Design @Intuit

12. “Intuit is the most well run, no
growth company in the Valley.”
Anonymous
???

13. “Design for Delight is our #1
weapon in attaining growth,
and there is no #2.”
Scott Cook
Founder of Intuit

14. What problems we solve:

15. How we solve them:

16. How we go from usability to delight:

17. “Usable = Edible”
Aarron Walter
Director of Design @Mailchimp

18. XD Forum
Internal Design Conference
2014

19. “Intuit is a design-driven
company and we strive to get
better every day.”
Brad Smith
Intuit CEO

20. Brief history of design at Intuit1
2
3
Principles of emotional design
Future of emotional design

21. Identify
“own-able moments”
1

22. Own-able Moment (noun):
A moment in a product experience
when the customer is experiencing a
change or escalation of emotion.

23. Are “easter eggs”
delightful?
Maybe…but they’re not
own-able moments.

25. Uber own-able moment:
Payment (or lack of it)

26. Exercise 1:
Identify own-able moments
Dropbox Link: https://goo.gl/Fg447i

27. Lean into
the emotion
2

28. Emotional Design
=
Positive Emotion

31. Exercise 2:
Identify the emotion
Dropbox Link: https://goo.gl/4Cx0s6

32. Convey
emotion visually
3

33. Levels of Perception
Visceral: appearance
Behavioral: how it works, how it feels
Reflective: interpretation and
understanding
1
2
3

34. “Appearance can greatly influence
perceptions, and we carry that mental
model with us when sizing up a website”
Aarron Walter
Director of Design @Mailchimp

35. “…immediately boosting
sales by 24% and driving
Apple to its first
profitable quarter in two
years.”
“…from geeky to pop…”
“For the first time ever,
the color of a computer
became an outlet for
self-expression”
www.fastcodesign.com
Visceral Design: iMac G3

36. “In ’67, the year of the
Summer of Love…The unique
and unconventional form of
the Bug perfectly matched
the new revolution.”
www.thebeetle.com
“It has a certain personality
to it, an endearing quality.”
www.theblaze.com
Source: http://goo.gl/G9pNoj
Visceral Design:
VW Beetle

37. TurboTax own-able moment:
Transmitting your taxes
From To

38. Social media response
to this redesigned own-able moment

41. Source: http://goo.gl/ZMynq5

43. Humanize the
technology
4

44. Source: http://goo.gl/Cxc5Zf

45. Eight Hundred
smart, diverse and empathetic people

46. “I finally got around to doing taxes
yesterday. After our information was
transferred from last years return, it
asked if either of us had passed away. I
entered the information that [husband]
died on June 15, and a screen came up
that said “we’re sorry for your loss.” I sat
there and stared at it, crying, for a few
minutes. It was so cathartic! Please pass
on to the team how much that one little
sentence meant to me. Whoever
thought that up must be a very caring
person.”
Yes No
Yes NoYes No
Yes No

47. Credible Emotional
Conversational
UnprofessionalTransactional
Taxy
TurboTax
Voice & Tone

48. Exercise 3:
What’s your voice?
Dropbox Link: https://goo.gl/ISf2vV

49. Credible v. Unprofessional
Emotional v. Transactional
Friendly v. Cold
Simple v. Complex
Transparent v. Vague
Warm v. Indifferent
Serious v. Light-hearted
Humble v. Extroverted
Scientific v. Subjective
Playful v. Apathetic
Inspiring v. Modest
Proactive v. Uneager
Economical v. Irrational
Reliable v. Unsteady
…
Voice & Tone Attributes

50. Brief history of design at Intuit1
2
3
Principles of emotional design
Future of emotional design

51. Emotional design will become more
about knowing, not assuming, the
emotional state of the user.

52. Emotional design will become more
about knowing, not assuming, the
emotional state of the user.
By using:
Facial recognition
Multi-sensor inputs
Biometrics

53. Using facial recognition
YouTube Video: https://goo.gl/EldoBj

54. Using multi-sensor inputs
Microsoft
US Patent #:
US 20100179759 A1
Source: http://goo.gl/Ty4ynb

55. Using biometrics
Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/technology/cant-wait-apple-watch-here-4352128Source: http://goo.gl/nJE20y

56. Identify own-able moments
Lean into the emotion
Convey emotion visually
Humanize the technology
1
2
3
4
Principles of Emotional Design

57. Thank you.
@GarronEngstrom
@MaynardJ20
Collaborators and Shoutouts:
Ivy Tsai
Heather Daggett
Meghan Cartlidge
Thai Dang
Ria Hagan
John Caldwell
Andy Roe
& the rest of the TurboTax Team

58. The Harvard Business Review - Innovation Catalysts
Bloomberg Businessweek - Interview with Brad Smith and Kaaren Hanson
UX Magazine - Stop Sprinkling Emotion, Start Creating Magic and
Meaning
Khan Academy - Interview with Scott Cook
Designing for Emotion - Aarron Walter
Emotional Design - Don Norman
Resources