Designing for Emotional Impact

When packaging becomes part of you Wearable packaging is no longer a futuristic concept it's a growing design frontier that merges functionality, fashion, and emotional connection. Beyond the shelf: packaging you can wear From fragrance necklaces to ring-shaped lip balms and refillable compacts designed like jewelry, beauty brands are transforming packaging into accessories. The product becomes not just something you use, but something you wear turning daily rituals into statements of identity. Why it works In a world saturated with options, wearable packaging offers immediacy, memorability, and emotional value. It adds a layer of meaning: a perfume worn around the neck is not just a scent, it’s a story you carry. A lipstick shaped like a pendant becomes both utility and ornament. It taps into consumers’ desire for customization, portability, and aesthetic expression particularly among Gen Z and Millennials who seek objects that are both functional and symbolic. A new layer of storytelling Wearable formats create a deeper connection between brand and user. They’re conversation starters, collectible, and often more sustainable built for reuse and ritual, rather than discard. Design becomes not only a visual differentiator but a tactile, emotional experience that enhances the perceived value of the product. From beauty to fashion and back again This blurring of categories also opens doors to cross-industry innovation. When beauty products act like accessories, they enter the realm of fashion making room for brand collaborations, limited editions, and viral potential on social media. It’s no longer just about packaging design. It’s about presence. Relevance. And creating a product people don’t want to put away — they want to put on. Featured brands: Rhode Bubble Yepoda Laneige #WearablePackaging #CosmeticAccessories #FragranceOnTheGo #LuxuryPackaging #EmotionalDesign #GenZBeauty #FutureOfBeauty

Decathlon chose to zoom in (literally) and take a different perspective. Their “Choose Your Way” campaign doesn’t push product features or promotions. Instead, it invites you in through close-up, tactile moments that make you feel something. These are memory triggers. Emotional cues. It’s simple, sensory and surprisingly powerful. A reminder that the most effective creative work doesn’t just show what something is. It makes you feel something about it. This shift didn’t come out of nowhere. Last year, Decathlon rebranded and it marked the beginning of a new chapter for a brand that had always been big, but rarely emotional. This campaign builds on that foundation. It shows what happens when you stop trying to say everything and focus instead on creating a feeling. You don't have to lead with product to make people care. You just need to show up in a way that resonates. Other brands are doing this too. British Airways rolled out its “A British Original” campaign with eye-catching out-of-home executions that use minimal branding and focus on expressions of wonder from people gazing out of plane windows. PepsiCo also nailed it with work that zoomed in on their logo hidden in plain sight on other brand packaging. A smart, subtle flex. It's all about shifting the perspective and zooming in to bring something visually interesting to life. What brand have you seen recently that made you feel something without saying too much?

Imagine a product you couldn’t use alone. Sounds impractical. Until you see what it unlocks. Coca-Cola once redesigned its bottle so the cap needed two people to open it. Not faster. Not easier. Together. Launched in 2014 on Colombian college campuses, each bottle featured a specially engineered cap with half of a interlocking twist mechanism…think puzzle pieces that only fit together. A single person couldn't open it alone; two bottles had to align precisely and twist simultaneously to unlock both caps, forcing collaboration in seconds. They had to look up, find someone nearby, align themselves, and twist in sync. That small interruption changed everything. The bottle stopped being just a beverage and became an excuse. To smile. To speak. To cross that invisible line between strangers. What appeared playful on the surface was deeply intentional underneath. Without a single line of copy, it engineered connection. This is design at its most powerful. Not shouting for attention. Not piling on innovation for the sake of it. This addressed freshman isolation amid rising phone dependency, transforming a routine sip into an interactive challenge. It embodied Coke's "share happiness" ethos not through ads, but by embedding connection into the product itself. Rooted in social design, it prioritized emotional connection over utility, addressing college students' screen-induced loneliness. By design, it created micro-moments of vulnerability…asking for help build rapport instantly, fostering trust and conversation. Videos of these moments went viral, amassing 9 million YouTube views and doubling sales. This human-centric approach boosted brand loyalty by solving relational needs. It raises an important question for anyone building products, brands, or systems today: What would happen if we designed less for convenience and more for shared human moments?

Many leaders think the goal of a data presentation is clarity. That assumption could cost them buy-in. The leaders who consistently win over a room understand something many don’t learn: Data has an emotional arc, just like a story. In the 1960s, Kurt Vonnegut proposed that every story moves between good fortune and ill fortune over time. Researchers later analyzed 1,327 works of fiction and confirmed six primary story arcs. Great data presentations follow those same arcs. Every chart or graph traces a path between good fortune and ill fortune across time. And when you recognize which arc your data is following, you can present it in a way that creates the same gut reaction a great story does. That emotional connection to the data is what creates buy-in. When people feel the weight of what your data is saying, they start to care about what happens next. In this video, I walk through the six story arcs Kurt Vonnegut discovered, how you can identify which one matches your data, and how to build your presentation around that arc so it moves your audience to act. #DataStorytelling #BusinessStorytelling #ExecutiveCommunication

🗺️ AirBnB Customer Journey Blueprint, a wonderful practical example of how to visualize the entire customer experience for 2 personas, across 8 touch points, with user policies, UI screens and all interactions with the customer service — all on one single page. AirBnB Customer Journey (Google Drive): https://lnkd.in/eKsTjrp4 Spotify Customer Journey (High-res): https://lnkd.in/eX3NBWbJ Now, unlike AirBnB, your product might not need a mapping against user policies. However, it might need other lanes that would be more relevant for your team. E.g. include relevant findings and recommendations from UX research. List key actions needed for next stage. Add relevant UX metrics and unsuccessful touchpoints. That last bit is often missing. Yet customer journeys are often non-linear, with unpredictable entry points, and integrations way beyond the final stage of a customer journey map. It’s in those moments when things leave a perfect path that a product’s UX is actually stress tested. So consider mapping unsuccessful touchpoints as well — failures, error messages, conflicts, incompatibilities, warnings, connectivity issues, eventual lock-outs and frequent log-outs, authentication issues, outages and urgent support inquiries. Even further than that: each team could be able to zoom into specific touch points and attach links to quotes, photos, videos, prototypes, design system docs and Figma files. Perhaps even highlight the desired future state. Technical challenges and pain points. Those unsuccessful states. Now, that would be a remarkable reference to use in the beginning of every design sprint. Such mappings are often overlooked, but they can be very impactful. Not only is it a very tangible way to visualize UX, but it’s also easy to understand, remember and relate to daily — potentially for all teams in the entire organization. And that's something only few artefacts can do. Useful resources: Free Template: Customer Journey Mapping, by Taras Bakusevych https://lnkd.in/e-emkh5A Free Template: End-To-End User Experience Map (Figma), by Justin Tan https://lnkd.in/eir9jg7J Customer Journey Map Template (Figma), by Ed Biden https://lnkd.in/evaUP4kz Free Figma/Miro User Journey Maps Templates https://lnkd.in/etSB7VqB User Journey Maps vs. Service Blueprints (+ Templates) https://lnkd.in/e-JSYtwW UX Mapping Methods (+ Miro/Figma Templates) https://lnkd.in/en3Vje4t #ux #design

Sensory Architecture: A Journey Through the Senses A client approached us with the vision of creating a wellness retreat that transcended the conventional. As with all our projects, we began with Land Studies, exploring its natural systems and understanding that the users were not the only guests but also the flora, fauna, and ecosystems of the place. This research led us to question: What if architecture did not only adapt to nature but co-created with it? More than a physical space, a wellness retreat is an experience. Designing in harmony with nature means creating a living, responsive architecture that interacts with its surroundings and strengthens the connection between people and the natural world. To achieve this, we studied light, sound, wind, vegetation, temperature, smells, and the metaphysical features of the site, asking key questions like: How can sensory experiences promote healing? Each site visit revealed new aspects, allowing us to map natural rhythms—light movement, wind patterns, biodiversity, influenced by the time of day and the season of the year. Studying the senses can seem overwhelming due to their subjective nature, so it was essential to understand how to measure and quantify the effects of these sensory elements on well-being. •⁠ ⁠Sight and Light: Light, essential for visual perception, influences emotions and biological rhythms. Orange light (582-620 nm) stimulates vitality, while blue light enhances concentration but can disrupt sleep. Based on these effects, one can design lighting strategies that respond to the physical and emotional needs of users at different times of the day. •⁠ ⁠Sound and Frequencies: Sound travels in waves and affects mood. Low frequencies induce relaxation, while high frequencies create alertness. Mapping natural sounds—wind, water, birds—allows us to define zones of tranquility and areas with greater sensory stimulation.  - Touch and Textures: Tactile perception involves pressure, temperature, and texture. Smooth wooden surfaces convey warmth, while rough stone evokes stability. By analyzing local materials, we design spaces that foster relaxation and a connection with nature through touch. •⁠ ⁠Smell: Smell is linked to the limbic system, influencing emotions and memories. We identified natural fragrances—like citrus & wood—to integrate them into architecture and enhance well-being. For example, we aim to design an experience where guests wake up to the invigorating scent of citrus, promoting energy and alertness, and wind down at night with the calming aroma of lavender, encouraging restful sleep. To bring this vision to life, we are working with experts from various disciplines, focusing on ecology, environmental conservation, neuroscience, and the use of local materials and construction techniques. Sensory architecture transforms design into a living organism that breathes, listens, and responds.

🧃 THE “ORANGE JUICE TEST PRINCIPLE” How a Small Hotel Discovered a Multi-Million Dollar Customer Insight by Watching Guests Pour Breakfast Juice A boutique hotel in California once ran into a strange problem. They upgraded the rooms. They upgraded the lobby. They upgraded the staff training. They upgraded everything. But guest satisfaction scores barely moved. The general manager was frustrated. He felt like nothing worked. So he did something odd: He spent an entire week standing in the breakfast area just watching people pour orange juice. And he noticed something bizarre. Every single morning the same micro-frustration happened: People grabbed the heavy glass pitcher tilted it and the juice came out too fast. It splashed. It spilled on hands. It dripped on the counter. It made a mess. Guests didn’t complain. They didn’t tell anyone. They didn’t leave reviews about it. But their faces showed a tiny moment of annoyance every single time they poured a glass. That tiny annoyance was affecting how they felt about the entire hotel. The manager replaced the pitchers with smaller, lighter, slow-pour containers. The next month, guest satisfaction shot up. Not because the rooms changed. Not because the amenities changed. Not because the service changed. Because guests’ day started with a smooth moment instead of a frustrating one. The hotel realized something huge: Customers judge your entire business based on the first tiny moment they experience. And if that moment feels frustrating everything afterward feels less valuable. 💡 THE MARKETING LESSON Your business has “orange juice moments” everywhere: • the first 3 seconds of your website • your checkout process • your DM reply time • your onboarding friction • the tone of your confirmation email • your follow-up pace • how easy it is to get help • the first 10 seconds of your video Small annoyances create big emotional withdrawals. Small delights create big emotional deposits. Fix the tiny frustrations and customers will feel like your entire brand improved. 🧠 THE NERDY TAKEAWAY The “Orange Juice Test Principle” teaches this: People do not remember experiences accurately. They remember how you made them feel in the tiny moments. You can fix your entire business by improving the first ten seconds of the customer experience. Because emotions created in small moments shape decisions about big purchases. Paul Getter on FB

After creating hundreds of thousands of presentations, Nancy Duarte discovered a framework in 2010 that changed her life. She mapped it over Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech and Steve Jobs introducing the iPhone. Both aligned perfectly. She cried in her office - the pattern she'd been desperate to find was real. See, most founder pitches fail the same way. You stack all the customer pain points at the start, then demo your product at the end. By the time you reach your solution, people have already decided if they're interested. They tuned out at slide 8. Duarte's Sparkline does the opposite. You alternate between “what is” and “what could be” throughout the entire pitch. Pain, solution. Pain, solution. The pattern works because contrast commands attention and open loops create psychological discomfort. The brain needs recurring tension to stay engaged: - MLK toggled between injustice now and "I have a dream" repeatedly. - Jobs contrasted clunky smartphone limitations with iPhone capabilities throughout the 80-minute presentation. - JFK alternated between the US’s space limitations and “we choose to go to the Moon in this decade.” Each toggle made staying in the current state unbearable. The execution: 1. Make your customer the hero by using their exact words Interview five target customers or investors before you build slides. When they describe frustrations, use their language verbatim. This proves you understand their reality before pitching your solution. 2. Paint “what could be” with sensory detail Not better accommodations. Instead: a family arrives in Paris, their Airbnb host left fresh croissants and a handwritten neighborhood guide on the kitchen table. They feel like locals, not tourists. Concrete outcomes stick. Abstract benefits are forgotten. 3. Alternative problem/solution throughout - never batch Pain 1, solution 1, pain 2, solution 2, pain 3, solution 3. Never group all problems then all features. Batching lets investors and customers mentally check out before you finish. 4. End with an immediate next step (24-48 hours) For investors: “By Friday, confirm the partner meeting date and three references you want to call.” For customers: “By tomorrow, send three use cases and I'll record a custom demo by Wednesday.” Make the decision immediate and concrete. Watch for these signals mid-pitch: You're losing them when investors lean back, check phones, or pivot to questions about your burn rate and competition. You're winning when customers interrupt to describe their specific use case, ask about implementation timeline, or want to loop in their team immediately. When every startup in your category has similar features, the pitch that creates unbearable tension wins the round, the sale, and the talent.

“After spending 178 days aboard the International Space Station, astronaut Ron Garan returned to Earth carrying something far heavier than space equipment or mission data. He returned with a transformed understanding of humanity itself. From orbit, Earth doesn’t look like a collection of countries, borders, or competing interests. It appears as a single, radiant blue sphere suspended in darkness. No lines divide continents. No flags mark territory. From 250 miles above the surface, every human conflict suddenly looks small — and every human connection looks unavoidable. Garan described watching lightning storms crackle across entire continents, auroras ripple like living curtains over the poles, and city lights glow softly against the planet’s night side. What struck him most wasn’t Earth’s power — it was its fragility. The atmosphere protecting all life appeared as a paper-thin blue halo, barely visible, yet responsible for everything that breathes, grows, and survives. That view triggered what astronauts call the “overview effect” — a profound cognitive shift reported by many who see Earth from space. It’s the sudden realization that humanity shares a single, closed system. No backups. No escape route. No second home. Garan began questioning humanity’s priorities. On Earth, economic growth is often treated as the ultimate goal. From space, that hierarchy collapses. He argues that the correct order should be planet first, society second, economy last — because without a healthy planet, neither society nor economy can exist. He often compares Earth to a spacecraft. A ship carrying billions of crew members, all dependent on the same life-support systems. And yet, many behave as passengers rather than caretakers, assuming someone else is responsible for keeping things running. From orbit, pollution has no nationality. Climate systems ignore borders. Environmental damage in one region ripples across the entire globe. The divisions we defend so fiercely on the ground simply don’t exist from above. Garan’s message isn’t abstract or idealistic. It’s practical. If humanity continues to treat Earth as an unlimited resource rather than a shared system, the consequences will be universal. Seeing Earth from space didn’t make him feel small. It made him feel accountable. Because when you truly understand that we’re all riding the same fragile spacecraft through the universe, the idea of “us versus them” quietly disappears — replaced by a single, unavoidable truth: There is only us.” Link to source: https://lnkd.in/g6zK_eca To learn more about how we can achieve genuine sustainability join us at Beyond Duality, an 8 week online course where we prioritise life on Earth, not business as usual. You can learn more on our website: www.beyondduality.org

Emotion-Centered Design in UX focuses on how users feel, not just what they do. It helps build trust, boost engagement, and reduce drop-offs by creating emotionally meaningful experiences. Tools like emotion maps, empathy maps, and microinteractions help designers understand and improve user feelings at every step. Apps like Duolingo, Headspace, and Slack use humor, calm visuals, and friendly language to turn simple tasks into emotionally engaging experiences. Great UX doesn’t just work — it feels right. #ui #ux #design