I agree, and this emotional connection is why Hancock's hierarchy of hedonomics makes so much sense. Emotional connection to our users, our consumers, moves us beyond just pain-free, functional, and usable, and on to pleasurable. What that means for us as businesses, initially, is having a competitive advantage. But over time, what were once delighters become satisficers -- we expect all things to be not only usable but emotionally and aesthetically pleasing. A few years back, we were just happy to get web search results, but now that Google has raised the bar, we expect all search engines not only to give us valuable results, but in a fraction of a second.
Of course, Don Norman wrote a whole book on Emotional Design, but he focuses more on tactile things that we use as consumers (like my kitchen faucet, pictured), rather than web site or software design. So Manya asked me last week, what web sites I felt really connected with me emotionally. I replied that I couldn't come up with one, but that if I were designing a web site that I wanted to connect with people on an emotional level, I'd ensure a few things: that the imagery was appropriate for my audience (many web sites use pictures of smiling people to try to make that connection), that the vocabulary and tone of the language used on the site was appropriately formal or informal, and that the visual design was not only usable, but aesthetically pleasing (like the new Solaris installation application). Really, just adhering to good design principles ... in hindsight, I should have pointed her to sun.com, which does a very good job of all three of the things I'd recommended. And I know that they are easier said than done.