Emotional Design

Users bring emotions to AI interactions. Frustration when it doesn't work. Delight when it does something unexpected. Distress when dealing with difficult topics. The AI's response to these emotions is a design decision.

Emotional States to Design For

• Frustration: The AI isn't working, isn't understanding, or is being unhelpful. The user is losing patience.
• Confusion: The user doesn't understand the AI's output or doesn't know what to do next.
• Delight: The AI exceeded expectations. The user is pleasantly surprised.
• Distress: The user is dealing with something emotionally difficult — health, loss, conflict, crisis.
• Boredom: The AI is too slow, too verbose, or too repetitive.
• Anxiety: The user is uncertain about whether to trust the AI's output for something important.
• Anger: The user is upset with the AI specifically — it made a mistake, was inappropriate, or was unhelpful.

Response Strategies

For frustration:

• Acknowledge the difficulty without being patronising
• Simplify — offer a more direct path
• Don't repeat the same failed approach
• Offer to try a different angle or escalate For confusion:
• Explain differently, don't just repeat
• Use examples and analogies
• Break complex outputs into smaller steps