How to Use Emotional Design to Create a Great App

Most apps solve a problem. But the ones we love and keep coming back to, they make us feel something different: they inspire us to do something more. That feeling might be joy, confidence, surprise, or even a sense of progress. And it’s not accidental. The best apps are intentionally designed to spark emotion.

Emotional design leverages psychology to go beyond UX design and usability, enabling your product to build trust, foster connection, and achieve lasting engagement. Whether you're a SaaS founder, product strategist, or designer, this guide will show you how to apply emotional design at every level.

What Is Emotional Design in UX?

Emotional design is the practice of crafting digital experiences that evoke emotions, not just functionality. It’s what turns a useful app into a memorable one.

The concept comes from Don Norman’s framework, which breaks emotional responses into three levels:

• Visceral: our immediate, instinctive reaction
• Behavioral: how we feel while using the product
• Reflective: how we evaluate and remember the experience afterward

When these layers work together, apps feel more human and far more engaging.

What are Norman’s 3 Levels of Emotional Design?

Don Norman’s book, In Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things, explores three levels of design that reflect people’s emotional response to an experience: visceral, behavioral, and reflective. It’s through these emotional reactions that people connect to everything they engage with, including apps.

When an object triggers all three of these emotional reactions, humans feel joy or lasting pleasure. Achieving this state provides a way for you as a designer to cultivate a deeper relationship with your users. These emotional responses can be crafted by applying emotional design principles. You may use any of the three levels individually, but your app will be more effective when using all three levels of emotional design together to create a strong emotional experience. 

Visceral Design

Visceral design focuses on the visceral reaction triggered by an initial sensory experience. This powerful reaction happens without conscious thought and sets the initial framing and the mood for what you’re viewing. Visceral design is not about the tangible benefits of a product but the process of tapping into a user’s beliefs, feelings, and attitudes and eliciting an emotional response. A positive visceral reaction can establish a positive context for future interactions.

Just like the strategic use of color. People associate colors with specific emotions: yellow is often linked to happiness and joy, blue is typically associated with trust and communication, and orange typically evokes excitement. 

Visual elements aren’t the only things that can trigger a visceral reaction. The style of language you use can also make an impact. The copy used in your app’s onboarding process will set the tone for the user experience. 

This is your user’s gut reaction, instinctive and emotional, based on what they see, hear, or feel.

• Visuals: color, layout, motion, typography
• Tactile: haptic feedback or responsive animations
• Voice & tone: the personality of your copy
• Sound design: subtle cues for success, errors, or progress

Example: Apple’s haptic feedback, the slight “tap” you feel during interactions, makes even simple actions feel polished and intentional.

Source: Nogentech

Behavioral Design

Behavioral actions occur when we interact with a product and derive value from it. This is often called usability, though behavioral design also encompasses product function, performance, and effectiveness. Behavioral science, the foundation for behavioral design, provides insights into human behavior that applies to all users. The overarching principles of behavioral design are: 1) the behavior you reward will be repeated, and 2) how you deliver a reward impacts the reinforcement of the desired behavior. 

When our interactions with the product are fluid, familiar, and expected, we enjoy our experience, and we have a sense of empowerment, trust, and desire for more interactions. When designing your app, consider how quickly users can meet their goal(s) and the incentives for them to do so. 

How your product works and how enjoyable or frustrating it is to use.

• Usability and intuitiveness
• Clear feedback and completion signals
• Reinforcement loops that reward action

Example: Sanvello, an app successfully leveraging behavioral design to boost mental health. When users first start engaging with the app, they rate how they’re feeling and can see past entries to track progress over time. Guided journeys help them learn about topics of interest, and they can track progress toward their goals. There’s also a community where users can share learnings and support one another.

Source: RooConnection

Reflective Design

Reflective design focuses on how we feel after interacting with an app. It involves conscious thought, where we actively consider the design, judging it and evaluating its pros and cons, and then decide based on that analysis of what it means to us. Reflective design can evoke emotions that extend beyond the product, encouraging users to share their experiences with others. It is encouraging to think about the interaction with the app and its cultural impact. Since we are hard-wired for connection, it also reflects the desire for a shared experience.

This is how users feel afterward. It’s where meaning, self-perception, and memory intersect.

• Does the app reflect something about who I am?
• Did the experience make me feel accomplished, connected, or inspired?
• Is it worth sharing?

Example: Fitbit is a good example of an app leveraging both behavioral design and reflective design. The app motivates people to exercise while keeping them engaged through the use of badges and competition. Fitbit leverages reflective design by adding in a level of social engagement where users can link with their friends to compete and share experiences and accomplishments. 

Source: TheVerge

Here’s a comparison table between visceral, behavioral, and reflective design:

Why Emotional Design Matters for Non-Technical SaaS Founders

Plenty of non-technical founders build great products. What they share is a deep understanding of how their users feel. Emotional design provides a framework that enables you to move beyond simply adding features and toward creating experiences that users remember, return to, and discuss.

For non-technical founders, it’s a powerful lens to:

• Retain users during onboarding: First impressions matter. Emotional cues can make new users feel welcome, motivated, and supported.
• Create shareable, sticky experiences: Moments of delight, humor, or accomplishment encourage users to tell others, growing your product organically.
• Reduce churn by reinforcing value: When users feel a sense of progress, pride, or ease, they’re far more likely to stick around.

You may not design the UI yourself, but with emotional design in mind, you can shape product decisions that make every interaction more meaningful.

How Using Emotional Design Makes a Great App

The ultimate reason to create an app or any product is to solve a user’s problems and delight them with the interaction and outcome. Users start by wanting or desiring an experience, and then they must be able to interact with the app and derive value from it. This feeling reinforces continued usage and builds trust to a level where the user will want to share it with others. App designers need to cultivate these emotional responses at each level to be effective.

When you layer emotional design into your UX strategy, you go beyond functionality. You create moments that feel intuitive, rewarding, and memorable. These moments build connection, and connection drives loyalty. Great apps work well and leave a lasting impression.

By addressing all three levels of emotion:

• Visceral design attracts users with immediate visual and sensory appeal.
• Behavioral design keeps them engaged by making the experience smooth and satisfying.
• Reflective design encourages pride, meaning, and sharing after the fact.

Together, these layers create a feedback loop that increases engagement, deepens trust, and turns casual users into long-term advocates. Emotional design doesn’t replace good UX; it amplifies it.

Elements of Emotional Design

There are several elements or techniques you can use to help create an emotional response. Here are six of the most effective.

• • Humor — Laughter is a strong positive emotion that evokes happiness while alleviating uncertainty. Humor lowers anxiety, builds trust, and makes moments of friction feel lighter.

• • Storytelling — Narratives help users understand where they are, what’s next, and why it matters. Whether in onboarding or feature flows, storytelling creates clarity and emotional investment.

• • Imagery — Thoughtful visuals from illustration to animation help express mood, brand personality, and meaning in ways words can’t.

• • Relatable voice — Express emotion and empathy using a tone and voice that users can relate to.

• • Microinteractions — these small, often subtle UI responses, such as a satisfying swipe or a button that pulses, make the experience feel alive and responsive, rewarding users for their actions. As the author of microinteractions, Dan Saffer stated, “The difference between a product you love and one you simply tolerate is often the microinteractions.”

• • Positive surprise — Delight users with something unexpected but meaningful, like a thank-you message, progress animation, or Easter egg to create moments worth remembering (and sharing).
    
    

Emotional Design Examples

The best apps don’t just function well, they feel intuitive, satisfying, and even fun. Emotional design isn’t an afterthought; it’s what keeps people coming back.

Duolingo: The cheerful green owl, daily streaks, and gamified progress bars turn language learning into a habit using playful visuals and rewards to drive emotional engagement.

Starbucks: From personalized offers to the anticipation of stars and freebies, the app taps into habit loops, emotional satisfaction, and a sense of exclusivity.

Social Apps (Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat): Notifications, reactions, and real-time connections fuel emotional hooks that reinforce the urge to return, share, and belong.

 Ethical Design and Emotional Impact

When used well, emotional design builds connection and trust. When misused, it can feel manipulative or misleading. Avoid dark patterns, such as fake urgency, guilt-tripping notifications, or reward systems that create unhealthy habits. These might boost short-term metrics but erode user trust over time.

Instead, focus on emotional design that supports user well-being and stays true to your product’s purpose. Ask with every interaction:

“Are we deepening connection or exploiting behavior?”

Ethical emotional design isn’t just good UX. It’s a long-term strategy for building trust, loyalty, and sustainable engagement.

FAQs

What’s the difference between UX and emotional design?

UX ensures usability. Emotional design enhances the feelings associated with usability, including trust, joy, and motivation.

Can emotional design help with retention?

Absolutely. Users return to products they enjoy using and feel emotionally invested in.

What if I only apply one of the three levels?

 It can still be helpful, but blending all three (visceral + behavioral + reflective) creates more lasting engagement.

 Is emotional design just for B2C apps?

 Not at all. Even SaaS or enterprise apps benefit from clarity, delight, and a human experience.

Using Emotional Design to Make a Great App

Creating a good app takes a lot of work. Creating a great app requires knowledge and skill. No matter the nature of your app, there are ways to incorporate aspects of emotional design to generate connection, usability, and engagement. When you understand your users, base your design on UX principles, and leverage emotional design, you’re positioning your product for success.

Emotional design offers a means to foster a deeper user connection without introducing additional features or complexity. You don’t need flashy animations or gimmicks, just thoughtful, human-centered choices rooted in how people think, feel, and connect.

Curious how emotional design could fit into your app? Schedule a consultation

You might also like:

• Behavioral Design is the Future of UX
• 6 Essential UI Design Elements for SaaS Apps (+ Examples)
• Using the Manipulation Matrix for Ethical Behavioral Design