The Concept
Paradoxical Approach uses the idea of mixing emotions to support a contrasting idea to enrich user experience. It presents an alternative idea development methodology that takes advantage of practical opposing emotions.
In design application, paradoxical design thinking proposes that a positive content communicated by imbuing negative emotions, or negative content presented by imbuing positive emotions, can result in a rich user experienced design. This theory is backed up by Malamed, who wrote that viewers constantly show emotional reaction when seeing both pleasant and unpleasant visuals, which does not occur with neutral visuals (Malamed, 2009). These are some examples from the web of visuals that are integrated with mixed emotions: |
Benefits of Paradoxical Emotive Design
( emotive design = design work with emotions )
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1. Altering audience’s perspective and perception `1Transformation of perception changes how one processes information and reacts to the stimulus, while transformation of attitude changes how one views his position and his tendency to react. Paradoxical emotions can help audience to rethink of certain issue by presenting it from a contrasting perspective, which might reshape their belief and behaviour afterwards. 2. Satisfying audience's cognitive interest Paradoxical emotions can be beneficial to rich experience because they offer unique knowledge that purely positive or negative experience cannot provide. This condition can improve overall experience, as some interesting visuals existing are not simply positive or negative, but rather mixture of both. 3. Appeasing audience's desire for visuals and knowledge Paradoxical method also helps to fulfil one’s scopophilia, the desire for gazing, and epistemophilia, the desire for knowledge (Hanich, 2010). Visuals definitely attract lookers. But by exploring various emotions and outcomes, designer can produce visuals that engage diverse pleasures. Furthermore, designer can create vivid impressions of unknown objects or situations that seemingly rare or impossible to occur on daily life for audience’s satisfaction, and also gain social insights of other societies’ culture. |
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Paradoxical Framework
How does it work?
The paradoxical framework consists of these components: message, opposing emotion, protective frame, and emotional experience. First, look into the contradicting ideas to present the message. Then choose the suitable mixtures of contrasting or opposing emotions to communicate the idea. Afterwards, a suitable protective frame is introduced to ease the outcome’s negative reaction and make the evoked emotions enjoyable (Fokkinga, 2012). At last, the emotional experience transforms one’s perception and attitude, so it can then be impactful for the audience . |
Protective Frames
How does it work?
Protective frame is a mental fabrication that allows people to generate a psychological distance between themselves and the design object.
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1. Safety zone frame
Safety-zone frame puts protection in the direct environment, such as wild animals behind cage. This frame helps to convey the message in a way that is intuitive and acceptable for the audience. However, mental distance is as affecting as physical distance because graphics are already representation. Still, both are equally important. In conclusion, safety-zone frame in graphic design requires both bodily and mental distance to be considered when creating visuals. 2. Medium frame
Frequency is part of the category because of human’s innate behaviour. First, human finds monotony to be unpleasant, therefore being constantly exposed to positive imagery can cause numbness and reduce its impact. People are also affected by memory and perception, so the emotions evoked from visuals tend to shift their cognisance. Frequency frame also affects user experience even though it works differently from the other frames as the audience, instead of the designer, controls it. A balanced exposure determines the productiveness of the visual. This crafted condition allows audience to absorb varied and continual stimulation, which leads to rich user experience. 3. Control frame
Control frame occurs when one is given an amount of control over the interaction with the object stimulus, like how skill mastery provides sense of security. As control frame harness control to engage user experience, it requires audience’s active participation. Human tend to react more to tangible things as they stimulate our senses better. But control frame will hardly be effective when the outcome demands audience to become passive recipients. Therefore, control frame can function effectively to enrich user experience when applied to the visual that ignites audience’s interaction and participation. 4. Medium frame
Medium frame allows observing the outcome without participation, like experiences from novels, movies, and plays. Graphic design always uses medium to mediate yet separate the content and audiences simultaneously. It uses representation to reduce audience’s negative experience. |
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The next part will show the complete demonstration as well as explanation on how the Paradoxical Approach can be applicable to graphic design. The following example uses storytelling as a media to execute the demonstration.