Understanding primary emotional engagement has always been fascinating to me.
I was doing some research and came across perhaps the most well articulated reason for good design that I've come across from a lady called Laurie Manwell. In a video I was watching Laurie says this of our brain working out imagery:
"We assume that when we are looking at something we are analysing it based on the visual information that is entering the brain from the eyes, but this is not entirely accurate. In fact visual stimuli transduced by the rods and cones in the eyes and sent by electro chemical signals to the central nervous system via the optic nerves does not go directly to the occipital cortex which is the primary region responsible for processing information. Instead it first goes to the lateral geniculate nucleus of the thalamus, another region of the brain that is a part of the limbic system and important to emotional arousal.
To put this in simpler terms, this means that you can experience an emotional reaction to something before you are consciously aware that you have even seen it, which in turn effects how you see it."
If you didn't already understand how important good design is, perhaps this helps shed a little light on things.
Simon Bell
Director
Sensation Creative
