Emotion by Design Review
Design work around the feeling and agency it should create in the audience.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 96%
The Emotion by Design Review begins with Hoffman's question: how should this work make the consumer feel about themselves, and should it empower them to do something meaningful? The team defines that emotional outcome before judging execution, then traces it back to the brand's story and values. A representative of the brand's emotional qualities should participate alongside people responsible for content production and distribution; otherwise, the work risks becoming an inhuman unit that merely needs to be shipped. The final review asks whether the work actually stirs the intended emotion or produces indifference. Hoffman acknowledges that work made with conviction can polarise or attract criticism. His boundary is alignment: if a strong stance remains clearly tethered to what the brand believes and does, criticism may be acceptable; if not, it is deserved.
Origin
Extracted from The Diary of a CEO
Core principles
- 01Creative work should define how the audience should feel about themselves.
- 02The desired emotion must connect to the brand story.
- 03A human brand perspective belongs in the room with distribution and performance concerns.
- 04Indifference is a warning outcome for work seeking a meaningful relationship.
How to run it
- 1
Define the audience feeling
State how the work should make the audience feel about themselves. Use a specific emotional outcome rather than a vague goal to inspire.
Pro tip Complete the sentence: After this, the audience should feel able to…
- 2
Connect feeling to action
Describe what the emotion should help the audience believe, attempt, or change. Keep the intended agency appropriate to what the work can realistically support.
Pro tip Distinguish a useful emotional effect from short-lived excitement.
Watch out Do not promise an outcome the product or story cannot deliver.
- 3
Tether it to the brand
Show how the emotional stance follows from the brand's values, history, product, or audience service. Remove emotional devices that could belong to any brand.
Pro tip Ask why this brand has earned the right to evoke this feeling.
- 4
Put humanity in the room
Assign someone to represent the brand story and emotional qualities during creative and distribution decisions. Give that person authority to challenge emotionally empty output.
Pro tip Keep this role present during adaptation across channels, not only concept creation.
Watch out Distribution efficiency alone cannot judge the human effect of the work.
- 5
Review for indifference
Test whether the execution evokes the intended feeling and remains aligned. Revise work that feels generic, confusing, or emotionally inert.
Pro tip Ask viewers what they felt before explaining the intended response.
Watch out Avoiding all criticism can also remove the conviction that made the work meaningful.
In the wild
Hoffman describes a low-budget, urgent film of Ronaldinho repeatedly hitting the crossbar in new boots. The team used a simple video approach and an emerging YouTube platform; Hoffman says it became the first brand film to reach one million views. He uses it to lead into the question of how work makes consumers feel.
→ A constrained execution attracted attention through spectacle and emotional energy rather than a large conventional production.
A sports programme defines its intended feeling as confidence to join a first session. The team removes elite-athlete imagery that makes beginners feel excluded and centres ordinary participants taking the first step.
→ The emotional design aligns the story with the audience action the programme wants to enable.
Common mistakes
Starting with distribution
Treating work only as content that must be distributed can remove the human and emotional qualities Hoffman wants represented.
Using emotion without alignment
A strong stance does not protect work whose message is disconnected from what the brand says and does.
Optimising away conviction
Work designed to avoid every negative response may create the indifference Hoffman rejects for relationship-building brands.
Is it for you?
Best for
Brand, product, and content teams reviewing work intended to create a deeper relationship rather than a purely transactional response.
Not ideal for
Communications where neutrality and procedural clarity are more important than an emotional response.
From the transcript
“how do i want this work to make the consumer feel about themselves”
“you should have someone in the room that's representing your brand story”
“indifference isn't an option”
From the episode
The Marketing Genius Behind Nike: Greg Hoffman