Lesson 2: Emotion Memory

Audio Lesson

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Key Takeaway

Emotion Memory helps us recall emotional states to develop empathic ability & inform our creative decision-making.

Exercise

Emotion Memory

There’s no writing necessary, but it could be helpful to free-write about your experience afterwards.

  1. Go ahead and read the letter you wrote yesterday.
  2. Think about what that person is feeling and remember a time you felt the same emotion.
  3. Close your eyes and recall the sensations you experienced: sounds, smells, feelings, etc.
  4. Stay here for a moment. How do you feel right now? And what’s going on in your body?

Transcript

Hey, welcome back.

Yesterday, we covered the Eindhoven Empathy Model, and the Free-Writing in Character technique. Today, we’ll take that one step further with Emotion Memory.

The technique Emotion Memory comes from the Russian theater director Konstantin Stanislavski. The idea is that we can evoke a specific emotional state within ourselves by recalling the sensory input from a relevant memory.

For actors, Emotion Memory can help to authentically portray a character’s emotional state on stage. For designers, it can help make better informed design decisions. Here’s how it works.

Emotion Memory

There’s no writing necessary, but it could be helpful to free write about your experience afterwards. Of course, that’s completely optional.

  1. Whenever you’re ready, go ahead and read the letter you wrote yesterday.
  2. Then, think about what that person’s feeling and remember a time where you felt the same emotion.
  3. Close your eyes, and recall the sensations you experienced in that memory. The sounds, smells, feelings, et cetera.
  4. Once you’ve got that feeling, stay in it for a moment. How does it feel, and what’s going on in your body?

And that’s it! Simple, yet profound.

I know these exercises can be a little intense, so thanks for doing that with me. Tomorrow’s the last lesson, and it’s an easy one; we’re going to talk about the empathic design process.

I’m Brian Pagán, and I’ll speak with you tomorrow. 🚀