How much of human behavior is affected by design, really?
What makes us do what we do at any given moment? Are we logical as we thought? Do we really make good choices? What affects our behaviors? How can we reverse-engineer and design for the behavioral changes we always wanted?
What affects our behaviors?
According to an article on NSW Health, our behavior is affected by factors relating to the person, such as age, health, personality, emotions, beliefs, life experiences, what the person needs and wants, etc. It’s also affected by the context, including what is happening, how the environment is like, and the response of other people, etc.
Among the factors, some can be designed, such as what is happening, and how the environment is like. Others, although cannot be modified directly, can still be designed for. For example, if we know a product’s target audience is teenagers with mental problems, we can create a persona based on their age, health, personality, emotions, and life experiences. Then base design decisions on how they might behave.
What can be designed?
If you look around, almost everything with a human touch on earth has design in it, although some are good, and some are not. Is the street name sign big enough to read so that you don’t miss a turn? Is the parking curb corner rounded or with sharp edges that would damage your tire? Does the lobby have couches in front of the receptionist so that you can take a seat while waiting for someone?
These become invisible when good designs are present. Before designing, the designer needs to know how people would act and what they want.
In a way, designers need to understand who they are designing for, predict their behaviors, and design for the optimal experience.
Physical space design & our behavior
We move in physical space all the time. But as a digital designer, only till recently, I started to draw commonalities between the physical space design and the digital. Both are about who we are designing for, and how they will use the space.
According to a research funded by the New York City Department of Design and Construction, “the best neighborhood designs are what catch people’s attention, draw crowds, and invite interaction with that environment.” For example, murals grab people’s attention, benches invite interaction.
Below is a table showing how architectural design features, such as windows and natural views affect human experiences, from an NYU study.
Digital space design & our behavior
Similar to architectural cues reinforcing the desired behaviors, websites and software can also be designed to affect certain behaviors.
Colors evoke emotions the same way no matter if it’s a physical or digital space. A change in the copy makes more people choose to recycle. We give up when it takes so many steps to register. We make impulsive purchases late at night.
According to Status Quo Bias, we don’t want to change unless we are highly motivated to try something new. For example, we want to help people achieve their goals. We should encourage people to take incremental steps over a longer period of time.
Booking.com uses Loss Aversion to highlight you might lose on this property if you don’t act immediately.
Apply behavioral science in the design process
Depending on how you phrase it, but in general, the design process starts with understanding a problem, collecting info and analyzing, designing solutions, testing and iterating, implementation and metric tracking, etc. Applying behavioral science into the design process is adding a new lens to think of solutions to a problem. In order for our users to act, in the step where we design solutions, we can draw insights from behavioral science.
