DESIGN : The Irrational Mind
Design serves as a deeper, more profound purpose that is often overlooked. The products we are surrounded by and the environments, in which we live, provide a means for us to embark in our world, on both cognitive and emotional levels (Chapman, 2007). The observable emotions and physical actions associated with individuals, is what defines human behavior. In this study of emotion in design, human behavior is crucial to examine. Research in human behavior is a combination of behavioral economics, psychology and persuasive technology. Designing for human behavior does not involve a single product development methodology. It is the invisible layer of emotion and cognition applied to design that allows the product to have a life of its own, inhibiting emotional value and changing behavior. To begin there must be an understanding of how our emotional intelligence and cognitive structure influence our behavior. With this understanding, discoveries can be made into different behaviors, gaining the ability to target and predict them. Application of this knowledge leads to the design for behavior change (Wendell, 2013).
To understand human behavior, the association between emotion and cognition must be credited; ‘I chose to wear this shirt today because I felt like it’. We “run away because of “fear” and strike because of “anger”; we are paralyzed by “rage” and depressed by “grief”” (Skinner, 1965, p.160).
The emotion ‘fear’, interprets our cognitive state to ‘run away’, our action remaining reflexive of our feelings. Therefore, behavior is formed when there is an emotional interpretation of an external event (Galbraith, 1998). For a designer to understand human behavior, this external event could be the user’s interaction of a product, and the emotions that stem from this interaction could be seen as the behavior formed.
Human behavior is complex, and individuals do not conform to simple, logical patterns. However recent studies of psychological, social, cognitive, and emotional factors of individuals’ has formulated a body of research in regards to behavior. This research suggests that human behaviors are neither random nor senseless – but are systematic, and can therefore be predicted (Ariely, 2008). Perhaps if human behaviors are predictable, action could be made into the control and development of behavior through design.
Design for behavior can be viewed as the “devising courses of action to change existing situations into preferred ones” (1969, cited in Bihanic, 2015). The knowledge of human behavior and emotion can be applied to design as an agent for change. It enables the designer to understand people. Before evaluation is made on appearance, user- friendliness and the corporate identity of a design, consideration of the emotion and behavior of individuals, will determine a products place in our world.
When there is an understanding of the user, several approaches can be taken to instill behavior through design. Ethnographic research, persuasive technology, and motivational triggers are critical design strategies for behavior change.
Demonstrating a human centered approach to design where human behavior has been closely considered is inventor and entrepreneur Steve Jobs. This chapter examines the product design of one of Jobs creations, the apple mouse, in relation to human behavior. The strategies and design proposals applied to this design will be distinguished next to the design of banking website Mint.com. Conclusions will be made showing the importance of human behavior and emotion in design.
Apple Inc., founded by Steve Jobs is one of the most influential companies in history. It has had an amazing impact on technology, society and the world. Apple has turned technology into an essential tool in our daily lives – gaining responsibility for our interaction with technology since the nineteenth century. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak created the Apple computer to be accessible to all individuals, not only scientists and mathematicians as were the main previous holders of computers. To do this they had to make the computer easy to use and user- friendly. The revolutionary Macintosh computer shipped on January 24, 1984, with a developed Graphical User Interface (GUI), and an innovative mouse input device. The apple mouse was a paramount device for the future of human centered design. Independently, invented by Douglas Engelbart at the Stanford Research Institute, the first mouse was too expensive to produce for the average consumer. Jobs reached out to design firm IDEO, with a proposal to create an easy-to-use, inexpensive mouse that would be distributed with every Apple computer (O’Grady, 2009).
This design intended to change user habits when using a computer. To form a new habit, you need a foundation on which to build on. Triggers both external and internal provide the basis for habit forming and lead to behavior change. A trigger sends the user to structure a habit or behavior by sending them to action- showing the user what to do next (Eyal, 2014). The apple mouse reduces the thinking required to take action by incorporating a single button, this increases the likelihood of the desired behavior to occur subconsciously.
The team at IDEO consisted of designers, engineers, scientists, linguistics, psychologists, biologists, artists and philosophers. This team began revolutionizing a once complex product into an easy-to-use personal device by pioneering technology and knowledge of human behavior. They had to inspire trust in their consumers, and this was Jobs main objective. He told the designers that this mouse had to contain four elements: be built for less than $15.00, maintain function for two years, work on a regular desktop and to withhold the ability to “work on (his) Levi’s” (Gray & Quinn, 2011). Jobs had tested the mouse to the extent where he wanted it to work on his leg, having noticed the behavior of humans to sit back from their office desk, adopting a more relaxed posture in the chair during work.
When well designed this novel yet simple gadget proved to have a big impact. Jobs believed in the aesthetic sensibility of design and the beauty of simplicity. It is this seamless philosophy that Jobs carried throughout Apple that binds everything together.
Could this seamless philosophy of simplicity and human centered design be translated into the design of a web site?
It has been conventional wisdom that emotion and behavior are separate and that our behavior is logical, aiding us to navigate through life. Scientific and psychological research, however, determines that our emotions kick- start our decision- making and behaviors. To change a behavior the underlying emotion must be considered and examined. Jason Putorti the designer, of the money management web app Mint.com, exemplifies this consideration of behavior through emotion. As a free platform that would aggregate your financial information and withhold personal bank details, the main objective of Mint.com was to inspire trust in its users (Walter, 2011).
Similar to the process Apple Inc., took to inspire trust, Putorti shows the beauty of simplicity in his design. He employed aesthetic – usability as a crucial design principle. The aesthetic- usability effect has significant implications regarding the acceptance and performance of a design. It is the theory that usability increases with the increase of visual aesthetics (Lidwell, 2010). Consideration of layout, color, line, typography and contrast enables users to consume information more easily, driving their decision- making through instinct rather reason. The website had to appeal to the users’ emotions to make the benefits outweigh the cost of aesthetics. The interface of Mint.com delights and excites the user with a sense of light. Putorti encompassed the use of glows, gradients and shadows in his design. Compared to the flat designs of the time, this web app was visually capturing, inviting the user in. The carefully considered design changed skeptics to sign ups. Similar to Jobs recurring philosophy for Apple, this concept of care and consideration in the interface design runs through the web app’s management of security and privacy (Walter, 2011).
The condition of human behaviors’ was studied in the design of Mint.com, but in reflection of the Apple mouse, this web application also includes external triggers to change the users’ behavior. “External triggers are embedded with information, which tells the user what to do next” (Eyal, 2014, p.). When you receive an email from Mint, the user is given explicit instructions on what action to take next, hidden through the aesthetic design. The design is limited to one action, which contains a large rectangular button “Log Into Mint”.
More actions and choices require the user to evaluate and consider more which leads to abandonment of the task. Reducing the level of thinking required of the user makes for quicker decision- making, therefore changing behavior. Mint.com and Apple’s mouse are great examples of design that exemplify the study of human behavior in design. Through inspiring trust with the art of aesthetics to habit- forming technologies that change the behavior of humans they play a significant role in the development of emotion in design. “It is time for a new generation of products that can age slowly and in a dignified way…(to) become our partners in life and support our memories” (Manzini, E., cited on the Eternally Yours homepage).