(Image above from Design with Intent: 101 Patterns for Influencing Behavior Through Design – Dan Lockton.)
All design influences user behavior. We need theories of behavior change to help us understand why some designs work better than others. Applying a theory to your design is, however, challenging. The Design with Intent toolkit provides a comprehensive and detailed list of specific tactics you can apply through 8 lenses explained below for behavior change.
The architectural lens takes the environment as a starting point and uses insights from environmental design (in architecture, urban planning, and traffic management) to influence user behavior. For example, the labyrinth-like interiors in casinos and department stores (like IKEA) force you to walk past endless rows of slot machines or products before you reach the exit or cash register. This increases the chance that you will engage by gambling or buying something.
error proofing lens tries to help users avoid ‘errors’ (deviations from the target behavior), either by making it easier for users to work without making errors, or by making errors impossible in the first place. It’s often found in ergonomics and health & safety-related design. Error Proofing doesn’t care whether the user’s attitude changes, as long as the target behavior is met.
The interaction lens looks at users’ interactions with the system and how it influences their behavior. Much used strategies are feedback, progress bars, and previews (used in human-computer interaction), but the lens also includes patterns from persuasive technology, building on B.J. Fogg’s work.
The ludic lens includes a number of techniques for influencing user behavior that are derived from games and other ‘playful’ interactions, ranging from basic social psychology mechanisms such as goal-setting via challenges & targets, to common game elements such as scores, levels, and collections.
The perceptual lens combines ideas from product semantics, semiotics, ecological psychology and Gestalt psychology addressing how users perceive patterns and meanings as they interact with the systems around them. Most patterns are predominantly visual, but they need not be: sounds, smells, textures and so on can all be used, individually or in combination.
The cognitive lens draws on research in behavioral economics and cognitive psychology looking at how people make decisions, and how this is affected by heuristics and biases. The patterns in the DwI toolkit are some of the most commonly used (for instance: ‘give your system a personality’, ‘provoke empathy’, ‘use reciprocation’); this selection draws particularly heavily on the work of Robert Cialdini, Dan Ariely, Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein.
The Machiavellian lens comprises design patterns which all embody an “end justifies the means” approach of the kind associated with Niccolò Machiavelli. These will often be considered unethical, but nevertheless are commonly used to control and influence consumers through pricing structures, planned obsolescence, lock-ins and so on, and are central to work by authors such as Vance Packard and Douglas Rushkoff.
The security lens represents a ‘security’ worldview, i.e. that undesired user behavior is something to deter and/or prevent though countermeasures designed into products, systems and environments, both physically and online, with examples such as surveillance (watching from above in a power hierarchy), “sousveillance” (watching from below), and “peerveillance” (watching peers).
Usage
The Design with Intent toolkit offers a collection of inspiring actionable cards (called “patterns”) for designing behaviour change. Designers can use the tool to influence more sustainable behaviour, but as with Fogg and Ajzen’s theories, the DwI tool is not restricted to sustainability. The main theoretical difference between this tool and Fogg or Ajzen is collecting many different theories of change, not just one.
Benefits
- Designers can create products, services, or systems that encourage desired behaviours. This can lead to increased adoption rates, user engagement, and satisfaction.
- Designers can avoid costly iterations and revisions by proactively addressing potential behavioural barriers or challenges.
Limitations/Risks
- The method was carried out by the authors themselves rather than independent designers, potentially introducing bias and limiting objectivity in the process.There’s a significant risk that the concepts generated through the DwI Method may have been engineered to fit preconceived ideas or existing knowledge about ATMs, rather than emerging organically from the design process.
- The understanding and applicability of the design patterns suggested may vary for individuals untrained in the underlying concepts, potentially limiting the method’s effectiveness for a broader audience.
- Due to the lack of a control condition, it’s challenging to objectively assess the validity of the results produced in the demonstration, further limiting the robustness of the findings.