Video summary
Many designers often overlook the role of psychology in their work, assuming it is a specialized field reserved for scientists, yet in reality, most design decisions are inherently psychological even without using technical terminology. A primary example of this is managing information overload; when users feel overwhelmed by too much data on a screen, it triggers cognitive distortion and anxiety. To counteract this, designers should employ principles like progressive disclosure, which involves revealing information gradually rather than presenting everything at once. This approach respects the user's cognitive limits by showing only what is necessary at any given moment, allowing them to dive deeper into details only when they choose to, thereby creating a more manageable and less stressful user experience.
Beyond digital interfaces, psychological principles are observable in everyday physical environments, such as the layout of supermarket aisles where product placement is strategically designed to influence purchasing behavior. A key concept here is the decoy effect, which utilizes two less desirable options to make a specific target item appear as the most reasonable choice. For instance, placing cheap products at the bottom and expensive ones at the top creates a middle-ground option that seems like the perfect "Goldilocks" solution; customers perceive the cheap item as low quality and the expensive one as not worth the cost, naturally steering them toward the intended middle-priced product. This strategy is widely applied in subscription models where free or super-expensive tiers act as anchors to promote the specific paid plan that the company actually wants users to select.
Another critical distinction in design psychology lies between priming and framing, two techniques used to guide user expectations and motivations throughout a journey. Priming involves setting up expectations for what is coming next, such as informing users about the number of steps ahead in an onboarding process to prevent them from feeling overwhelmed or ready to quit midway. Framing, on the other hand, focuses on how the current task is presented to highlight its value and purpose; instead of simply asking for an email address, a designer might explain that providing this information will unlock a fantastic profile with great content and weekly rewards. By combining these techniques, designers can shift a user's mindset from reluctance to engagement, making them more willing to complete necessary actions because they understand the immediate benefits.
Finally, the Zeigarnik effect describes the human tendency to feel an innate urge to complete tasks that have been started but not finished, which is a powerful tool for driving user completion rates. People generally dislike seeing incomplete lists or partial progress and are motivated to close loops, whether it is finishing a profile setup or completing a checklist of four items. This psychological drive is effectively leveraged through visual cues like progress bars that show users they are 25% of the way there, encouraging them to move forward to reach 100%. Gamers are familiar with this principle through side quests and unfinished missions in video games, but applying it to software design ensures that users feel compelled to finish their interactions rather than abandoning them halfway through.
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Some people think about psychology and
they think why would I consider that in
my design work but actually most people
consider psychology in their design
work. They just don't use the scientific
terms. Don't go into the kind of
deepness of it. Priming versus framing.
Being overwhelmed with data and using
something like progressive disclosure.
The decoy effect is essentially about
promoting a very specific item. The
zygenic effect. You're given a task
list. Regardless of what that task list
is, you want to complete it. People
intuitively want to complete things.
[music] When you're in a supermarket,
you're walking down a shopping aisle.
There's a reason why products [music]
are put on the shelves the way that they
are. Psychology isn't just about, you
know, what you do on digital devices
[music] and, you know, how you talk to
people. Everyone sees it wherever they
go. Are there sort of like must know
sort of psychology principles that like
every designer could kind of like think
about or use in their day-to-day work.
What are what are some of the basic ones
you see uh that people should know?
>> Yeah, I think it's a really good
question. I think the thing I'll start
with is that you said it at the start as
well. Some people think about psychology
and they think why would I consider that
in my my design work but actually most
people consider psychology in their
design work. They just don't use the
scientific terms and you know kind of
don't go into the kind of deepness of
it. Um you know as an example you know
we can be looking at a screen and
someone can be saying ah you know
there's there's just a way too much
information on this you know I feel like
we know people feel overwhelmed with
that. That's that's just just generally
about um you know cognitive distortion
and things you know just being
overwhelmed like that is a general piece
of psychology there um you know and
people do talk about these things and it
doesn't matter if people are using the
psychology as long as they're talking
about the aspect of mentality and how
people think about things that's
important um but I think yeah I think in
terms of the big ones that I found in
any psychology case study
I think um I think yeah to be simplified
I think being overwhelmed with
information I think kind of ensuring
that you're simplifying that information
as best as possible is is quite a big
one. Um there's a lot of what I would
say as well is that there's often very
connected psychology biases and
principles. So if we look at like being
overwhelmed with information kind of how
you solve for that principles. So, you
would think about things like
progressive disclosure, like, you know,
you wouldn't uh bring all of the
information in at once because no one
wants to see it all at once. They just
need to see what's right at any one
time. And if people need more
information, they'll naturally dive in
and try and find that for themselves. So
I think yeah having being overwhelmed
with data and using something like
progressive disclosure is an absolute
go-to. You know especially with any kind
of flow on boarding that is a big one
that's seen a lot. You know we don't
want to give someone a huge form to fill
out. It's take them through it give them
reasoning that kind of stuff. Um so yeah
I'd say that's a big one. Um the other
one I I I really look at um is very
related to everyday life as well and
this is something to fit for people to
think about is that psychology isn't
just about you know what you do on
digital devices and you know how you
talk to people everyone sees it wherever
they go and I always use this example of
market and you're walking down a
shopping aisle and you're looking at all
the shelves there's a reason why
products are put on the shelves the way
that they are And a good uh psychology
bias around that is is called the decoy
effect. And the decoy effect there is
essentially about promoting a very
specific item. And on a on a supermarket
shelf, the way that they do it is that
they'll have the cheapest products at
the bottom, they'll have the most
expensive products at the top, and the
kind of goldilocks product is right in
the middle. So the decoy effect is
essentially kind of using two other
examples as a way to draw you into the
one you actually want to get to. So they
look at the cheap one and they think,
"Oh, you know what? The quality is
probably not very good." They look at
the expensive one and they think, "Ah,
you know, it's not really worth the
money." And they look at that middle
one, they think, "That's it. That's the
one I want." So you can utilize that. In
many ways, pricing pages is a great
example of that, especially in
subscription models. Most companies have
free subscriptions for a reason. The one
they're actually targeting is the middle
one. They don't really expect you to go
for the super cheap one or the big one.
Super cheap one is just to get you into
the middle one. The big one there is for
people that just live that product, you
know. So, yeah, I think that that would
be the other one. Um, my other match I
would say is is a mixture and some
people get this wrong a little sometimes
is is priming versus framing. So what I
mean by [clears throat] priming and
framing is with priming it's about
setting up expectations for what's next.
So you know if you are going through say
on boarding is a good example again you
know say you've got you need 10 screens
of information from someone because it's
necessary you know we need to help
people understand that's what's coming
up because sometimes you know people
will get halfway through a cycle and
think I've had enough of this I'm going
to drop out. If you can preempt that at
least people go into the mindset that
there's going to be time invested here.
Um, and you can, you know, prime in nice
ways too. You can be like, look, we're
going to start off talking about this
topic. You know, get people into the
right mindset so they know what kind of
information is going to be needed and
how they're going to behave. Then it
comes into framing. And framing then is
okay, what do you do about the the there
and now? So, when you're in that screen,
how do you frame it to help with
perhaps, you know, the value of of what
that screen is about? How do you make
sure they understand why they're giving
that information, what value that
they're going to get out of giving that
information? The framing of that is
incredibly important because, you know,
if you just said, right, get started,
jump into the next screen and go, give
me your email. Like, everyone looks at
that and think, why, you know, what's
the point? But if you said, thanks for
joining us. Like, we're going to create
a fantastic profile for you that gives
you great content. Get started. you get
into the email, it's like, give us your
email and you will get, you know, weekly
rewards and all this kind of stuff.
Instantly, I'm engaged and I feel like
actually I do want to do this. I'm more
likely now to continue with this journey
and I'm more likely to give you my email
address. So, yeah. So, those are kind of
the three big ones I really like. One
last one just because I love the word
and if any of my past team are watching
this, they'll know this one. Uh, is the
zygenic effect. Um, I just love that
word, the zygenic. I always try and
pronounce it by reading it because it's
a hard one. Um, essentially what the
zygenic effect is is that people
intuitively want to complete things.
It's just a thing. So, if you're given a
task list, regardless of what that task
list is, you want to complete it. You do
not like seeing that task list half done
or, you know, even 10% done or 75% done.
You want to get through it. Um and you
that is seen by various different ways
of doing you know you can go as simple
as a progress bar I think that's just
showing you that you are 25% of the way
there encouragement to kind of move
forwards and then you know with a lot of
you know checklists of if you're on
boarding to a product it's like oh
finish your profile or doing these four
things usually you're kind of like I
want to complete these four things
because a lot of the time there's also a
feeling of I'm going to get something
out of this at the end of this so Why
would I not want to do this? And
obviously for all the gamers out there,
the zygenic effect is used in
everything. Side quests galore. If
you're a completist, you're going to go
and do every single GTA mission, Zelda
mission, whatever it is by talking to
some random people because you want to
complete it essentially. So yeah, that
is always a really interesting one too.
>> Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah.
>> Uh on
I think it's uh the it's the zygenic
effect. Z E I N
I K Zenick [laughter] something like
that. Um I will I'm sure we'll share a
little bit after this as well, but feel
free to
>> Yeah, we we could exactly we can kind of
uh drop it in the Okay, I think I got
it. Uh, let me I could just quickly
throw that on the screen if uh if I my
thumbs move fast enough. Okay, here you
go. Is it this?
>> Love it.
>> Okay. Okay. [laughter]
>> Wow.
>> Pronounce that word is ridiculous.
>> Yeah. [laughter]
>> Exactly. Exactly. I have the word uh um
I'll throw it on screen here. I'll just
I'll just let it tick. But yeah, that
that was some live production for you
guys there. Uh I I when when you spoke
about the sort of um information
overload and sort of simplification,
there's also the case where it's kind of
rooted and based in um a lot of cultural
things or different cultures. So I think
this is connected to the sort of the
next topic which is like how do you
design around behaviors and biases?
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