How design influences our perception

In the April 2007 edition of the Washington Post conducted a social experiment. Joshua Bell (Joshua Bell), one of the most famous American violinist, playing like an ordinary street musician in the subway. Wearing a baseball cap and jeans, Bell picked up the Stradivarius violin for $ 3 million and began to play. I wonder how many people will stop and listen?

Instead of the expected crowd 45 minutes speech only seven out of 1097 stopped to listen to the game. After that, most of the passengers said they simply did not notice a violinist, and very upset when they learned that missed.

This experiment demonstrates the important psychological phenomenon known as the effect of frame: a small change in the normal communication or familiar environment to radically change our perception. Bell attracts the attention of the audience in the concert halls all over the world with his virtuoso playing. However, the subway station crowded suburban Bella perceived as an ordinary street performer and calmly passed.

Framing effect is of particular importance to the work of the designer.

Each design carries a message that users will in some way to evaluate and perceive. The task of the designer - to draw the attention of people to leave a lasting positive impression. If the designer does not see in front of such a task, the result will be the same as that in the experiment with the great violinist, people will pass by without paying attention to your product.

Among Opower trying to build its work in accordance with this philosophy and practice using the discovery of behavioral sciences. This helped her to understand the employees in the usual behavior of people and teach them to save money on electricity.

From the experience of the company Opower are three steps to follow that designers can make their own work more attractive, compelling, and useful in a practical sense.

Step 1. Learn

To apply the principles of framing effects in practice, it is necessary to study psychology and behavioral sciences, in which they studied in detail. Today, the subject of study behavioral sciences more popular than ever. On heuristics and cognitive distortionsThat affect the decision-making process, it is written many useful books:

• «Psychology of influence"Robert Cialdini;
• "Pushing: improving health decisions about wealth and happiness" by Richard Thaler;
• «Think slowly resolved quickly"Daniel Kahneman.

In one article, we have discussedAs framing effect influences our perception of numerical information. These methods can be useful for design in a broad sense.

social norms

People - social creatures, and our behavior is largely influenced by the established social norms.

Opower command compares how the consumption of electricity in similar homes and the impact on the residents of assisted social norms adopted in the area. It turned out, the understanding that you're using more electricity than your neighbors - a powerful motivator. This fact has led many to start using less energy.

In another study by Robert Cialdini in hotel rooms are two types of ads with the request to re-use towels was taken. At the same time one of them emphasizes the environmental benefits, and in another the emphasis is on the fact that most of the guests have already participated in the program. When the results were compared, it was found that guests of the hotel, read the first announcement was reused towel 35%, and of those who read the second - 44%.

fear of losing

People are trying by all means to avoid losses, despite the potential benefits. Of the two scenarios - the possibility of losing money or get their - the psychological pain of the loss is much greater than the pleasure of victory. This effect can also encourage people to take action.

Example: Opower customers sent a letter with a proposal to sign up for a program that will help them more effectively wasting energy. Your letters, which used the expression about the possibility of loss or damage (for example, "do not miss"), the people responded to five times more often.

shortage

People always want what they can not get. The deficit increases the perceived value of an object, making it more desirable.

Currently, with the launch of a new product uses the principle of scarcity, chosen to whet interest in him. This happened with the Mailbox. Although the service is a result of many disappointed, he had done a lot of noise. Within a few weeks nearly a million people were waiting in line to try out the application. Deficit, coupled with social approval serves a strong signal: this product should pay attention.

Step 2. Choose the right message to your audience

Studies confirm that the choice of an appropriate message for a particular audience is as important as its supply.

So, while collecting funds for charity was conducted a little research among the two groups of users who received different messages. The first group - people who could potentially donate money, are interested in charity, but has not participated in such events. The second group - the permanent volunteers and philanthropists charity. They received one of two letters with the request to make a donation. In one report the focus was on how much money has already been collected, and the second - how much is still left to collect.

It turned out that the potential philanthropists donated more and more often, when they received a message about how much money It has been collected, while the permanent donors often respond to a message about how much is still left gather. This can be explained by the fact that different audiences have been motivated by different factors. The first group largely been under the influence of social approval, and the second group appeared more convincing appeal to contribute and to achieve this goal.

Conclusion can be drawn as follows: study your target audience and tailor a message for her. Determine that the strongest influence on its decisions and perceptions, and adjust.

Step 3. Design, test, repeat

Brainstorm

Once you understand the basics of Behavioral Sciences and defined group of users, the most receptive to your message, it's time to actually design.

And one more example of the company Opower, which has developed an interface that allows people to save on heating in winter. It accounts for most spending power. Below you can see the list, resulting in a brainstorming session.

Although this is not an exhaustive list, it has already prompted the team to some thoughts about future opportunities that can be realized in the project. And already then these ideas translate into a final design concept, help with the storyboard and layout or suggest the need for changes to the existing product.

Distribution channels and time

It is necessary to consider how the decisions will affect the perception of the product. How will people get from you a message: a letter to the e-mail text on a specific web page, as a reminder in the app? What time is most appropriate to send a message?

Communication channel and time - the powerful levers of influence on users.

Testing

Once in Opower concept brought to mind, and starts the development of prototypes nastaot testing time. You need to check how well developed layouts. Qualitative research, such as surveys, give an idea of ​​how people perceive the final product. From experience it is clear that it is not always possible to rely only on the information that what people say and what they do not always coincide. The resulting feedback should be supplemented with data from analytics and quantitative testing. All this helps to refine and improve the product, making it better with each new iteration.

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Using the framing effect in design - just one way of many possible, but he is able to exert an enormous influence on the quality of the product, if used carefully and wisely.