Category: psychology

  • 100 More Things #173: PEOPLE COMMIT TO PURCHASES BECAUSE OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

    100 More Things #173: PEOPLE COMMIT TO PURCHASES BECAUSE OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

    You just bought an expensive pair of shoes. You have a very brief pang of regret. Did you need another pair of shoes? Did you need these shoes? Should you take them back? After about 10 seconds, you let go of the regret. “They’re great,” you say, “and they’ll be just right for the wedding…

  • 100 More Things #172: PEOPLE SPEND LESS WHEN THEY USE CASH

    100 More Things #172: PEOPLE SPEND LESS WHEN THEY USE CASH

    Budget and financial counselors often advise people to withdraw cash each week and use it to pay for daily and weekly expenses rather than putting purchases on a credit card. The theory is that if you see the money leaving your wallet, you’ll spend less. The theory is correct, as several research studies have shown.…

  • 100 More Things #171: PEOPLE DON’T SEPARATE SHOPPING ONLINE FROM SHOPPING IN A STORE

    100 More Things #171: PEOPLE DON’T SEPARATE SHOPPING ONLINE FROM SHOPPING IN A STORE

    If you talk to major retailers in the US, it quickly becomes clear that online sales and store sales are two very different things. Several of my retail clients have online shopping operations and staff headquarters in one location, and store operations and staff in a different location, often thousands of miles away. From the…

  • 100 More Things #170: DISTANCE FROM THE SCREEN IS CRITICAL

    100 More Things #170: DISTANCE FROM THE SCREEN IS CRITICAL

    Some designers have always designed for situations where people are at varying distances from the display, for example, signage in public places like train stations or airports, or displays on a factory floor or a hospital operating theater. But many designers are used to designing for people who are sitting in front of a desktop…

  • 100 More Things #169: THUMBS CAN REACH ONLY SO FAR

    100 More Things #169: THUMBS CAN REACH ONLY SO FAR

    Smartphone screens have been getting larger over time. Our design and implementation tools let us design the screens without having to know or design for the exact size. If the software, site, or app is designed well, what appears on the screen at any given time varies automatically according to the size of the screen.…

  • 100 More Things #168: PEOPLE HAVE PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS OF MOVEMENT

    100 More Things #168: PEOPLE HAVE PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS OF MOVEMENT

    If you ask someone to turn a button or knob that’s 8 inches (20 cm) in diameter, that’s going to be difficult, or even impossible, to do with one hand. People have physical limitations of movement, and range of motion based on body size and physical structure. If you’re an industrial designer, then you’re probably…

  • 100 More Things #167: PEOPLE NATURALLY GESTURE

    100 More Things #167: PEOPLE NATURALLY GESTURE

    Tell a friend about the last time you went to visit a family member, and you’ll notice that you’re moving your hands and arms while telling the story. Your body is gesturing without you even thinking about it. Gesturing To Manipulate A Device As designers, we’re now building in gestures as a way for users…

  • 100 More Things #166: PEOPLE ENJOY HAPTIC (TACTILE) INTERFACES

    100 More Things #166: PEOPLE ENJOY HAPTIC (TACTILE) INTERFACES

    A lot of the interfaces that designers create are digital interfaces for screens and pages, or auditory interfaces. There is also a specialty area in human factors and interface design that is all about interfaces that people physically touch. This is called “haptics”. K.E. MacLean (2008) writes about tactile feedback and user experience. People often…

  • 100 More Things #165: PEOPLE THINK AND FEEL WITH THEIR BODIES

    100 More Things #165: PEOPLE THINK AND FEEL WITH THEIR BODIES

    If you think about why people think, feel, and behave in certain ways, you probably think about what’s going on in their brains. You might not realize how much people’s bodies influence their behavior. The field of “embodied cognition” is gaining more ground in cognitive science, psychology, and design. It’s the idea that people’s bodies—their…

  • 100 More Things #164: BEING A PERFECTIONIST CAN RUIN CREATIVE WORK

    100 More Things #164: BEING A PERFECTIONIST CAN RUIN CREATIVE WORK

    It’s my opinion (uncorroborated by any science that I know about) that people who are drawn to design tend to be perfectionists. Being a designer, and being creative, means that you have an idea in your head about how something should be, and you work on it as long and hard as you can to…