Before this Class
Before this class I was familiar with many of the processes of design through 147 and 247G so I assumed it would be a relatively nice transition into applying them to this new topic. As a symbolic systems major I also have a significant interest in psychology so learning more about behavioral design and the research behind it would complement my classroom knowledge well.
Experiences Worked With
The most memorable information I learned in the class were the small applicable behavioral science facts—the one video about how we need to figure what job a certain product (or milkshake) is doing for us was definitely super entertaining but also a useful framework for both designing and determining how a product works. One memorable experiences was when Deb Aoki came in to give us the drawing lesson which honestly helped me out with coming up with ideas for new faces and bodies since before this I honestly had one default and would struggle to think of anything else.
I did honestly love the topic of the class itself (though still second to 247G) since books about behavioral science are my go-to when I need something to casually read in between events or during downtime. The structure of the class left me a bit wanting in terms of how much freedom we were given. I think I just need to get used to designing solid plans and checkpoints for a larger project on my own, so in that sense, this was good practice that put me outside of my comfort zone.
In terms of methods that worked and didn’t work, I think that a lot of the long-term planning techniques (ex: map of mvp, alpha, beta features) were a bit hard to contextualize when the final goal was closer to a mid-fidelity prototype which led me to not be invested in features that would be only a part of a higher fidelity version or at the very least find it harder to imagine how we should be planning for these longer-term goals.
One of the main surprises or at least realizations I had as I moved through the class was during the beginning and middle of the course how difficult it was to find a behavior we would be able to change (especially given the digital medium we were using) and how little it seemed people wanted to change despite stating that they wanted to. In retrospect, I can see this kind of behavior in my own actions all the time especially when it comes to physical challenges like becoming more flexible or maintaining a regular exercise schedule. However, seeing it in a large number of people we had the chance to interview was very telling.
Working with behaviors in general seems to carry fairly heavy ethical considerations even though we attempted to scale back the scope of our project. Reading through some of the stories of people who suffer from impulsive spending habits online really puts into perspective how damaging this behavior can become, and also made me exceptionally wary of tackling this issue. While we were recruiting participants, we had a realization that offering any kind of half-baked solution would be honestly insulting to those who were suffering from this behavior so we opt to look elsewhere instead for participants.
Ethical Considerations
In terms of what I wish went differently overall, as always the quarter becomes a struggle for me in terms of my mental health which really only can handle 7 weeks of classes it seems. I do wish I was able to put more time into developing the end product since there was a lot of polish I would have added if given an additional working day or two (different from just an additional day since other classes would conflict). Additionally, I still have the bad habit of going into paralysis once too much unfinished work piles up which just creates a positive feedback loop.
Our project attempts replace a particular behavior through re-associating a particular cue in this case the desire to browse or shop with a different action while keeping the reward as similar as possible to the original action. In our ideal use case this seems to make them all acceptable nudges since we work towards the user’s goal of reducing their impulsive shopping habits. Some potentially harmful or manipulative nudges come in the form of the social aspect especially since a user may feel ashamed of their own creations when looking how other people composed their boards and thus be motivated to continue using the application. The gamification feature as well is an effective nudge but may contribute to even more detrimental habits such as how games introduce abstract currencies to dissociate real money and in-game currency to make players spend more. One possible solution we discussed at some point was making a puzzle-like system instead where each of our items belonged to certain categories (red, blue, etc.) and part of the goal was to create a board given certain constraints (ex: use three red items) although we never followed through since we didn’t know if it would effectively recreate the browsing experience we wanted.
Now I Think
Behavioral change encompasses a number of difficult situations when compared to other kinds of design, but ultimately many of the tools and techniques employed in the general design process have a key role to play here. Ethical considerations should be considered at each step in this process rather then being addressed at the end in order to create values that are deeply embedded within the design itself. Honestly, these ideas will more often than not create a more cohesive product that helps to reflect the values of the designers themselves and allow for a chance to put something out into the world to do some good.
Next Time
I’ll apply a lot of these lessons in the next project I work towards and try to introduce them to any members of my team who are unfamiliar with them as some of these ideas are ones that everyone should know. In terms of classes, I’ll be more preventative in not letting work pile up though just saying that won’t work (as we have definitely seen in class) so creating a specific itemized plan will probably have to do.
Other Notes
10/10 teaching team
Couldn’t ask for anyone better
also lots of ty to amy
