The Cognitive Science of Design in 10 minutes or less: A tale of two systems.

A tale of two brain systems… !

…in 10 minutes or less!

consciousslowerprecise

System 1unconscious

fastapproximates

System 2

hmm, donut

What is moral?

We as Designers underestimate the power of System 1 and don’t take full advantage of it.

Within milliseconds our mind is: - deciding where to look - identifying object boundaries, images - associating them with meaning

We largely know what captures attention

We can’t hold on to everything…

http://perception.research.yale.edu/oba/MOT.mov

Our conscious brain is only working with what our automatic system has perceived, not the real thing.

http://youtu.be/v3iPrBrGSJM

Thus we get overwhelmed with choice,

we prefer the known,

strongly avoid loss,

and fall back to easy rewards.

So how can we use what is known about brains to be better designers and more persuasive?

show the ideal

provide social proof

make choice simpler

draw attention

emphasize likelihood of reward

!15

Intrigue

!16

Aesthetics

!17

Barbeque by the pool

Narrative

!18

Where’s the barbeque?

Achievement

!19

Authority

!20

Framing

!21

Mimicry

!22

Scarcity, Loss Aversion

Bottom line: System 1

harness automaticprocesses

- draw attention - minimize distraction - relate to what I know & ideal - associate with basic goal

Bottom line: System 2

- reduce fear of loss - provide social proof - keep choice simple

makedecisions

easy

New mantra for designers:

harness automaticprocesses

makedecisions

easy

John Whalen@johnwhalen

User Research Strategy User Experience

BrilliantExperience.com