With an overarching theme of ‘celebrating outstanding creativity,’ Digital Shoreditch 2013 brought together some of the greatest digital minds from Tech City and beyond to discuss innovative projects, products, platforms and services within the digital space. Bunnyfoot CEO Jon Dodd, gave a talk ‘On the Importance of Emotional Design’ exploring the role of emotion in creating engaging and persuasive designs that deliver superior user experiences.
Jon’s talk was part of the Behavioural Design Day which focused on peoples’ decision making processes from a scientific view point of view and the importance of understanding this journey and learning how to influence this process both on and offline. We have compiled a list of our highlights and Key Take Homes from the day.
Key Take Homes:
1. Build what users really, really want, not what they say they want
Using the example of his mother, who worked as a dress maker Michael Christian, Claromentis talked on the importance of observing customers to understand what they really want. When one of his mother’s customers had wanted a straight dress, his mother made it convex, because from her experience she knew it would look good on the customer and would look straight on them. The same principles, he argued, apply to design as Steve Jobs said “We can’t just ask customers what they want and give it to them”. The challenge is to bring clarity quicker in the design process. Using rapid prototyping allows us to explore concepts iteratively and collaboratively with clients and allows you to fail fast and learn quick. The key thing is don’t just listen to your customers, observe them.
2. Don ‘t fear different platforms
As people are increasingly using multiple devices to shop, bank, carry out everyday tasks and connect with the world, the growth of multiple platforms should be regarded as an opportunity to interact and engage with consumers, as something to be embraced. Rather than fear the complexity of the framework of customer touch points – a fear that often leads to great ideas being killed off at the design stages – teams should work to harness the power of today’s innovative tools and techniques in order to optimise user experience. (Wesley Haar, Media Monks)
3. “Know your audience and test, test, test”
Mind the gender gap by Natali Nahai looked at how gender influences our online behaviour e.g women are more about communicating online, men are more about researching, men tend to be less concerned about privacy when shopping online and are happier to use their real names. She argued that if you can understand what makes people tick, you can engage with them more persuasively. However she also warned that despite these differences it is important to test beyond the immediate target audience of your website as this avoids alienating the rest of the population. The Golden Rule: Test, Test, Test!
4. Turn your social capital into real capital
Craig Hughes from Peer Index explained that social (media) capital can be converted into real capital. Evidence suggests that people who are referred to you by influencers are much more likely to spend money and are particularly valuable customers. Social networks make everyone empowered to complain, create change and glorify so it matters how you are connected to others. Use social media as a platform for reaching out and influencing your audience.
5. Visual thinking in UCD
Felipe Caro from Amberlight argued in his talk that to give our findings more impact we must employ visual thinking as we are primarily visual beings: 75% information we perceive comes through our eyes. Visualisation can help you see where you are, where you want to be and how to get there. The London tube map for example solves a basic problem of how to display a great deal of information in a clear, digestible format. He sited a Chinese proverb:
- Tell me, I’ll forget
- Show me, I’ll remember
- Involve me, I’ll understand
6. Power changes the way you behave
Ian Robertson,Trinity College Dublin, describes power as “having control over resources that others want, need or fear”. The Winner effect, he says, which is the increase in dopamine we experience when we “win” something makes us smarter and makes us make fewer mistakes. The relationship to digital Ian argued is clear because Digital is a great platform for empowering people – it is up to you to make sure your products empower your audience, in turn making them behave the way you want them to.
See also:
- Training course: Designing for the Human Mind/Brain
- Bunnytalk: Stroking your Customer’s Brains – Designing for Persuasion
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