Psychology driven design is a concept that relies on findings in cognitive, behavioral and social psychology to understand how visitors of websites and users of apps perceive them, are affected by them, and engage with them. It therefore contains essential learning material for all user experience, user interface, web, and app designers.
Psychology is the scientific study of the human mind and its functions. On the other hand, the conception and visual presentation of inspirational, original content for and on the web – ux/ui/web/app design shortened as web design in following – is an artform, as much as it is science. The value of psychology for us web designers and content creators lies in its ability to predict how visitors will interact with our sites.
We will succeed as designers only if we take the perceptual biases of our fellow men and women, their motivations, emotional states, and unconscious desires into consideration. Only when we thoroughly understand the human mind can we hope to create designs that are simple yet pleasing and engaging at the same time.
Psychology driven design can help us accomplish that. It is a technique that is centered around considering at every step of a creative process how human beings think, feel and act. The result of it is a product that appeals simultaneously to the intellect, emotions as well as unconscious desires of users.
Psychology Driven Design
Some people refer to this method as “designing for the mind” others as “designing for humans” or even “neurodesign”. I prefer the term psychology driven design because the concept relies on findings in cognitive, behavioral and social psychology to determine how we human beings work; how, for example, the structure of a website influences our perception of it, how the colors and types used by its designer affect our mood; how we interact with it to fulfill a purpose, etc. The psychological impact of the design of a website determines if users will trust it or not, if they will feel important, or at ease, or curious and so on. In short, it is the number one determinant of a good or bad web user experience.
Psychology driven design should not be confused with user-centered design. While both emphasize explicitly empathizing with users, the latter is a strict, standardized methodology which requires the active involvement of users during the entire design and development process. Psychology driven design eases this requirement somewhat, where viable, by making use of the knowledge we have in the field of human psychology, leading to a less rigorous and therefore simpler scheme. We often call this concept web design with user focus. Nevertheless, psychology driven design makes use of many concepts that are covered by the user-centered design methodology but then goes beyond it.
What It Is Not
It may be useful at this point to address some of the common prejudicial assumptions that people make when they hear of this concept.
First of all, psychology driven design is not about hacking people’s brains, or using techniques for manipulating their unconscious mind, or persuading them to buy things they don’t need. Not in the slightest. It is merely about applying knowledge we have gained about the way human beings work to create successful websites, apps and more generally web based content, whether published to a custom webpage or Facebook or Instagram.
Second, it is neither about the psychology of the designer, nor about the interactions of designers in a design team or the methods they may thereby be employing. Analyzing the relations between the different stakeholders of a project is not what is meant when speaking of psychology driven design. Focus is always on the website visitor, the user, as she/he is customarily called.
And third, the applicability of psychology driven design is not limited to creation of business websites. It is as central to fashioning a fan site, a personal blog, or a community forum. It applies to all types of web content and is therefore useful for all ux/ui/web/app designers, from individuals who are using readymade templates or themes to publish content, such as Shopify, WordPress, or Wix.com, to highly professional designers who are coding original web interfaces for Fortune 500 companies.
The Importance for Design
Having said that, the approach taken obviously depends on the type of website being developed. After all, different website types cater to different user needs, and what’s more, people expect to find a typical design that they are familiar with in every different category.
In addition, it is becoming exceedingly clear that websites with a diverse set of users will in future have to appeal to them individually with designs which resonate differently with each, and designers will ultimately have to create personalized experiences for different target audiences. A greater understanding of the subtle details relating to specific user groups, including culture, gender, age, etc. will eventually fulfill the expectation that a website should be relevant to each and every one of its visitors, currently only a dream.
Psychology driven design is based on the overlap of design principles and human behavioral factors, and thus, once we understand the underlying influences on these, the application on a specific type of website or for a specific user profile should be easy, if not trivial.
It is how the design elements and content are used in connection with a user’s psychology that makes things work. Reducing user frustration and increasing site performance by thinking like the user and generating positive emotions and thoughts are what count.
Simple Yet Rich, Familiar Yet Different
94% of visitors do not trust poorly designed websites. And it takes them about 50 milliseconds to form an opinion about that issue. Websites that are simpler and prototypical in their category are perceived to be more appealing. Yet, they have to offer visitors unique and engaging experiences. This requirement for being simple yet rich, familiar yet different at the same time is a difficult feat to achieve even for seasoned professionals. Psychology driven design is the key to managing that challenge.
To give a few examples, belonging to a community and group validation really matter for people. How to make visitors feel included is something social psychology can teach us. Behavioral psychology can teach us how to recognize and reward them emotionally. However, the most important role is played by the principles we can derive from cognitive psychology, from visual balance to attentional hierarchy, from perceptual direction to intuitive layouts, from color as a psychological communication tool to typefaces as design elements.
All this is becoming more and more important as websites and apps have to be responsive to user interactions on various platforms, from laptops to smart phones, and as apps penetrate into new types of devices, from wearables, smart watches, to virtual reality goggles.
Conclusion
We’re living in exciting times, not only because of the expanding technological variety, but also because our knowledge about ourselves is growing day by day thanks to functional MRI studies and other kinds of imaging techniques, that allow us to understand the human brain better and better. And the deeper we can delve into the psychology of our website visitors, the better user experiences we will be able to design that their minds will find engaging.
Psychology driven design is a fascinating topic. If you wish to learn in-depth how its principles can be employed for user experience, user interface, app, and web design, take the online course PSYCHOLOGY DRIVEN UX/UI/WEB DESIGN offered by Inspiraition.com at Udemy. This course contains essential material for any designer who wishes to learn to create impactful websites and apps that appeal simultaneously to the intellect, emotions and subconscious of users.
In case you don’t have the time to go through the forty or so hours of teaching material supplemented by examples, written resources, assignments, and quizzes presented in the course, we offer an excellent reference book called SUMMARY & TAKEAWAYS: PSYCHOLOGY DRIVEN WEB DESIGN that you can purchase as a kindle e-book or a printed book at Amazon.