In March, ProductTank focused on the role of psychology in developing and managing products. In this video Dr Dan Lockton, a visiting research tutor in Innovation Design Engineering at the Royal College of Art, discusses the importance of ‘understanding understanding’ in design for behaviour change.
The video covers how emotion can influence behaviour change – from black number plates for bad drivers, to chewing gum disposal boards, and “motivational” texts to inspire healthy living. Highlighting the areas of psychology that examine user behaviour, Dan addresses how people make sense of the situations they experience, and how the design of technologies, products, services and environments affects this.
Dan shares his experience of how designing with people, rather than designing for people, meant understanding people’s everyday lives, their interactions with their environment, and the ways they make decisions about things. He talks about how our predictions about user behaviour are often wrong, and shows – through a number of real-world examples – how user behaviour can help identify product requirements.
