Stephen Denning's talk from the UXPA 2014 Ignite session "Are you a Super Hero or a Super Villain? Using Design Psychology for Good (and Evil)." Design Psychology is a powerful tool to wield and can be used to the benefit or detriment of our users; motivating them to behave in ways that can be in their interest, or our own. Our panel of experienced professionals, each with an interest in different facets of design psychology, will choose a white hat or black hat - some taking the side of good and honest intentions, with others taking the dark side where manipulation and coercion reign. On which side will you fall?

1. 2014
Build Trust with
Pre-Attention
Stephen Denning
Principal UX Consultant
User Vision
@steve_denning
@uservision

2. “We thrive in information-thick worlds
because of our marvellous and everyday
capacities to select, edit, single out, structure,
highlight, group, pair, organise, discriminate,
distinguish, cluster, aggregate, outline,
summarise, enumerate, glean [and] synopsise”
Edward Tufte (1990)
@uservision @steve_denning

4. Register
Pre-attentive
processing
Cognition
Long-term
memory
Working
memory
@uservision @steve_denning

5. Agent 2
Fast
Instinctive
Involuntary
No effort
Slow(er)
Considered
Voluntary
Effortful
Gather
Structure
Pattern-match
Process
Attribute
Compute
Choose
Pre-attentive
processing
Cognition
Agent 1
@uservision @steve_denning

6. Pre-attentive
processing
Cognition
Agent 2Agent 1

7. DISTRACTORS
TARGET
“Target acquired”

8. TARGET
“Not quite so
elementary”
TARGET
“Target acquired”

9. “We do not perceive what is actually
in the external world so much as we
tend to organize our experience so
that it is as simple as
possible…simplicity is a principle that
guides our perception and may even
override the effects of previous
experience.”
(John Benjafield)
@uservision @steve_denning

10. in tu i  tive
/in‘t(y)ooitiv/
Adjective
1. Using or based on what one feels to be true even without conscious r
easoning; instinctive.
2. (chiefly of computer software) Easy to use and understand.
= Trust = Good
@uservision @steve_denning

11. @uservision @steve_denning

12. 1. Law of Figure/Ground
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13. @uservision @steve_denning

14. 2. Law of Similarity
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16. 3. Law of Proximity
@uservision @steve_denning

17. First name:
Last name:
Street:
City:
Postcode:
Telephone:
E-mail address:
First name:
Last name:
Street:
City:
Postcode:
Telephone:
E-mail address:
@uservision @steve_denning

18. 4. Law of Continuation (Alignment)
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19. `
@uservision @steve_denning

20. • Closure
• Symmetry
• Common fate
• Connectness
• Parallelism
• Common region
• Past experience
• Focal point
• Simplicity

21. • Maximise use of
pre-attention in design
• Think structure before
content
• Communicate as much as
possible through shape,
colour and layout
• Combine the laws for
maximum effect
So…
Stephen Denning
stephen@uservision.co.uk
@steve_denning @uservision
CreditsReferences
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/orangeacid/234
358923/
• http://www.csc.ncsu.edu/faculty/healey/PP/
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/29317846@N0
3/2743294768/
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/mr_t_in_dc/37
56880888/
• http://www.sxc.hu/photo/883166
• http://jtl.deviantart.com/art/White-Vision-
1104943
• http://www.cledsonsoares.blogspot.com
• http://www.brainconnection.com
• D. Kahneman, “Thinking Fast & Slow” (2012)
• C. Ware, “Information Visualization:
Perception for Design” (2004)
• C. Wickens, S. Gordon Becker, Y Liu & J Lee,
“Introduction to Human Factors Engineering”
(2003)