Dan Lockton Behavior Design Amsterdam New Year 2016
1.
2. Dr Dan Lockton
Visiting Research Tutor
Royal College of Art, London
@danlockton
Design, understanding
and agency
3. “Do you want us to
learn what you are
telling us?
Or is it all a sort of
example, an
illustration of
something else?”
A student’s question to Gregory Bateson
4.
5. • Research through design
• Iterative, experimental, exploratory
• Many researchers have backgrounds outside design
8. How can we change
behaviour around
repair, by making it
more emotionally
engaging?
Nazli Terzioglu
9. Can metaphors
around pregnancy
and childcare be
applied to change
behaviour around
packaging?
Yoony Choi
Figure 1) Birth and life cycle comparison of packaging and pregnancy.
Many of different functions of packages reflect the pregnancy experience, and its particular
language too. In figure Table 21, some examples are presented.
Packaging function Pregnancy experience
The food is delivered to table The baby has been delivered to table
Expire date Due date
Faulty in system Miscarriage
Disposal inside product before the expire date Abortion
Reuse, refill packaging Being pregnant again
‘Handle with care’ label ‘Baby on board’ badge
Providing information on the pack Mother knows all about the baby
Extra tray/ sleeve/ form cushion for the contents Amniotic fluid
Using glue, additive on the packaging Applying chemical on mother’s body
Temper proof Cord
Non-recyclable packaging Sterility
Packaging that self-operate (self- expire) Linea nigra (Dark line)
Product position in a package Baby position
Recovery Mother recover after giving birth
Throw trash anywhere Mom left her child, being orphan
Barcode scan Scanning
Overdue Expired
Produce, reproduce Produce a baby, reproduce a baby
Bar code Antenatal record
Figure Table 12) Experimenting with language metaphor
10. How can algorithmic IoT
systems enable users to
construct their own
meaning for their
behavioural data? How
can the ‘observer’ be
considered as an active
participant?
Delfina Fantini
van Ditmar
15. Many different areas (and traditions) of psychology
Sociology, science & technology studies
Ethnography, cognitive anthropology
Architectural theory
Human-computer interaction
Ergonomics and human factors
Decision science, behavioural economics
cybernetics
57. Determinism
“implies a one-way process in which
the physical environment is the
independent, and human behaviour
the dependent variable.”
Maurice Broady, 1966,‘Social Theory in Architectural Design’
59. Treating people as components, with predictable
properties so they can be incorporated into your system
“WHY CAN’T I HAVE A TABLE WHERE I LOOK UP HOW TO
GET PEOPLE TO DO WHAT I WANT THEM TO DO?”
60. “The inherent variability of the
behavioural world gives us more
information than we can handle, so
we value a stable world-picture,
being predictable, and being able to
predict. We work at maintaining the
constancy of our theories-in-use”
Chris Argyris & Donald Schön, Theory in Practice, 1974
62. Exploring assumptions
power
• Does this design approach give one party an advantage
over others?
• How much agency does the ‘user’ have over what he or
she does?
63. Exploring assumptions
power
• Does this design approach give one party an advantage
over others?
• How much agency does the ‘user’ have over what he or
she does?
needs • Does this design approach help the ‘user’ achieve
something he or she needs to do?
64. Exploring assumptions
power
• Does this design approach give one party an advantage
over others?
• How much agency does the ‘user’ have over what he or
she does?
needs • Does this design approach help the ‘user’ achieve
something he or she needs to do?
intent • Does this design approach ‘wish us well’?
65. Exploring assumptions
power
• Does this design approach give one party an advantage
over others?
• How much agency does the ‘user’ have over what he or
she does?
needs • Does this design approach help the ‘user’ achieve
something he or she needs to do?
intent • Does this design approach ‘wish us well’?
variety • How nuanced is the ‘model of the user’ employed?
• Will different users experience this in different ways?
66.
67. Exploring assumptions
power
• Does this design approach give one party an advantage
over others?
• How much agency does the ‘user’ have over what he or
she does?
needs • Does this design approach help the ‘user’ achieve
something he or she needs to do?
intent • Does this design approach ‘wish us well’?
variety • How nuanced is the ‘model of the user’ employed?
• Will different users experience this in different ways?
68. Exploring assumptions
• Does this design approach assume that the user just
reacts, thinks, or actually learns?
• Does it enable the user to construct his or her own
meaning or understanding?
learning
69. Exploring assumptions
• Does this design approach assume that the user just
reacts, thinks, or actually learns?
• Does it enable the user to construct his or her own
meaning or understanding?
learning
under-
standing
• Does it ignore, ‘work with’, or try to change the way the
user thinks?
70. Exploring assumptions
• Does this design approach assume that the user just
reacts, thinks, or actually learns?
• Does it enable the user to construct his or her own
meaning or understanding?
learning
under-
standing
• Does it ignore, ‘work with’, or try to change the way the
user thinks?
adaptive-
ness
• Does it assume the situation is always the same, or can
it adapt based on context?
71. Exploring assumptions
• Does this design approach assume that the user just
reacts, thinks, or actually learns?
• Does it enable the user to construct his or her own
meaning or understanding?
learning
under-
standing
• Does it ignore, ‘work with’, or try to change the way the
user thinks?
adaptive-
ness
• Does it assume the situation is always the same, or can
it adapt based on context?
• What level does it frame the problem at? Does it take
account of the wider social and cultural context, or is it
about individual people making decisions in isolation?
supra-
individuality
80. “For example, while electronic objects are
being used, their use is constrained by the
simple generalised model of a user these
objects are designed around: the more
time we spend using them, the more
time we spend as a caricature.
We unwittingly adopt roles created by the
human factors specialists of large
corporations.”
Tony Dunne, Hertzian Tales, 1999
81. “We can see other people’s
behaviour, but not their experience.
This has led some people to insist
that psychology has nothing to do
with the other person’s experience,
but only with his behaviour”
RD Laing, The Politics of Experience, 1967
82.
83. “Your experience of me is invisible to
me and my experience of you is
invisible to you…
[but] I cannot avoid trying to
understand your experience,
because although I do not experience
your experience… I experience you as
experiencing”
RD Laing, The Politics of Experience, 1967
84. We can’t avoid having
models of humans…
Hugh Dubberly & Paul Pangaro,‘Cybernetics and
service-craft: Language for behavior-focused design’.
Kybernetes, 36(9), 1301-1317, 2007
88. Two ways of doing this
better:
1) Understanding what
people are trying to do…
89. Two ways of doing this
better:
1) Understanding what
people are trying to do, and
helping them do it better
90. Two ways of doing this
better:
2) Understanding how
people understand the
world…
91. Two ways of doing this
better:
2) Understanding how
people understand the
world, and helping them
understand it differently
92. 1) Understanding what
people are trying to do, and
helping them do it better
2) Understanding how
people understand the
world, and helping them
understand it differently
125. People are
inherently bad at
making decisions,
so experts need to
intervene and help
them
People are
inherently OK at
making
decisions, so
experts ought to
learn from them
129. Bounded rationality
= people responding to the
limitations and priorities of the context
in which they’re making decisions
130. Bounded rationality
= people responding to the
limitations and priorities of the context
in which they’re making decisions
often in different ways
131.
132.
133. Consider heuristics as something we
can learn from (Gerd Gigerenzer;
Herbert Simon), and perhaps part of
what makes us human, evolutionarily,
rather than treating humans as
‘defective’ (Daniel Kahneman;
Behavioural Insights Team)
134. What rules (heuristics) are
designers assuming people
are following when they’re
using a system?
What heuristics are they
actually using?
Lockton, Harrison, Cain, Stanton, Jennings (2013)
‘Exploring problem-framing through behavioural heuristics’
International Journal of Design
135. Behaviour change doesn’t
have to be negative.
It can be about helping
people solve the problems
they face in everyday life.
160. ‘I think I worked out that through gas and electricity
every year, the average house gets the equivalent of a
bit over three tons of coal delivered completely silently
and without any mess.
‘And go back a hundred years ago and everyone would
have a really good quantitative understanding of how
much energy they used because they had to physically
shovel the stuff. So, that made me stop and think.’
161. V&A Digital Design Weekend
~13,700 visitors
100 Drawing Energy participants
Drawing Energy
171. Mental models of complex systems
Mental imagery of abstract concepts
172. What other complex systems are
there, that people don’t really
understand? (or understand
differently?)
• Our own bodies and physical health
• Our mental health
• Finance
• IoT, smart grids
• driverless cars
• the environment, government, the law
194. Power ranges Sound files
0-5W
6-30W
31-150W
151-390W
391W - 500W
501W - 900W
901W - 1700W
1701W and over
Nothing played
Track A (low intensity)
Track B
Track C
Track D
Track E
Track F
Track G (high intensity)
per appliance, in parallel
196. The real goal is not just understanding
complexity.
197. The real goal is understanding what
agency is possible in a situation, and
how to enact change.
198. How can people change the behaviour
of the systems they are in?
199. This is design for behaviour change,
but is not about designers trying to
change ‘public behaviour’ as if it were
somehow a separate phenomenon.
200. Can design enable people to
understand the wider contexts of their
actions, their agency within society,
and how they can act to create
different outcomes, different futures?
201. • understand the world
• understand people’s understandings
of the world
• help people understand the world
• help people understand their agency
in the world
• help people use that agency in the
world
a progression from understanding to action
202. • How are you thinking about people
in your work?
• What assumptions do you have?
• Where have those assumptions
come from?
204. Image credits:
A Clockwork Orange screenshots: Warner Brothers
Crossrail images: Transport for London
Billy & Belinda Bollard catalogue image: Marshalls Street Furniture
Bleeding billboard: Papakura & Franklin District Council, New Zealand
Special License Plates: Popular Science, March 1939
Stoke-on-Trent Council obesity texts: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-
staffordshire-26021215
Pipe image, Tortilla chips + photocopier, speedometer: found on Failblog, originators unknown.
Lying on grass: http://willrl.com/2012/09/un-ami-dun-ami-cest-un-ami/ - photo by Will R.L.,
taken in Paris.
Australian cigarette packaging: oldest version found http://www.barnorama.com/funny-
pictures-vol-304/ —originator unknown
Speeding best value: oldest version found http://www.justmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/
2014/04/bestvalue.jpg —originator unknown
Coles / Target Shopping baskets, alarms, printer signs, Apple Watch and pug mouse mat found
on Imgur, originators unknown
Herbert Simon image from Carnegie Mellon Library: http://diva.library.cmu.edu/webapp/
simon/
CarbonCulture at DECC images from CarbonCulture: http://carbonculture.net
Siemens controller image from Dr Nicola Combe
Nest image from Nest publicity
Drawing Energy images: http://drawingenergy.com
Times Square image from Retronaut
Jawbone app screenshot and Smart Fridge data journeys by Delfina Fantini van Ditmar
Repair images by Nazli Terzioglu
Pregnancy / packaging metaphor images by Yoon Choi
Emulsion image by Skrekkøgle
Other images by Dan Lockton