Most people know this, but the major grocery stores you go to are all designed intentionally to get you to stay longer and buy more. From the most common items being put in the back (they love putting milk in the back) to the irresistible junk food at checkout (grab a salacious tabloid while you’re there). Foods put at eye level grab our attention vs. those at the bottom or the top. Each area of the store is crafted intentionally, nudging your decision making.
What is a nudge?
In the book I am reading right now, Nudge, by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein, they describe a nudge as:
something that changes people’s behavior in a predictable way without forbidding any options or changing their economic incentives (aka it’s cheap to avoid).
Nudges are not mandates. They are not rules. “Putting fruit at eye level counts as a nudge. Banning junk food does not.”
Design is a nudging game
As designers, if you think about it, we are constantly nudging people. From the hierarchy choices we make, to appealing and digestible visuals, to the carefully crafted copy that entices people to click a button. I mean, we even nudge people down flows (heard of a sales funnel?).
Every decision designers make often weighs numerous effects on the user experience – the sum of all it’s nudging parts – and we are constantly striving to optimize so that users DO SOMETHING with what we provide them.
It’s not just “designers” who are nudging. Examples in the book are:
- The director of food services that determines the menu and order of menu items and how they are presented to kids in a cafeteria.
- A office architect who is commissioned to design an academic building which needs to accommodate offices, student meeting rooms, classrooms — deciding where to put bathrooms, places to socialize, places for quiet study time, etc.
- An economist overseeing an airport expansion – etching black houseflies on urinals to reduce spillage by 80 percent.
- Parents that describe education options to their kids
- A doctor describing alternate treatment options to their patients
So what?
The result? Small and apparently insignificant details can have major impacts on people’s behavior. The ability to nudge implies an insight that “everything matters”, there is no “neutral” design. To me, this profound yet enormous task is what makes design interesting, challenging, and empowering.
What I loved is that Thaler and Sunstein coin a term for this nudge role – we are “choice architects” people who have the “responsibility for organizing the context in which people make decisions.”
This newly appointed name, to me, feels more encompassing of what I do, what we do. Dare I say, “choice architect” is even an inspiring word as it connotes that we are crafting the context for choices vs. being a designer who…designs?
For now, I look forward to continuing reading Nudge and learning more about how what we do affects the world – stay tuned to my next blog post.