Design Better

I just spoke with Elijah Woolery and Aarron Walter of the Design Better podcast about the hidden forces that drive product adoption and behavior change. Here's what product managers and growth leaders need to know: ???? Humans don't act rationally, and the environment affects behavior more than attitudes, preferences, or beliefs. This isn't just theory—it's the foundation of effective product design. A few insights worth noting: ?? Your biggest competitor isn't who you think. It's the status quo—what users are already doing. The biggest predictor that I'll exercise today is whether I exercised yesterday. ??? Don't ask users what they want; watch what they do. Brazil's stock exchange thought their users needed better information about expiring bonds. The problem? People don't remember expiration dates from 10 years ago. By focusing on the behavior (reinvestment) rather than awareness, we increased bond reinvestment 5X. ?? For truly successful product engagement, focus on what I call "uncomfortably specific key behaviors" rather than abstract metrics like retention or engagement. At One Medical, we increased bookings by 20% not by asking people to "get care" (who thinks that way?) but by recommending a specific doctor. ? Your users don't come in with fixed preferences—you help create them. The Significant Objects Project sold junk shop items on eBay with compelling stories, turning $50 worth of items into $3,500. As a product leader, it's your job to help users understand value, not assume they already know it. ?? Present bias is real: Chime switched from "save money on overdraft fees" (future benefit) to "get paid two days earlier" (immediate benefit)—and saw dramatically better conversion. I run Irrational Labs, a behavioral economics consultancy with Dan Ariely, where we apply these principles to help products drive meaningful behavior change. What hidden forces are affecting your product experience? Listen to the full conversation here: https://lnkd.in/efB6FD_6 #BehavioralEconomics #ProductDesign #GrowthMarketing

For anyone who gets a twinge of nostalgia looking at these animated GIFs, the guest interviewed for Design Better today will make you smile...we were lucky enough to talk to the creator of Prince of Persia and Karateka, Jordan Mechner. My 3 brothers (Alex Woolery, Hart Woolery, and Gavan Woolery) and I grew up playing these games together in the 80's and 90's, so it was a real honor to chat with Jordan, who also just released a great graphic novel about his family history and his own work called "Replay." The episode will be coming out in the next month or so.

Do you remember where you were the first time you saw this iconic OK Go video? Our TNM Spotlight: Show of the Week goes out to the brilliant team at Design Better—Aarron Walter and Elijah Woolery—who welcomed none other than OK Go's founding members, Tim Nordwind and Damian Kulash, to the podcast not long ago. Designed (pun intended) to explore the intersection of design, technology, and the creative process with thought leaders from a wide range of fields, this show continues to deliver inspiration and insight with every episode. Check out the episode: https://lnkd.in/eijxVitb

This Week in Design – Your Roundup of Cool Stuff Has anyone else been madly juggling half term holidays and work this week? I've been reading design articles and listening to podcasts while playing dinosaurs and picking up jellybeans off the floor! Here is my (extremely exhausted) summary of this week in design: 1?? Tool: Adobe has launched a Photoshop iPhone app, which is more powerful than the existing PS Express app and ideal for editing and posting on the go. ?? https://lnkd.in/euusKY_i 2?? Podcast: In the latest episode of Design Better, Elijah Woolery and Aarron Walter explain what designers can learn from writers and storytellers. ?? https://lnkd.in/eAD74kXy 3?? Training: If you're in the Sunderland area, Creators Academy is running a FREE one-day training course on Adobe After Effects, on Friday 7th March. ?? Message Paul Sanderson for more information. 4?? News: This week the UK's creative industries launched their "Make It Fair" campaign, highlighting how government proposals to weaken copyright laws will result in their intellectual property being used for free by AI companies. ?? https://lnkd.in/enJ8u52X 5?? Radio: Sir Jony Ive was on BBC Radio 4's "Desert Island Discs" programme, talking about his work at Apple and his optimism around AI. ?? https://lnkd.in/esHvtsxD Questions, comments? Let me know your opinions??? If you like design, let's connect! ??

Every month, Design Better?premium subscribers?receive our newsletter?The Brief, which assembles wisdom gleaned from our interviews with creative thinkers like David Sedaris, Kamasi Washington, Ed Catmull, Eileen Fisher, and many more. It’s a chance to go deeper into salient topics like creative collaboration, the ephemeral nature of designing software, and how other creative people in music and film solve problems. But inboxes are busy places—an issue might slip past you. And everyone learns differently. Some of us learn best by listening. We’re always looking for new ways to support your learning. :) We’re now creating narrated versions of?The Brief?released as a podcast in your feed. Want to check it out? We’re releasing the first episode from our most recent issue of?The Brief,?"What do many creative people have in common? ADHD." We hope this new feature helps you continue your educational journey into design and creativity.

Are you looking for your next design role or looking for talent for your team? Elijah Woolery and I have just launched the Design Better Directory, a tool to connect talented designers with great jobs. Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/e5qAsyjb Post your profile to get more visibility with hiring managers or post a job opening at your company. It's all free. Design Better's mission is to support and nurture the global design community. Our podcast, online events, newsletters, and books are all designed to help you refine your craft, collaborate better, and inspire you to think creatively. We also want to help you find fulfilling work. We'd love it if you share the Design Better Directory with folks you know who could benefit. #design #designcareers #designjobs #hiring

Are you looking for your next design role or looking for talent for your team? We have just launched the Design Better Directory, a tool to connect talented designers with great jobs. Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/e5qAsyjb Post your profile to get more visibility with hiring managers or post a job opening at your company. It's all free. Design Better's mission is to support and nurture the global design community. Our podcast, online events, newsletters, and books are all designed to help you refine your craft, collaborate better, and inspire you to think creatively. We also want to help you find fulfilling work. Please share the Design Better Directory with folks you know who could benefit. #design #designcareers #designjobs #hiring

Today on Design Better, we welcome Scott Belsky, co-founder of Behance and Chief Strategy Officer at Adobe. Aarron Walter and I chat with Scott about how we might navigate the explosion of creative technology over the past few years, and why it might make sense to move toward a more “boundary-less” workflow. We also talk with Scott about his book "The Messy Middle," and how to manage emotional turbulence during challenging parts of our career.

We're just about to get started with our AMA featuring Scott Berkun...DM me if you'd like a free ticket (we have a limited number set aside). ??

Over the span of only a week, designers directly donated over $12k to families who have lost their homes in Altadena, CA. I’m deeply grateful to the many folks who participated as guests, hosts, donors, and viewers. I know a lot of folks are going through a tough time with the state of the job market, so seeing us come together like this has really helped me pull out of cycles of pessimism and cynicism. Although the wildfires are now unfortunately out of the national news cycle, the fires are still very much raging and families in LA will be in need of aid for the foreseeable future as homeowner insurance companies refuse to pay out. Please continue to donate wherever and whenever possible and bring more attention to the cause. I’ll continue to stream over the following week with recordings I made in the past week. So get ready for episodes with design system expert Dan Mall, design execs Maria Pentkovski, Andy Vitale and Bob Baxley. I can’t thank the 100+ donors enough. There are too many to list and I just want to say that I deeply appreciate you all. No donation is too small and please, please reach out to me if you donated anonymously so I can thank you personally. A few folks who came up big: Bill Kurland????, John Moore, Peter Merholz and Karla Fernandes (Design and No-code Expert) were some of the top donors on my live streams. Jeff White’s episode on UX storytelling was an absolute banger where he raised $1,261 in only an hour! Design Better, Shawn Espinosa, Michelle Couch, Miranda Slayter, Taylor Palmer, Prisca Ekkens, Jennifer Blatz, Teodora Gheorghe, and Jiaorui Jiang were also ridiculously generous, thank you! A very, very kind anonymous designer donated $5,000 on the last day, which left me flabbergasted. I do hope you come forward someday. I wish people knew who did this, because it makes it all the funnier and crazier. You would never guess who… A massive thank you to the organizers and hosts who also streamed in the past week to raise thousands of dollars: Lex Roman Ryan Rumsey Florian Boelter Linn Vizard Yvonne X. Elijah Woolery Aarron Walter Nicole Landry Ron Goldin Miranda Slayter Jeremy Miller Joe Natoli Alison Gretz, ACC Elizabeth Alli Tommy Geoco Amanda Sweeney And an equally huge thank you to the many guests and donors who came on to share their knowledge so freely and entertain us during a bad time: Jeff White Bill Kurland Trevor Nielsen Sera Tajima ?? Catt Small ?????? Tom Takigayama Yaddy Arroyo Soo-Jin Lee Peter Merholz Ryan Scott Debbie Levitt Frank Bach Maria Pentkovski Donnie D’Amato Brian Lin Ha Phan Tom Greever John Moore Jen Jernigan Dan Mall Bob Baxley Andy Vitale I have a lot of coaching to give out the next few weeks. If you were a top donor on any of the episodes, PLEASE hit me up for a free chat/coaching session on anything you’d like. I couldn’t jot down all the donations live and going back is hard with GFM’s UI, so please make it easier on me.