What can we learn from design to reach our goals in the world?

Successful design thinking integrates an understanding of human behavior. What motivates people? How do they see themselves? What do they value? Applying core principles of the art/science of design is a good idea on different levels. In this article, we focus on the customer experience.

How does design work?

To break down how design works – or doesn’t work – we can turn to the visionary The design of everyday things by Don Norman. While the first edition dates back to 1990, the idea’s that Norman spells out are more actual than ever, with designers nowadays encountering new challenges in the area of digital technology.

When it comes to the use of everyday objects we form a conceptual scheme about how something works. The scheme doesn’t have to be complete or even accurate as long as it is useful. Conceptual models are often inferred from the device itself. The major clues to how things work come from their perceived structure. People create mental models of themselves, others, the environment, and the things with which they interact.

These same models serve as guides to help achieve our goals and understand the world. Paradoxically, the same technology that simplifies life by providing more functions in each device, also complicates it by making the device harder to learn, harder to use. This is the challenge for the designer.

Three levels of processing

We are only aware of the reflective level of conscious process, we tend to believe that all human thought is conscious. But it isn’t.

The most basic level of processing is called Visceral. This is sometimes referred to as “the lizard brain”. For Designers, the visceral response is about immediate perception. This has nothing to do with how usable, effective, or understandable the product is. It is all about attraction or repulsion.

The Behavioral is the home of the learned skills. Actions and analyses at this level are largely subconscious. For designers, the most critical aspect of the behavioral level is that every action is associated with an expectation. The information in the feedback loop of evaluation confirms or disconfirms the expectation, resulting in satisfaction or disappointment.

The Reflective level is the home of the conscious cognition. This is where deep understanding develops, where reasoning and conscious decision-making take place.

Seven stages of action

The design must take place at all levels: visceral, behavioral and reflective. To bridge the gap between what we would like to have done (our goals) and all possible physical actions to achieve those goals, we can identify seven stages of action: the goal, plan, specify, perform, perceive, interpret and compare.

We can associate these stages of action with the three different levels of processing as shown in the figure.

Application in customer experience

Yet, these causal attributions are often erroneous. Conceptual models are often constructed from fragmentary evidence, with only a poor understanding of what is happening. The kind of psychology that is applied postulates causes, mechanisms, and relationships where there are none.

This means first and foremost, we must take away things that can cause negative visceral reactions. Second, make sure we meet expectations to satisfy the behavioral processing in interactions between the customers and our organization.

How to do this in practice? Smooth processes, a single point of contact, pixel-perfect reports, intuitive mapping of functionality in software products, correct implementation ensuring a performant interaction; it’s simple (but not easy).