Fall 2009 / Team Project / Institute of Design
This research project aims to integrate knowledge from cognitive psychology and behavioral economics into the design toolkit.

The problem
People often behave in seemingly "irrational" ways - deciding to smoke despite knowledge of cancer risks, volunteering to work for free, or failing to take advantage of employer-matching 401(k) plans. Behavioral economics builds upon findings from cognitive psychology to explore why people make these types of decisions.

Insights from behavioral economics can help designers better understand, and design for, the way people process information and make decisions. But designers lack structured methods for integrating this knowledge into the design process.

A toolkit for designers
Our team of six Master's students developed a set of research and synthesis-oriented tools that designers can actively use on real-world projects to (1) better understand what may be causing users to behave in seemingly irrational ways and to (2) explore ways to counteract or take advantage of cognitive biases via design. See examples below.

Developing the tools
The team conducted rigorous literature reviews, secondary research, and prototype testing, all informed by and continual interaction with designers and experts alike. Our tool development process involved discussions and workshops with design professionals, structured usability tests and contextual interviews, as well as unguided testing where design teams were invited to test out tools in the context of their ongoing projects.

In Spring 2010 we completed the initial toolkit development, printed the first batch of kits, and ran several workshops for designers in Chicago and New York . As a team, we pilot tested our tools in the context of a Facebook redesign project, conducting user research and envisioning strategies for Facebook user retention.

For more information on the project, or to download the toolkit, visit the Brains, Behavior & Design website or watch this video from the IIT Design Research Conference 2010.