State of the art analysis - Behavior design

Behavior design is a design field where the designers focus is on the users psychology and to find the design which best fits the users need. The approach is trying to change users behavior in a (hopefully) good way and a good design can help users for example to stop smoking or to exercise more.

If we decide to put a lot of effort into the design itself, i think this is the way to go. One recent example can be found in Moscow's subway system where traveller got the chance to get a free ticket to the subway, if they did 30 squats at the station. The campaign was a part of the promotion of the Winter Olympics in Sotji witch aimed to involve Russia’s population in more of a sporting lifestyle. Another example, which is a couple of years old, is when they installed a piano in the stairs of Odenplan subway station in Stockholm. The aim of the piano was to make people take the stairs rather then the escalator by making the stairs more fun to use and it seemed to have succeeded.

Both of the examples uses rather simple technology to involve the user in a new way and to make the user break one of their everyday habits. New ideas doesn’t require new technology, in a way behavior design is about using existing technology in the best possible way for the user.

When there’s a event going on tvärbanan is crowded, but only for a short time since almost everybody who’s going to the event is traveling at the same time. By using the behavior design approach we can perhaps motivate travellers to take a walk to another station or to use another train entrance then usual. Perhaps we can make them change their habits regarding tvärbanan in a way which also benefits them when there’s no event going on.

My view is that people like easy and fast feedback. If you know right away that you have succeeded with a small change or step in a process, it’s much easier to continue. I’ve been using an app for a couple of months witch is extremely simple but have done a huge impact on my own behavior. The app simply keeps track of the things I try do to daily where one is to walk a certain amount of steps. The counter is connected to iOS built-in step counter which make the feedback really quick. This have changed my behavior in such a way that I actually care how many steps I take each day since I have an goal to reach and the app encourage me to reach the goal as many days in a row as possible. What I’m trying to say is, simple design in combination with a smart idea can make a bigger impact than one might think.