Designing Behaviour Change

Dan Lockton has posted a long appraisal of Robert Fabricant's recent essay on design with intent for Frog design's online journal (which itself borrows a lot from Dan's thinking).

It's definitely worth reading in full, as it summarises much of Dan's thesis in a single post, which is great, and contains loads of links to lots of good further reading. Of course, there's much more to Dan's work, including loads of practical stuff.

Some of the best content is around the apparently uneasy relationship between user centred design and design for behaviour change - although Dan doesn't see a tension:

"I would argue that in cases where design with intent, or design for behaviour change, is aligned with what the user wants to achieve, it’s very much still user-centred design, whether enabling, motivating or constraining. It’s the best form of user-centred design, supporting a user’s goals while transforming his or her behaviour."

Anyway, check it out, and let Dan know if you're applying any of his thinking or tools in your service design work in the comments! June 14th, 2009 / Trackback / Comments