One of the professional development training items on the books for FY17-18 at work was a book I’ve had on my to-read list for several years: 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know about People by Susan Weinschenk, PhD.
This post gives a quick overview of what I learned, with more details to be found in this PDF.
Overview
“Whether you’re designing a Web site or a medical device — or something somewhere in between — your audience is comprised of the people who will benefit from that design. And the totality of your audience’s experience is profoundly impacted by what you know — or don’t know — about them. How do they think? How do they decide? What motivates them to click or purchase or whatever it is you want them to do?”
How People See
- What you see isn’t what your brain gets
- Peripheral vision is used more than central vision to get the gist of what you see
- People identify objects by recognizing patterns
- There’s a special part of the brain for just recognizing faces
- People imagine objects tilted and at a slight angle above
- People scan screens based on past experience and expectations
- People see cues that tell them what to do with an object
- People can miss changes in their visual fields
- People believe that things are close together belong together
- Red and blue together are hard on the eyes
- 9% of men and 0.5% of women are color-blind
- The meanings of colors vary by culture
How People Read
- It’s a myth that capital letters are inherently hard to read
- Reading and comprehending are two different things
- Pattern recognition helps people identify letters in different fonts
- Font size matters
- Reading a computer screen is harder than reading paper
- People read faster with a longer line length, but they prefer a shorter line length
How People Remember
- Short-term memory is limited
- People remember only four items at once
- People have to use information to make it stick
- It’s easier to recognize information rather than recall it
- Memory takes a lot of mental resources
- People reconstruct memories each time they remember them
- It’s a good thing that people forget
- The most vivid memories are wrong
How People Think
- People process information better in bite-sized chunks
- Some types of mental processing are more challenging than others
- Minds wander 30% of the time
- The more uncertain people are, the more they defend their ideas
- People create mental models
- People interact with conceptual models
- People process information best in story form
- People learn best from examples
- People are driven to create categories
- Time is relative
- There are four ways to be creative (deliberate vs. spontaneous / cognitive vs. emotional)
- People can be in a flow state
- Culture affects how people think
How People Focus Their Attention
- Attention is selective
- People filter information
- Well-practiced skills don’t require conscious attention
- Expectations of frequency affect attention
- Sustained attention lasts about ten minutes
- People pay attention only to salient clues
- People can’t actually multitask
- Danger, food, sex, movement, faces, and stories get the most attention
- Loud noises startle and get attention
- For people to pay attention to something, they must first perceive it
What Motivates People
- People are more motivated as they get closer to a goal
- Variable rewards are powerful
- Dopamine makes people addicted to seeking information
- Unpredictability keeps people searching
- People are more motivated by intrinsic rewards than extrinsic rewards
- People are motivated by progress, mastery, and control
- People’s ability to delay gratification (or not) starts young
- People are inherently lazy
- People will look for shortcuts only if the shortcuts are easy
- People assume it’s you, not the situation
- Forming a habit takes a long time and requires small steps
- People are more motivated to compete when there are fewer competitors
- People are motivated by autonomy
People Are Social Animals
- The “strong tie” group size limit is 150 people
- People are hard-wired for imitation and empathy
- Doing things together bonds people together
- People expect online interactions to follow social rules
- People lie to differing degrees depending on the media
- Speakers’ brains and listeners’ brains sync up during communication
- The brain responds uniquely to people you know personally
- Laughter bonds people together
- People can tell when a smile is real or fake more accurately with video
How People Feel
- Seven basic emotions are universal
- Emotions are tied to muscle movement and vice versa
- Anecdotes persuade more than data
- Smells evoke emotions and memories
- People are programmed to enjoy surprises
- People are happier when they’re busy
- Pastoral scenes make people happy
- People use look-and-feel as their first indicator of trust
- Listening to music releases dopamine in the brain
- The more difficult something is to achieve, the more people like it
- People overestimate reactions to future events
- People feel more positive before and after an event than during it
- People want what is familiar when they’re sad or scared
People Make Mistakes
- People will always make mistakes; there is no fail-safe product
- People make errors when they are under stress
- Not all mistakes are bad
- People make predictable types of errors
- People use different error strategies
How People Decide
- People make most decisions unconsciously
- The unconscious knows first
- People want more choices and information than they can process
- People think choice equals control
- People may care about time more than they care about money
- Mood influences the decision-making process
- Group decision-making can be faulty
- People are swayed by a dominant personality
- When people are uncertain, they let others decide what to do
- People think others are more easily influenced than they are themselves
- People value a product more highly when it’s physically in front of them