Design and the sleight of hand EXPLORING THE PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND MAGIC AND HOW IT RELATES TO DESIGN. KEVIN CANNON @MULTIKEV

Designing the right thing Designing the thing right

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” — Arthur C. Clarke.

  1. Illusion 2. Persuasion 3. Misdirection 4. Deception

  1. Illusion

Pepper’s Ghost HTTP://USERS.TELENET.BE/THOMASWEYNANTS/PEPPERS-GHOST.HTML

HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=ZKVD-XWXGJS

HTTP://USERS.TELENET.BE/THOMASWEYNANTS/PEPPERS-GHOST.HTML

HTTP://USERS.TELENET.BE/THOMASWEYNANTS/PEPPERS-GHOST.HTML

HTTP://USERS.TELENET.BE/THOMASWEYNANTS/PEPPERS-GHOST.HTML

HTTP://USERS.TELENET.BE/THOMASWEYNANTS/PEPPERS-GHOST.HTML

HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=FFHNDWFETR8

HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=FFHNDWFETR8

q w a e s z r d x t f c y g v u h b i j n o k m

  • OCTOPUS: EVALUATING TOUCHSCREEN KEYBOARD CORRECTION AND RECOGNITION ALGORITHMS VIA “REMULATION” p l

q w a e s z r d x t f c y g v u h b i j n o k m

  • OCTOPUS: EVALUATING TOUCHSCREEN KEYBOARD CORRECTION AND RECOGNITION ALGORITHMS VIA “REMULATION” p l

“Visually augmented progress bars could be used to make processes appear 11% faster, when in reality, their duration remains unchanged.” FASTER PROGRESS BARS: MANIPULATING PERCEIVED DURATION WITH VISUAL AUGMENTATIONS. HARRISON, C., YEO, Z., AND HUDSON, S. E. 2010. CHI ‘10. ACM, NEW YORK, NY. 1545-1548. z

Use illusion to to draw attention to or away from something.

  1. Persuasion

Forcing

HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=0ML15LQCFUE

ALTHOUGH THE MAGICIAN COULD INFLUENCE THE CHOICE ALMOST EVERY TIME (98%), RELATIVELY FEW (9%) NOTICED THIS INFLUENCE. HTTP://WWW.SCIENCEDIRECT.COM/SCIENCE/ARTICLE/PII/S1053810015000057

So … how do we use persuasion?

HTTP://WWW.NYTIMES.COM/2012/08/19/OPINION/SUNDAY/WHY-WAITING-IN-LINE-IS-TORTURE.HTML

HTTP://WWW.INTERNETRETAILER.COM/2011/01/05/ORIENTALFURNITURECOM-DRIVES-CONVERSION-76-SECURITY

HTTP://WWW.INDEPENDENT.CO.UK/NEWS/UK/POLITICS/HOW-ORGAN-DONATION-IS-GETTING-NUDGE-IN-THE-RIGHT-DIRECTION-TRIAL-COULD-PAVE-WAYFOR-100000-EXTRA-9023349.HTML

“IF YOU NEEDED AN ORGAN TRANSPLANT, WOULD YOU HAVE ONE? IF SO, PLEASE HELP OTHERS.” HTTP://WWW.INDEPENDENT.CO.UK/NEWS/UK/POLITICS/HOW-ORGAN-DONATION-IS-GETTING-NUDGE-IN-THE-RIGHT-DIRECTION-TRIAL-COULD-PAVE-WAYFOR-100000-EXTRA-9023349.HTML

the irresistible HTTP://UNBOUNCE.COM/CONVERSION-RATE-OPTIMIZATION/MADE-UP-PRODUCT-INCREASED-CONVERSIONS/

the irresistible HTTP://UNBOUNCE.COM/CONVERSION-RATE-OPTIMIZATION/MADE-UP-PRODUCT-INCREASED-CONVERSIONS/

Product line-up BGNM-2250 BGN BGN3

Use spacial, visual & social persuasion to guide people to better choices.

  1. Misdirection

HTTP://VIMEO.COM/3881185

Let’s look again without misdirection

HTTP://VIMEO.COM/3881082

With misdirection Without misdirection KUHN, GUSTAV, TATLER, BENJAMIN W. AND COLE, GEOFF G.(2009)’YOU LOOK WHERE I LOOK! EFFECT OF GAZE CUES ON OVERT AND COVERT ATTENTION IN MISDIRECTION’,VISUAL COGNITION,17:6,925 — 944

Obvious misdirection

What you saw happen A B C D

What you guess happened X A B C D

What actually happened X A B C D

INSTAGRAM STARTS UPLOAD HERE MOST APPS START UPLOAD HERE

15 min wait z

1 min walk 7 min wait z

“Often the psychology of queuing is more important than the statistics of the wait itself.” — Richard Larson, M.I.T. z

When you have limitations you can’t get around, use misdirection to improve the user experience

  1. Deception

BEYOND THE PIXEL HTTP://MASHABLE.COM/2015/03/28/MICHAEL-JACKSON-SHOE-PATENT/#M9A3CLYVKMQO

HTTP://MASHABLE.COM/2015/03/28/MICHAEL-JACKSON-SHOE-PATENT/#M9A3CLYVKMQO

HTTP://MASHABLE.COM/2015/03/28/MICHAEL-JACKSON-SHOE-PATENT/#M9A3CLYVKMQO

Conditioned responses “Post Hoc fallacy”

HTTP://UXMOVEMENT.COM/BUTTONS/HOW-TO-MAKE-PROGRESS-BARS-FEEL-FASTER-TO-USERS/

HTTP://UXMOVEMENT.COM/BUTTONS/HOW-TO-MAKE-PROGRESS-BARS-FEEL-FASTER-TO-USERS/

HTTP://UXMOVEMENT.COM/BUTTONS/HOW-TO-MAKE-PROGRESS-BARS-FEEL-FASTER-TO-USERS/

the reverse

Trick users, when it benefits them.

Deception can be sneaky

HTTP://MERCURY.IO/THE-PSYCHOLOGY-OF-WAITING-LOADING-ANIMATIONS-AND-FACEBOOK/

HTTPS://DARKPATTERNS.ORG/

HTTPS://DARKPATTERNS.ORG/

HTTPS://DARKPATTERNS.ORG/

HTTPS://DARKPATTERNS.ORG/

HTTP://WWW.BBC.COM/NEWS/MAGAZINE-35091242

So, what can we take from this?

How do people interpret the world around them?

We can learn a lot from other fields

“Sometimes magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect” — Penn & Teller

Thank you KEVIN CANNON @MULTIKEV