This deck is from the Designing for the Mind panel at SXSW 2015, organized by Roger Dooley, author of Brainfluence. Other panelists are Nathalie Nahai and Nir Eyal. It is a very brief introduction to why taking the way the human brain works is important for designers, followed by one example. The example is how what psychologists call "cognitive fluency" can cause friction in surprising and apparently illogical ways. Choosing the wrong type font can make an action seem more difficult, and the way images are placed can affect credibility.

1. Nathalie Nahai
Nir Eyal
Roger Dooley
#DesignMind
Designing for
the Mind

2. Nathalie Nahai
@nathalienahai
TheWebPsychologist.com

3. Nir Eyal
@nireyal
nirandfar.com

4. Roger Dooley
rogerdooley.com
@rogerdooley

5. #sxsw #DesignMind
@rogerdooley
@nathalienahai
@nireyal

8. Daniel Kahneman Ronald Coase

9. Daniel Kahneman
System 1 System 2

10. Right/Left Brain?
Emotion
Art
Non-conscious
Creativity

11. Right/Left Brain?
Speech
Logic
Conscious
Math

12. Reality: It’s Complicated

15. 5% Conscious

16. 95% Non-conscious

17. How much of the brain are you
designing for?
#DesignMind #sxsw @rogerdooley

18. Friction

19. Ronald Coase
Friction =
The time, money, and
effort lost in getting
what you want.

20. Difficulty:
Real and
Perceived
#DesignMind #sxsw @rogerdooley

21. Real Friction
Form Fields
Steps in Checkout Process
Instructions
“What am I supposed to do?”
ANYTHING in Conversion Sequence

22. High
Friction

23. High
Friction

24. $4,000,000,000,000.
2015 Est. – Business Insider
#DesignMind #sxsw @rogerdooley

25. Near-Zero
Friction

26. Security Friction

27. “Imaginary” Friction
&
Cognitive Fluency
#DesignMind #sxsw @rogerdooley

28. Difficulty Cooties
Design &
Naming
Choices
Your App,
Order
Process,
etc.
#DesignMind #sxsw @rogerdooley

29. Difficult = Risky
“Magnalroxate” “Hnegripitrom”
Safer è è è More Dangerous

30. Difficult = Risky
“Chunta” “Vaiveahtoishi”
Safer è è è More Dangerous

31. Easy = True

32. Fluency & Image Placement
Go with the flow!
ñ
ñ
ñ
ñ

33. Image Placement
More Fluent & Believable Less Fluent & Believable

34. Fluency &
Design Choices

35. Confession Site
I believe God is on IRC and that I have found
him. Sometimes I sympathize with other
prophets of the past because no one believe
me and I fear it will soon be too late to save
mankind.

36. Confession Site
I believe God is on IRC and that I have found
him. Sometimes I sympathize with other
prophets of the past because no one believe
me and I fear it will soon be too late to save
mankind.

37. More “fluent” site =
More revealing posts
Drunk Tank Pink, Alter

38. 17%
couldn’t
decide.

39. 40%
couldn’t
decide.
#DesignMind #sxsw @rogerdooley

43. Minimize perceived friction
with simple fonts, short text,
& easy-to-read design.
#DesignMind #sxsw @rogerdooley

44. If you remember
just one thing …

45. Change is constant and
accelerating…

46. Communication
50Years

47. Media
50Years

48. Mobile!
Big Data!
Social
Media!

49. Our Brains
NO Change in 50,000Years!

50. Design for the way
your customer’s
brain really works!
#DesignMind #sxsw @rogerdooley

51. Designing for the Mind
Roger Dooley
rogerdooley.com
rogerd@dooleydirect.com
@rogerdooley

52. Nathalie Nahai
Nir Eyal
Roger Dooley
Designing for
the Mind