March 16, 2021

Universal Definition of Design 2

In the previous post, I proposed the Universal Definition of Design as the management of human attention. I now think that we could take this definition even further and introduce "human behaviour" in the mix.

Having worked as a product designer in the product growth department at Sweatcoin, I have conducted multiple experiments together with my teammates, where we aimed to move the needle on our department's Northstar metric — share of users who invite at least one friend. To do so, we came up with a bunch of ideas every week, selecting one of those to be designed, produced and tested quantitatively with a test group of users. Whilst, expectedly, a bunch of tests showed zero change of the Northstar metric, a few of those actually delivered sizeable results. What could those metric increases be attributed to? Well, design of the product's features.

By changing the flow of messages, elements on the screens and screens themselves (together meaning "redesign"), we were able to get people to make slightly different choices that led to more of those users invite their friends. It therefore occurred to me that product design is about nudging different human behaviours, towards actions that would be useful for the business, but also those that people wouldn't mind conducting too, of course. But surely this not only applies to the design of an app, but also to a design of a chair? The way the designer shaped it stipulates the way the person buying that chair would interact with it, where they would place it and on what occasions will they use it. Same goes for poster, book and any other design, really. As a result, I propose a revised universal definition of design:

Design is the management of customer's behaviour