Stroking your customer’s brains: part 1/2 – Perception in design

In part 1 of 2 from this April 2013 Bunnytalk (our regular monthly presentations hosted in London), Bunnyfoot CEO Dr Jon Dodd takes you through the science behind how designers of sites and services can unleash the power of influence over customers and their decision making.

The full talk ‘Stroking your customer’s brains’ covers:

  • How your customers really think
  • How you can influence what they perceive
  • How you can make sure that you tickle their fancies and make sure they do what you want them to do
  • How you can influence their decisions without them knowing, but still have them feel good (or even great) about transacting with you

This first part of the talk focuses on the importance perception plays in design and how it can influence the message you are sending to your customers.

Key take homes from the talk:

  1. Use the known rules of perception (e.g. gestalt laws, known rules and organisation of the visual system, pre-attentive triggers) to design with intent
  2. Make sure you test your designs with people to find out what they perceive (and improve them based on evidence)
  3. Don’t annoy or abuse your designers or they may use their knowledge of perception to hide unexpected messages in your designs.

Part 2 of this talk: “Persuasion in Design” will be published on 06/06/2013

See also: