Engaged (Copy) — Sarah Delaney

At the conclusion of our behavioral design workshop in December, participants penned how, now, they thought about behavioral design. Some participants sketched anecdotes from behavioral science examples — such as a sketch of a desire path — others drew a brain or decision action maps. The exercise promoted me to ask myself same question — how would I illustrate behavioral design? At the moment, the other facilitators and I played around with a type of behavioral design cartoon-meets-mascot concept, which resembled a brain and was inspired by a prototyping exercise. Months later, reading Engaged by Dr. Amy Bucher, I was reminded of this exercise. Each chapter emphasizes skills and approaches of a behavioral designer. As I was reading, I found myself sketching various dimensions of the multifaceted behavioral designer alongside my notes and takeaways from each chapter.

Curators facilitate good decision-making through design.

Detectives uncover and [behaviorally] diagnose what’s happening, and how.

Cheerleaders motivate growth. Cheerleaders know that individuals understand themselves through feedback and focus feedback on behaviors that are critical to outcomes.

Matchmakers connect individuals with support, to increase motivation for sticking with a desired behavior.

Ecosystems thinkers consider broad [and potential] effects of the product.

Mirrors reflect something essential about the individual back to them, honoring something unique about the individual.

Trustworthy designers give individuals control and only collect essential information. Trustworthy designers are honest and understand that trust is an ongoing conversation over the course of an interaction.

Wizards predict future behaviors based on how individuals acted in the past, rather than relying on individuals’ predictions of their own future behavior(s). A wizard designs for our future selves.