Seductive Interaction Design: Creating Playful, Fun, and Effective User Experiences

by Stephen Anderson

Overview

What happens when you’ve built a great website or app, but no one seems to care? How do you get people to stick around long enough to see how your service might be of value? In Seductive Interaction Design, speaker and author Stephen P. Anderson takes a fresh approach to designing sites and interactions based on the stages of seduction. This beautifully designed book examines what motivates people to act.

Topics include:

• AESTHETICS, BEAUTY, AND BEHAVIOR: Why do striking visuals grab our attention? And how do emotions affect judgment and behavior?
  

• PLAYFUL SEDUCTION: How do you create playful engagements during the moment? Why are serendipity, arousal, rewards, and other delights critical to a good experience?
  

• THE SUBTLE ART OF SEDUCTION: How do you put people at ease through clear and suggestive language? What are some subtle ways to influence behavior and get people to move from intent to action?
  

• THE GAME OF SEDUCTION: How do you continue motivating people long after the first encounter? Are there lessons to be gained from learning theories or game design?
  

Principles from psychology are found throughout the book, along with dozens of examples showing how these techniques have been applied with great success. In addition, each section includes interviews with influential web and interaction designers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780132118637
Publisher:	Pearson Education
Publication date:	06/13/2011
Series:	Voices That Matter
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	12 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Stephen P. Anderson is an internationally recognized speaker and consultant based in Dallas, Texas. He created the Mental Notes card deck, a tool that's widely used by product teams to apply psychology to interaction design. Prior to venturing out on his own, Stephen spent more than a decade building and leading teams of information architects, interaction designers, and UI developers. He's designed web applications for technology startups as well as corporate clients like Nokia, Frito-Lay, Sabre Travel Network, and Chesapeake Energy. Between public speaking and project work, Stephen offers workshops and training to help organizations manage creative teams, make use of visual thinking, and design better customer experiences.

Table of Contents

Prologue .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . xi
1 Why Seductive Interactions?  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
     LinkedIn and Profile Completeness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
     Why seduction?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
     The iLike story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
     Beyond usability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
     It’s all about experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

SECTION ONE
Aesthetics, Beauty, and Behavior

2 Why Aesthetics? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
     What’s the connection? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
     Why aesthetics?  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

3 Are You Easily Understood? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
     Gestalt Psychology and a drinking game . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

4 Are You Attractive? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
     You remind me of… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
     Can you trust me on this?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
     Perceptions of time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
     Put it all together. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
     “Attractive things work better” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
     Stitching it all together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

5 Who Do You Remind People Of? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
     Aesthetics, associations, and Apple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
     Advertising and coded iconic messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
     Positive and Negative associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
     Language and associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
     Applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

6 When Aesthetics Aren’t Attractive . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
     Curious implication 1: The good, the bad, and the ugly. . . . . 43
     Curious implication 2: When utility is beautiful. . . . . . . . . 44
     Curious implication 3: Context and character . . . . . . . . . . 45
     Curious implication 4: Is beauty subjective? . . . . . . . . . . . 45
     Closing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

7 The Power of Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
     Leaving your friends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
     Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

SECTION TWO
Playful Seduction

8 Are You Fun To Be Around? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
     Use humor, when appropriate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
     A Case for Humor: MailChimp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
     Why bother making someone smile? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

9 Are You Unpredictable?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
     Mixing surprise with rewards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
     Delighters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
     My personal annual travel report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

10 Are You Stimulating? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75
     Will the real Dopplr logo please stand up? . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

11 Are You Mysterious?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79
     Curious marketing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
     Venturing into the unknown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
     The information gap theory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
     Business application? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
     Specific motivation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
     Now what? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

12 Can People Express Themselves Around You?. . . . . . .87

SECTION THREE
The Subtle Art of Seduction

13 Small First Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93
     Shaping the path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
     Making a commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
     Sharing places . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
     Picking up items placed on hold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
     Completing a travel booking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
     Endowed progress effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
     Sequencing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100
     Shaping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102

14 Coming on Too Strong (and how not to!). . . . . . . . .105
     Fewer options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105
     Less text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107
     Fun distractions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108
     Creating the illusion of less by hiding information . . . . . . .110
     Hacking the visual system to make things simpler . . . . . . .111
     Less to think about  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112

15 Attracting Attention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
     Contrast and characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116
     Shh! We’re hoping no one notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117
     Did you see that?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118

16 The Path of Least Resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
     Default options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119
     The power of suggestion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120
     Convenience and personalized recommendations. . . . . . . .122
     Afraid to Let Go . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126

17 The Influence of Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
     Framing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131
     Anchoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133
     Let’s get personal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .134
     Clear language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136

18 An Eye for Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
     Step one: Role-play the interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137
     Step two: Script the narrative experience . . . . . . . . . . . .140
     Step three: Break down compound requests into 
     simple next steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140
     Step four: Minimize choices (at each moment in time). . . . .141
     Step five: Look for micromoments  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142
     Step six: Choose clicks over characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142

SECTION FOUR
The Game of Seduction

19 Real World Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
     Games are first and foremost about fun . . . . . . . . . . . . .149
     The Elements of Game Design  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153

20 A Challenge Worth Pursuing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
     Back to the classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .155
     A Real Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161
     A quick note on status. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163
     Challenges vs. goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165
     Closing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .167

21 Making Things Difficult . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
     Playing hard to get. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169
     Using scarcity in commerce. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170
     Using scarcity to increase quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170
     Using scarcity to encourage participation . . . . . . . . . . . .172
     Why scarcity works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173
     Other forms of scarcity: Limited duration . . . . . . . . . . . .174
     Limited access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175
     Other forms of scarcity: Limited choice and calculations . . .176

22 How Are We Doing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
     Unintended side effects of hypermiling  . . . . . . . . . . . . .181
     A little perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .182
     Serious games. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .183
     Making a game out of e-mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .183
     Closing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .187

23 What’s the Prize?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189
     Why do game mechanics work? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .190
     Performance goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .191
     Are you offering your users any performance goals? . . . . . .192
     The fun layer: Narrative, story, aesthetics . . . . . . . . . . . .196
     Closing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197

24 Let’s Get Serious . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .199
     The Kano model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

25 Only the Beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
     The Rider and the Elephant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .205
     The Behavior Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .206
     A sense of purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211
     One thing everyone is doing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211
     “Show me the money!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .214
     Who’s on your site?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .214
     Final Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .215

Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .217