100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People (Voices That Matter)

You can get this extra motivation even with the illusion of progress, as in the coffee card B example in this section. There really isn’t any progress (you still have to buy 10 coffees), but it seems like there has been some progress so it has the same effect.

The easier you make it for people to find information, the more information-seeking behavior they will engage in.

The shorter the distance to the goal, the more motivated people are to reach it. People are even more motivated when the end is in sight.

Think about what you may need to do with your design based on the four quadrants of the signal detection chart. If a false alarm is worse, then tone down the signal. If a miss is worse, then make the signal stronger.

You’re most at risk of losing your customer right after a reward is reached.

Pairing cues such as sounds with the arrival of information motivates people to seek more.

People will tell you they can multitask but they actually can’t.

If you use sounds to get attention, then consider changing them so that people will not habituate and the sounds will continue to be attention-getting.

Use images of up-close faces.