The document discusses how trust has eroded in today's world due to inconsistent information, confirmation bias, and prioritizing feelings over facts. It argues that building trust requires showing consistency internally and externally, empowering users through an appropriate voice and transparency, and bringing people outside their "bubbles" to have discussions across differences. Designing experiences that are slow and encourage deliberation, as well as showing appropriate volume and vulnerability, can help people develop confidence and rebuild trust over time.

1. DESIGNING FOR TRUST
IN AN UNCERTAIN WORLD
Margot Bloomstein / @mbloomstein
An Event Apart Seattle #aeasea
March 4, 2019

2. What do we look for in magic mirrors?
©Cayuga Productions and CBS

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We look to see ourselves.
We look to see the truth.
We hope the images coincide.
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Internal truths trump external facts

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This is our problem now.
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6. Rudy Giuliani, August 15, 2016, Youngstown Ohio Trump Foreign Policy Speech

7. ©Scott Olson Getty Images; from Fox Business with Neil Cavuto interview

8. ©Scott Olson Getty Images; from Fox Business with Neil Cavuto interview

9. ©Scott Olson Getty Images; from Fox Business with Neil Cavuto interview

10. ©Scott Olson Getty Images; excerpt from August 15, 2016 foreign policy speech

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©Sam Morrison / www.presidentflopflops.com

13. Inconsistency erodes our ability to evaluate and trust.
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14. Insert gut check cycle image
Coached skepticism, false equivalency, rampant air quotes
©Fox News

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Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, Blur: How to Know What’s True in the Age of Information Overload. Bloomsbury, New York, 2010, p. 45

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Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, Blur: How to Know What’s True in the Age of Information Overload. Bloomsbury, New York, 2010, p. 47

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Do we get comfortable in our faith,
or confidently test our beliefs through education?
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expertise

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expertise → homophily

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expertise → homophily → narcissism

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63% of the general population finds it difficult
to differentiate between real and fake news.
Source: 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer

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Only 48% of Americans say they believe
climate change is mostly due to human
activity.
Source: Pew Research Center “The Politics of Climate”

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Only 40% of Americans say they have
a “great deal of confidence” in science.
Source: AP-NORC Center study Confidence in Institutions: Trends in Americans’Attitudes toward Government, Media, and Business

24. (cc) xkcd, riffing on xkcd.com/208

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Inconsistency undermines trust—
externally and internally.

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Does this information align
with my viewpoint?

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Do I feel good about
this brand?

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Does this brand make me
feel good about myself?

29. ValidationDeliberation
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30. Courage in our
convictions
Belief
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31. Courage in our
convictions
Belief
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32. “Feels right” empirical fact
>
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©Jana Birchum for The Austin Chronicle; from March 12, 2017 panel Good Night and Good Luck: Media in Election Years at SXSW

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How we form our beliefs affects our reality
more than what we already believe
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Cultural predisposition > confirmation bias
Vaccine hesitancy study source: Smith, David, Katie Attwell, and Paul Ward. “The Unhealthy Other”: How Vaccine Rejecting Parents
Construct the Vaccinating Mainstream, Vaccine Volume 36, Issue 12, March 14, 2018, p. 1621 – 1626.
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Empowerment reflects and rebuilds trust

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Voice
Volume
Vulnerability

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Voice

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Voice
Volume

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Users can appreciate slow experiences.
they’re engaged,
anticipating,
creating memories.

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Courage in our
convictions
Empirical
proof
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50. ©Yunghi Kim, Contact Press

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Voice
Volume
Vulnerability

52. COOK’S ILLUSTRATED EXAMPLE

54. COOK’S ILLUSTRATED EXAMPLE

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COOK’S ILLUSTRATED EXAMPLE

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COOK’S ILLUSTRATED EXAMPLE

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ADD OUTSIDE YOUR BUBBLE

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A consistent and accessible voice,
appropriate volume for the context, and
humanizing vulnerability together
empower users to build their confidence—
and regain their trust.

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Do we live in a post-fact era?

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Do we live in a post-fact era?
When was the fact era?

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©CBS

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Design won’t save the world—
but it may make it more worth saving.

63. Margot Bloomstein
@mbloomstein
margot@appropriateinc.com
All this and more: slideshare.com/mbloomstein
→ TRUSTWORTHY BOOK COMING SOON 
THANK YOU