As complex concepts are simplified, as is the easy of which they can be administered. By creating the Persuasive Pattern card deck, accessibility to complex psychological concepts was improved - but the tools comes with a warning: it can force a simplified and deterministic view of the world, where designers only look at cause-and-effect. We can’t expect the user to take the path we have selected for them. We can’t reduce the world into being that simple. A more holistic view of the world is needed. As we add persuasive ingredients and persuasion paths to our user experience, we also add to the complexity of the experience, making it increasingly harder for us as designers to administer. At some point, adding more persuasive ingredients will stop adding to the effectiveness of the user experience and later even break it. Stop forcing users through forced and tunnelled workflows with no room for escape. Allow them to jump in hierarchy by skipping a step or leaving the experience only to come back at another stage. Don’t force untimely education and introduction, but let users out on deep waters with just enough practice and guidance to survive. Support practice and let users learn through trial and error. Replace hierarchy with purpose. Stop trying to tame the user experience. Set your user experience free!

1. ui-patterns.com - info@ui-patterns.com - @uipatternscom
Anders Toxboe
Set your user
experience free
with

2. Nudge people
towards completion
Assist in developing
new skills
Assist in establishing
(or ending) habits
Communicate
more precisely
Establish a nuanced
understanding of the
human mind, so that
we can…
Help users make
decisions
Persuasive Design is great! It has helped me and my teams build better interfaces and user experiences. By applying psychology, we’ve helped establish a more nuanced
understanding of the human mind, so that we can communicate more precisely, aid users in making decisions, nudge users toward completion of their goal, assist them in
developing new skills, helped them end and begin new habits… but lately, we’ve also used persuasive design to…

3. Getting out of the way
… to get out of the way.
That’s what I’m going to talk about today…
… getting out of the way.

4. The Persuasive Pattern card deck is great!

5. But they come with a danger. They’re powerful! They work!
The Persuasive Patterns card deck is 54 complex psychological concepts distilled into easily digestible bits. Complex concepts are simplified and if you don’t take care, so
will your product experience be.

6. Cause and effect
As complex concepts are simplified, as is the easy of which they can be administered.
The improved accessibility to complex psychological concepts can force a simplified and deterministic view of the world, where designers only look at cause-and-effect.

7. Source: Dan Lockton
As designers we end up designing pinball machines (credit: Dan Lockton), viewing users as dumb pinballs to be pushed around on our command.

8. A B
As designers we end up focusing merely on moving users from A to B.

9. In the real world, it would be the same as constructing gates and tunnels for users to go through…

10. But in reality, users will take the route that makes sense to them.
The world is more complex. We can’t expect users to take our predetermined path from A to B.
User behaviours can’t be analysed in isolation, but should be seen as interconnected with the rest of the world.

11. A
C
B
So instead of only focusing on moving users from A to B, we should embrace the complexity of the full experience.
Users may take many paths to achieve a goal and have many reasons for their actions.
They might not the path you had predetermined. They might even leave your site. They may even reach C before they end up at B.

12. A
C
B
Paths hide complexity and can end up forcing a deterministic and simplistic view of the user (and the world they live in).
We can’t expect the user to take the path we have selected for them. We can’t reduce the world into being that simple.
A more holistic view of the world is needed.

13. Reductionistic Holistic
Cause > and > effect
Short time spans
Predictable outcomes
Shape behaviour
Single root cause
Leading through tunnels
Feedback loops
Full of delays
Unknown outcomes
Create engagement
Systemic issue
Room for escape
User actions can’t be explained by a single root cause and behaviour doesn’t always happen in a direct cause-and-effect loop. The real world is full of delays and isn’t limited to short time spans only. We can’t
predict outcomes, so let’s embrace the unknown. We can’t shape behavior, but we can create engagement toward a goal. We can lead users through tunnels, but we should always allow room for escape.

14. Embracing the full journey
is not a new thought…
So let’s embrace a more holistic view of the world - the full product experience and user journey. This is not a new thought… Several smart and clever people have
suggested mental models, that make room for ongoing engagement and the the evolvement of users over time.

15. Customer Journey Maps.

16. The hook canvas
Nir Eyal (2014)
Action
Variable RewardInvestment
Trigger
1. Internal trigger
What does the user really
want?
2. External trigger
What gets the user to the
product? 3. What is the simplest
behaviour in anticipation
of reward?
4. Is the reward fulfilling, yet
leaves the user wanting
more?
5. What is the ‘bit of work’
done to increase the
likelihood of returning?
Nir Eval has created the Hooked model where he explains how combining triggers and variable reward can help create habit loops where users repeatedly set themselves
up for continued behavior. Where users must invest themselves to keep the loop going.

17. Nathalie Nahai (2015)
Endowed progress
Customer is helped to begin
Consistency
Initial intention
fules desire to
complete
Sunk-cost fallacy
Encourages further investment
Appointment
dynamic
Habitual use is
reinforced
Appointment dynamic
Nathalie Nahai explains how multiple persuasive patterns form the recipes of appointment dynamics that can help reinforce habitual use.

18. Nathalie Nahai (2015)
Endowed progress
Customer is helped to begin
Consistency
Initial intention
fules desire to
complete
Sunk-cost fallacy
Encourages further investment
Appointment
dynamic
Habitual use is
reinforced
Appointment dynamic

19. The player journey
Onboarding
Newbie
Regular
Habit-Building
Enthusiast
Mastery
Amy Jo Kim: The player Journey (2010)
Amy Jo Kim explains how the Player Journey can help “dole out just the right amount of challenge and learning” to keep the player engaged and on the edge of her ability
as users progress from newbies to regulars to enthusiasts.

20. Anxiety
Boredom
The flow channel
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow (1994)
Flow
channel
Difficultyofchallenge
Ability
Raise skills
Look for
greater
challenge
Effectively keeping users in the Flow Channel as described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - constructing appropriate challenges looping into each other

21. Designed to lead
people along, for
better or worse
Path
Platform Designed to let
people explore
These are all great. But they’re all paths!
Designed to lead people along for better or worse.

22. Designed to lead
people along, for
better or worse
Path
Platform Designed to let
people explore Let the user
determine own
purpose
Stephen Anderson: From paths to sandboxes (2014)
So Stephen Andersson suggests to go beyond designing paths and instead focus on designing platforms - like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. He suggests crafting user
experiences so underspecified, that users themselves have to make up their own purpose and intent.

23. Designed to let
people explore
That’s great if the purpose of your design is about exploration. But what if our user experience isn’t about exploration? What if we do as designers and as a business wan
to design with purpose and intent?

24. The real problem
instead of helping users on their own terms
We’re helping ourselves
Then the real problem is that we’re focusing on helping ourselves rather than helping users on their own terms.

25. Effectivenessofuser
experience
# of persuasive
ingredients
Optimal complexity
As we add persuasive ingredients and persuasion paths to our user experience, we also add to the complexity of the experience, making it increasingly harder for us as
designers to adminsiter. At some point, adding more persuasive ingredients will stop adding to the effectiveness of the user experience and later even break it.

26. The design structures you have
in place either push users toward
their goal or keep them from it
Lesson from persuasive design:
But what I have learned from my endeavours into persuasive design is that the design structures we put in place either push users toward their goal or keep them from it.

27. Design either enables or disables
Enforce the enablers
and reduce the
disablers
their goal or keep them from it
Enforce desired
behavior and reduce
undesired behaviour
No matter what design decision you make, big or small, it will impact the structure of your overall design and thus impact user journeys. The right structures enable users
and the wrong structures disable users.

28. Enablers
Disablers
A B
So instead of expecting users to take the exact path we have selected for them, accommodate for the fact that they might leave you and might choose another path than
you had selected for them. Instead, examine how you can enforce the enablers and reduce the disablers.

29. Enablers
Disablers
A B
In that way, we can try to engage users and make it as easy for them to reach the goal we had intended for them earlier, allowing them to skip a step and escaping the
experience, only to continue at another place.

30. Enablers Disablers
High autonomy
Jumping in hierarchy
Allowing escape
Just-in-time learning
Supporting practice
Complexity
Forced hierarchy
Forced workflows
Interruptive learning
Restricting play
Instead of looking only at concrete usability flaws as disablers, let’s consider complexity our enemy. Stop forcing users through forced and tunnelled workflows with no
room for escape. Allow them to jump in hierarchy by skipping a step or leaving the experience only to come back at another stage. Don’t force untimely education and
introduction, but let users out on deep waters with just enough practice and guidance to survive. Support practice and let users learn through trial and error.

31. Replace hierarchy with purpose
Don’t expect users to take the path you’ve intended for them. Make it easy to jump in and out of journey and skipping steps on the way.
Users take the journey that feels right to their current state of mind

32. Stop trying to
tame the user experience

33. Set your user experience free!

34. Get your Persuasive
Pattern card deck at
shop.ui-patterns.com