Yesterday we had the fourth Masterclass of this edition, held by Lauren Kelly, designer, educator, science wrangler, and toolmaker at Behaviour Studio. Thanks to Lauren, we faced the topic of behavioural science applied to design and behavioural design.
Influence, shift, nudge, motivate, persuade, change… the words of design but the knowledge of behavioural science. Behavioural science is the study of what people do, think, feel, and why, and it's merging with design to give birth to a new lens, approach, and methods for solving problems. Behavioural design is a very hot topic nowadays and is being used to think differently about the smallest interactions and the biggest challenges of the modern age. As Lauren said, the science of behaviour change is as crucial as hard to understand and hard to use. That's why it is needed a step-by-step approach to delve deep into the topic to grasp the most important pieces of knowledge, both theoretical and practical. In this Masterclass, we explored how the science of behaviour is applied to design, starting by exploring the process end to end to discover how and when behavioural science is most useful to service design. Then we zoomed in and focused on key and specific areas to understand people and problems through a behavioural lens.
The incipit of the lecture has been: How might we evolve behaviour change for use in service design? Well, here come the previously mentioned steps: audit, synthesize, and apply.
- Audit behaviour change models frequently used in behavioural design;
- Synthesise key models into a synthesis model,
- Apply the synthesis model to each phase of service design.
This path clarifies a key concept: behaviour change is no longer just an outcome of service design, it is a tool within service design.
After the introduction, the lecture has been divided into three main parts, following the path of audit, synthesis, and application. The first part was an overview of some theories and methods framed into the three levels "me, we, oversee" mindset scale. The second part showed the Drive Grid as a synthesis model that applies to all three levels. The third part was about how we can use the Drive Grid to enhance service design at each stage: discover, define, develop, deliver, and scale. Moreover, participants had two 20-minutes individual exercises to hands-on practice with the application of the shown theory. After the lecture, they walked away with some valuable takeaways about how behaviour mindsets can guide design, what the key scientific theories tell us about people's behaviour, and when to apply behavioural science for impactful service design, as well as why behaviour thinking is needed to design services that change behaviour and where to look for more information and resources.
Thanks again to Lauren Kelly for her powerful lecture and to all the audience for participating. Next Thursday, March 17, there will be the last Masterclass of this edition, held by Giulio Quaggiotto from UNDP. Apply and join the discussion!
