RESEARCH - Design Psychology Background

This project Vertical Village will require a complete visual and functional design of the product. I think it is important to first analyse the impacts of design in terms of psychology and how it affects user experience, thus impacting on the success of a product. Below is a summary of what I have found:

BIBLIOGRAPHY AT END

“To be a good designer in today’s society, you need to have an understanding of psychology, human behaviour, and the little shortcuts, the little quirks, in the way people operate,” he says. “Then you can use them to make it easier for people to engage with your products.” (Stephen P Anderson)

1. How does design impact on us psychologically?

GESTALT Theories show that people tend to visually group or organise design elements. The brain organises information into simple, regular and symmetrical catagories. (Richardson, 2015)

2. Does applying pyschological design principles work?

Ed Woodcock, director of strategy at branding agency Aesop, believes that designers might not always be aware of using psychological principles. “It does happen that someone takes psychological theory and applies it to creativity in some way, but it’s more likely that someone creative intuits what’s a truthful way of perceiving and sensing things. And that’s then reflected in their work and gets picked up by psychologists,” he explains. (Woodcock, cited in: Richardson, 2015)

Paul Davies, who was a psychologist before becoming a designer, runs psychology-led design consultancy Behaviour, also believes that an understanding of behaviour can make design more effective. “Psychology has a huge impact,” he argues. “Unlike artists, designers have to make something for effect; an artist can start a project without a brief, but a designer has to have a purpose and they have to do that for a particular audience.” (Davis, cited in: Richardson, 2015)

Visual Pyschology in action

BASED ON GESTALT THEORIES (Cao, G (2015)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cao, Gerry. (2015). Gestalt Principles for Designers. Available: http://blog.teamtreehouse.com/gestalt-principles-designers-applying-visual-psychology-modern-day-design. Last accessed Feb, 2015.

Richardson, Anna . (2015). The Psychology of Design Explained.Available: http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/features/graphic-design/psychology-of-design-explained/. Last accessed Feb 2015.

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