Course · Design Psychology
Shaping how people perceive
0.1 / What it's about
Design psychology investigates the impact of design.
Design psychology explores how people perceive, understand, evaluate, and use designed things, and conversely, how design influences emotions, decisions, and behaviour. It combines insights from perceptual psychology, cognitive psychology, emotion research, and behavioural economics with design practice.
Key questions of the course:
QUESTION 1
What does a person see first, and why?
QUESTION 2
How does someone understand what an object or a surface can do?
QUESTION 3
How do feelings and judgements such as 'trustworthy' or 'high quality' arise?
QUESTION 4
Where does meaningful leadership end and manipulation begin?
Course framework:
TARGET AUDIENCE
Creators
Learners in graphic, media, web or UX design, with no prior knowledge of psychology.
SCOPE
8 × 90 mins
Approximately 12 hours in total; each module can also be used individually.
Format
Input & Practice
Short input, practical examples, hands-on exercise, reflection.
DESTINATION
Justify
Make informed design decisions based on rationale rather than mere personal taste.
0.2 / Learning Objectives
After the course, you will be able to justify design decisions instead of just guessing.
After the course, you will be able to:
01
identify key principles of perception and memory and apply them to design examples
02
Justifying design decisions (layout, colour, typography, interaction) using psychology
03
Analyse and improve designs based on established criteria
04
use psychological effects in a targeted and ethically considered manner
05
Test assumptions about users with simple methods, rather than just guessing
0.3 / Course content
All modules and sections at a glance.
Eight modules, each with a core question. Click on a module to open it, or jump straight to a section.
MODULE 01
Why psychology in design?
MODULE 02
How does the eye organise the world?
MODULE 03
Where do people look first?
MODULE 04
How do colours and fonts work?
MODULE 05
How much can humans process?
MODULE 06
Why does design feel good?
MODULE 07
How does design influence actions?
MODULE 08
How do we design responsibly?
0.4 / Didactic building blocks per module
Each module follows the same structure.
The rhythm stays the same, the content changes. That way, you always know where you stand:
01
Introduction (10 mins)
Provocative question or example (‘Why does almost everyone click the green button?’)
02
Input (25 mins)
Concepts with examples, concise and visual
03
Exercise (35 mins)
Practical application individually or in groups
04
Evaluation (15 mins)
Compare results, discuss reasoning
05
Transfer (5 mins)
A question or task for everyday life or your own project
In each section, you will find a yellow lightning button with a simple key takeaway and a blue button with a short practical task.
0.5 / Certificate of achievement
In the end, there is a redesign with a justification.
Final Project: Redesign with Psychological Rationale
01
Selection
Choose an existing design: website, app, packaging or poster.
02
Analysis
Examine the design using at least four lenses from the analysis toolkit.
03
Draft
Revise and justify each change: ‘I changed X because principle Y suggests that …’
04
Review
Test the solution using at least one simple method, e.g. five short test interviews.
05
Reflection
Where might the solution affect users, and is this justifiable?
Evaluation criteria: understanding of the concepts, quality of justification, design quality, methodological rigor, reflection
0.6 / Literature and Sources
Good arguments cite their sources.
• Norman, D. (2013): The Design of Everyday Things
• Norman, D. (2004): Emotional Design
• Krug, S. (2014): Don't Make Me Think
• Johnson, J. (2020): Designing with the Mind in Mind
• Lidwell, W., Holden, K., Butler, J. (2010): Universal Principles of Design
• Kahneman, D. (2011): Thinking, Fast and Slow (German: Schnelles Denken, langsames Denken)
• Thaler, R. & Sunstein, C. (2008): Nudge
• Cialdini, R. (2021): Influence, New and Expanded (German: Die Psychologie des Überzeugens)
• Heller, E. (1989): Wie Farben wirken [How Colours Work]
• Nielsen Norman Group: Articles on usability heuristics and reading behaviour (nngroup.com)
• Deceptive Patterns (deceptive.design): A collection of manipulative design patterns
• Further reading: Treisman, A. & Gelade, G. (1980): A Feature-Integration Theory of Attention · Cowan, N. (2001): The Magical Number 4 in Short-Term Memory · Lindgaard, G. et al. (2006): Attention web designers: You have 50 milliseconds · Fogg, B. J. et al. (2003): How Do Users Evaluate the Credibility of Web Sites? · Ryan, R. & Deci, E. (2000): Self-Determination Theory