Hacking the brain

This article first appeared in issue 234 of .net magazine – the world's best-selling magazine for web designers and developers.

Ryan Singer from 37signals recently made the observation that “if you make chairs, you’ll want to understand how people sit. If you make user interfaces, then you should understand how people perceive and think”.

But why is this so important? Because gaining an understanding of how our users think and act enables us to tailor wonderful user experiences that improve conversions and encourage repeat visits – and this in turn creates happy users! With a little borrowing from disciplines such as cognitive psychology and behavioural economics we become able to ‘hack the brain’.

The field of UX is both broad and deep; here are five techniques to get you started.

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