5 books on design psychology

Design psychology is essential in creating successful product designs. From how one can apply behavioural economics and psychology in design to the importance of incorporating human-centric ideas, these books focus on empathy-driven design thinking. All of these books are available online.

Designing for Behaviour Change

Author: Stephen Wendel 

This useful manual by Wendel explains how designers must create products that will help users accomplish specific objectives. It also explains how one can apply behavioural economics and psychology to solve real-world problems in the field of product design and development. The book discusses how to understand consumer behaviour through small interventions, and how to build a product and how to measure its success. Designers will also find key tactics to help users change their behaviour and how to identify target audiences for their products. This book was released by O’Reilly in 2013. 

Emotional Design

Author: Don Norman

The book is written by a cognitive scientist. He shares how human psychology principles can be applied to the creation and designing of new products. He has emphasised on the importance of human-centric designs, and that users’ needs and demands come before designers’ aesthetics. Norman goes on to elucidate that users’ thinking and behavioural choices should also be taken into account when designing a product. He further asserts that a good human-centered design is about ideas that resonate with users’ emotions and help them express their identities. This book was published by Basic Books in 2003. 

The Psychology of Design

Editors: Rajeev Batra, Colleen Seifert and Diann Brei 

This book is a collection of existing literature from various allied disciplines. These articles explore the complexities of psychological processes involved in product design and development. It also explores the importance of aesthetics, anthropology, and brand strategy. The book covers fields like embodied cognition, visual aesthetics, and sensory marketing. The main focus here is not on product design but on the emotional and sensory appeal it carries and how this influences consumers’ decision making. Routledge published this book in 2016.

Well-Designed

Author: Jon Kolko 

In his book, design expert Jon Kolko highlights the value of empathy-driven design thinking. He sheds light on how a product should be designed as if it is a thoughtful gift for a friend rather than a random artefact in a shop. Every product should tell a story, a story that can alter a consumer’s buying sensibilities. Kolko notes that engagement is a requirement for persuading people to interact. This book was released in 2014 by Harvard Business Review Press. 

Designing Products People Love

Author: Scott Hurf 

This book discusses how to create a product that successfully finds customers. It contains insights from the best product designers in the industry, Facebook and LinkedIn included. The author delves into how a designer must comprehend the painpoints of customers and design a product to fill those gaps. An understanding of such concepts can allow a designer grasp who his consumers are, what their needs are, and how to satisfy them. The book also covers design techniques used by multinational companies like Amazon and Apple to create effective designs. This book was published in 2015 by O’Reilly Media.