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IMPLEMENTING WEB DESIGN

PSYCHOLOGY
Title: Implementing web design psychology
Version: 3.8
Author: Dr. Nabeel Khan

IMPLEMENTING WEB DESIGN PSYCHOLOGY

Designers often don’t take the time they should to learn about how basic psychological

principles can effect the experience their visitors have on the sites they build.

Psychological principles are either looked upon as unnecessary, or too complicated.

But the truth is that they’re neither. There aren’t that many concepts associated with

basic design psychology, and most are relatively straight-forward and easy to

implement, though some take a bit more care and planning than others.

The purpose of psychology-based design

Considering psychology in design process can have a few positive effects on end result.

By considering visitor psychology, TeleMedia likely end up with happier visitors who

are more likely to perform the actions we want them to, whether that’s getting in

touch with you, buying advertisement space, or referring their friends or even sharing

the post on social media.

Trust Building

In order for site visitors to do what we want them to do, they have to trust TeleMedia

and trust doesn’t come easily, especially in this age of scams, schemes, and unsavory

characters almost everywhere we look online.

To someone who knows little of how the Internet really works, they’re suspicious of

anyone who asks them for any personal information, no matter how necessary it is or

how highly-recommended the website is.

With this in mind, we can use design psychology to make TeleMedia website look more

trust-worthy to the average visitor. Creating a website that puts visitors at ease means

they’re more likely to sign up for an account, buy advertisement, or otherwise do

business with you. This can be done through a combination of design and the language

used on the site.

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Title: Implementing web design psychology
Version: 3.8
Author: Dr. Nabeel Khan

Familiarity and recognizable patterns

When someone lands on a page within a website, there are certain things they expect

to see right away, pretty much regardless of the kind of site they’re on.

If they don’t see these things, they often feel as if they’ve ended up in some strange

wasteland that doesn’t make sense to them (and therefore, isn’t trustworthy).

Branding consistency

In addition to the general elements most visitors expect to see on a site, there are

often things visitors may associate with TeleMedia company in particular. While this

might not be a concern for a new business, or a very small business, it is a concern for

many others.

Psychological triggers

Psychological and emotional triggers are a valuable tool in influencing visitors to take

the actions we want them to take. Triggers include things like guilt and fear, but also

a sense of belonging and appealing to people’s values.

Color psychology

The psychology of color is one of the more complex subjects in design psychology, and

we’ll not go in depth here, but the colors you use can have a heavy impact on how

your visitors perceive your site.

Reading patterns

People tend to read in a “Z” pattern on a website, starting across the top from the left

and ending in the bottom right corner of their screen.

Give life to your ideas Page 2


Title: Implementing web design psychology
Version: 3.8
Author: Dr. Nabeel Khan

PERFECT BRAINSTORMING TOOLS

We designed our tools to help generate ideas for new products, features, or creative

solutions to problems. There is no right way to use them, however we found them

especially useful for a series of purposes.

Landing page and conversion optimization

If your goal is to sign users up, you will find a series of cards especially useful: Social

Proof, Authority, Liking, Cognitive Dissonance, Commitment & Consistency, Scarcity,

and Tunneling are just a few principles that will rock your boat.

Attitude, behavior, and habit change

Create experience that connect users’ problems to your company’s solution with

enough frequency that a habit is formed. Design your feedback and timing to create

hooks that form habits as customers form associations sparking unprompted

engagement. Cards like Feedback Loops, Kairos, Trigger, Simulation, Tailoring, Self-

Monitoring, and Periodic Events will help you pin point when and how to form habit-

forming hooks.

Ongoing engagement

Use game mechanics like Completion, Powers, Prolonged Play, Unlock Features,

Status, Levels, Self-Expression, Achievements, and Delighters to keep users engaged.

Onboarding and first-time use

Finally once we get users to sign up for your product, now it’s time to give them a

good first-hand experience. Cards like Appropriate Challenges, Endowment Effect,

Rewards, Levels, Completion, Achievements, and Recognition over Recall will help

drive people toward action, keep momentum, and let users get a grasp of all your

product has to offer.

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Title: Implementing web design psychology
Version: 3.8
Author: Dr. Nabeel Khan

Psychology Techniques

 Social Proof
 Authority
 Reciprocation
 Revenge
 Commitment & Consistency
 Liking
 Positive Mimicry
 Cognitive Dissonance
 Reputation
 Nostalgia Effect
 Loss Aversion
 Endowment Effect
 Status-Quo Bias
 Scarcity
 Optimism Bias
 Need for Closure
 Set Completion
 Curiosity
 Role Playing
 Competition
 Isolation Effect
 Tunneling
 Reduction
 Anchoring
 Conceptual Metaphor
 Recognition over Recall
 Pattern Recognition
 Limited Choice
 Serial Positioning Effect
 Chunking
 Sequencing
 Framing
 Value Attribution
 Feedback Loops
 Kairos
 Trigger
 Simulation
 Tailoring
 Self-Monitoring
 Periodic Events

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Title: Implementing web design psychology
Version: 3.8
Author: Dr. Nabeel Khan

 Appropriate Challenges
 Storytelling
 Intentional Gaps
 Rewards
 Peak-End Rule
 Completion
 Powers
 Prolonged Play
 Unlock Features
 Status
 Levels
 Self-Expression
 Achievements
 Delighters

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