Behavioral Design in Industrial Products: How Psychology Impacts Product Use

Behavioral Design in Industrial Products has emerged as a pivotal discipline in both professional design practice and academic inquiry. In today’s world — defined by technological sophistication and global interconnectivity — the technical features of products alone are no longer sufficient. The emphasis in design has shifted toward crafting meaningful experiences through system-level thinking. Designers now possess the ability to manipulate physical principles and effects to achieve specific outcomes. Having mastered the control of non-autonomous systems, the current focus is on empowering autonomous agents — namely, humans — by enhancing their efficiency. This requires close collaboration with individuals to understand and influence the psychological processes that drive their behavior. In this way, behavioral design serves as a key tool for optimizing both performance and user experience by shaping human actions more effectively.

Behavioral Design as a Catalyst for Change

As a methodology, behavioral design plays a vital role in encouraging desired behaviors across a wide range of domains. To appreciate its impact, one must first define “behavior” and explore how its various dimensions intersect with design. Often referred to as “Design for Behavior Change,” this approach involves analyzing existing behavioral patterns and crafting targeted interventions to guide users toward specific outcomes.

The context in which behavior occurs significantly influences user mindset. These contexts can be broadly categorized into three types:

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. Industrial contexts – such as workplace safety behavior. Here, professional autonomy is typically limited by regulations, corporate policies, and industry standards. These environments are often predictable and controllable.
                  2. Social contexts – for example, how people behave in public spaces like train stations.
                  3. Personal contexts – such as individual habits like water usage during a shower.

Behavior in each context is also shaped by the lifecycle dimension, which considers the timing and duration of a product or technology’s use.

Rational vs. Irrational Decision-Making

If human behavior were governed solely by rational logic, influencing it would be simple. Someone trying to lose weight would eat less, skip dessert, and exercise more. A person wanting to reduce screen time would avoid unnecessary phone checks and stop scrolling endlessly. But reality tells a different story — people often set goals without consistently acting to achieve them.

Behavioral economics explores these departures from rationality, challenging the classical economic assumption that individuals always act to maximize utility. While traditional models emphasize supply and demand, behavioral economics reveals that factors like social norms, loss aversion, and present bias often play a more significant role in decision-making than time or money.

Despite this growing awareness, many product managers, marketers, and designers still operate under outdated assumptions, expecting users to behave like rational agents. They presume people can accurately predict and act on their preferences. However, companies that truly understand human behavior recognize that irrational tendencies are deeply embedded in decision-making. These organizations design with those tendencies in mind, testing their ideas in real-world conditions.

Behavior Settings and Social Scripts

Situations like meal times, business meetings, flights, classrooms, religious services, or waiting at a bus stop exemplify what are known as behavior settings. These settings resemble theatrical stages, where individuals — like actors — gather in specific locations to perform predefined roles using familiar props and scripts. Each setting is shaped by its purpose, location, objects, and expected behaviors.

Participants entering these settings expect others to adhere to their roles. Deviations are typically discouraged, either through social feedback or internal self-regulation. For instance, if someone forgets their lines while giving a speech to an important audience, the resulting embarrassment and audience reaction serve as corrective forces, nudging the speaker back into their expected role.

The Development of Human-Oriented Design Approaches

The Behavioral Design Process

The behavioral design process in organizational and product contexts typically unfolds in three stages:

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. Behavioral Diagnosis – Clearly define the desired behavior and map every step the user must take to reach it. The key here is analyzing current behaviors in as much detail as possible.
               2. Identify Psychological Biases – Determine the barriers that impede decision-making and the benefits that encourage it. This involves identifying specific biases at each stage of the behavioral map from step one, organizing them into barriers and motivators.
               3. Experimentation – Choose a single barrier to remove or a benefit to enhance, then design and conduct a controlled experiment to assess whether the intervention increases the desired behavior. The outcome is measured by the degree of change in behavioral likelihood.