The psychology of design and persuasion.
Following the format of the first volume (100 things...) Dr. Weinscenk covers a lot of general design principles, like the preference for curves and symmetry and how color impacts perception. She also writes about how emotion, especially positive, exited emotion is the most effective way to elicit user action.
She then shifts more to the persuasive aspects. To improve credibility, repeat and then repeat. Also, a relevant photo improves the credibility of the accompanying text. Also, to speed up people's decision making, show all the evidence they have accumulated to support their decision.
Age-related considerations are considered for many aspects. Older people prefer more color on websites and are more likely to use intuition and feeling when making decisions.
Some counter-intuitive aspects of persuasion and memory are highlighted. Text that is in a font hard to read is more memorable. Also using a noun instead of a verb makes people feel like they belong to a group. For example, don’t say, 'vote,' say, 'be a voter.'
She talks a bit about how reading has changed. Deep reading that occurs when reading physical books has shifted to skimming and scanning on screens.
Like many other people, she recommends the use of stories to influence others to buy into your program. Have a dramatic arc, even in a business presentation.
Dr. Weinshenk then writes about embodied understanding. Our body is intertwined in our minds. Space and physical effects matters. Important to remember, but somewhat difficult to apply.
She goes on to talk about the different brain networks. The executive network, the part the is active when you are actively working on a problem. The default network, the part that works in the background when you’re not actively thinking. And the salience network that sorts through all the sensory input to keep the relevant stuff. To come up with creative solutions, you have to use all three. Active thinking, take a break, and rest.
Overall, some good information about the psychology of design and persuasion, some of it well know, some of it sketchy, but all thought-provoking. The problem is the organization of the book. The 100 things structure create a scattershot approach which makes it hard to get a big-picture summary. The printed version is formatted better than the kindle edition.