Design for How People Think: Using Brain Science to Build Better Products

by John Whalen

User experience doesn’t happen on a screen; it happens in the mind, and the experience is multidimensional and multisensory. This practical book will help you uncover critical insights about how your customers think so you can create products or services with an exceptional experience.

Corporate leaders, marketers, product owners, and designers will learn how cognitive processes from different brain regions form what we perceive as a singular experience. Author John Whalen shows you how anyone on your team can conduct "contextual interviews" to unlock insights. You’ll then learn how to apply that knowledge to design brilliant experiences for your customers.

Learn about the "six minds" of user experience and how each contributes to the perception of a singular experienceFind out how your team—without any specialized training in psychology—can uncover critical insights about your customers’ conscious and unconscious processesLearn how to immediately apply what you’ve learned to improve your products and servicesExplore practical examples of how the Fortune 100 used this system to build highly successful experiences

Genres: Design, Psychology, Nonfiction, Business, Audiobook, Technology, Programming

239 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 5, 2019

About the author

John Whalen writes and edits books, comic books, and screenplays—comedy, satire, horror, crime, and fantasy and other stuffs.

Reviews

[☘Misericordia☘ ⚡ϟ⚡⛈⚡☁ ❇️❤❣ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Framework on cross of psychology, design (of course!) and digitalization.

How does one go about creating nice and useful visuals?

How do people make head or tail of whatever layouts they are being presented with?

What's the clutter and how to get rid of it?

What do we need to be able to use interfaces efficiently?

How do we approach visual clues? What are they?

[Conor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could have been a Medium post. Lots of stretched content in here. Could have written it off as a book for beginners, but the the author seemed to love presenting common UX practices (e.g. thinking about users’ mental models) as “something we rarely hear anything about in customer experience,” which is just lazy.

[Jim Razinha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Catching up from a vacation with little internet but enough flight time to read several books, I was able to finish this one on a flight down to Puerto Rico. Some of my best reading time is on a plane!

The author makes a very good point early on in one consideration - of what he calls his Six Minds - about being aware of the language of your customers.

I find when I’m around interior designers, I start to wonder if they speak a different language than I do. The words defining a category can vary dramatically based on your level of expertise.

I find the same with architects (“fenestration” instead of windows) and engineers (take your pick...) What you mean and what they mean by a word or phrase may be different. So the first word of the title is the best possible example of that problem for me because I thought this book was about architectural and engineering design, when his focus is design of websites and to some extent, products. But... despite that significant difference, I can still use some of the concepts and material for my world. (I am an engineer but I don’t do design, rather, I oversee the designs and construction of design professionals and contractors.)

So...not what I was expecting, but still of value. As to expectations:

When there is a dramatic difference between a customer’s expectation of a product or service and how we designed it, we are suddenly fighting an uphill battle by trying to overcome our audience’s well-practiced expectations.

We need to conform to, or at least consider, the expectations unless the intent is to create a new experience.

An observation on one of the author’s quibbles:

In his 1996 book, “The Emotional Brain,” Joseph LeDeux argued that traditional cognitive psychology was making things unrealistically simple.

Well, pretty much all scientific modeling begins with a reduction to a simpler problem, find a solution, then see if it can be extrapolated to the larger problem. Sure, that can be sometimes unrealistically simple, but in something as fuzzy and imprecise as psychology, it is obviously impossible to extrapolate to a larger problem...that is, not without fuzzing things more and making sweeping assumptions.

A tech problem crossover:

The number one reason projects for over budget and take longer than planned is due to changes made in the late stages of production or right before after launch because the features are different than those that were built.

Scope creep is a big problem in construction as well, though for the past several years the 8-10% escalation (higher than normal) is another factor.

I have been grousing about CrApple’s shift to a flat design (and their visual emetic color scheme) since they deployed it and the author mentions a big problem with some websites and focus group feedback:

Two things came out loud and clear here. First, the “flat” design style that is so typical is not great.

Spot on. (The other thing doesn’t matter.)

I had a chuckle about one section toward the end when the author was talking about an “Adventure Race” - where crazies not in the Army crawl through mud and under/over barbed wire and obstacles (context was something about sense of accomplishment and observing the emotional content and applying same to products and causes) on purpose. Nope, nope and ...nope!

He says in his "A Final Note to the Psychologists and Cognitive Scientists Read This" (final being actually before he even starts):

Bear with me. In a practical and applied book I simply can’t get to all the nuances of the mind/ brain that exist, and I need a way to communicate to a broad audience what is relevant to product and service design. There are a myriad of amazing facts about our minds which (sadly) I am forced to gloss over, but I do so intentionally so that we may focus on the broader notion of designing with multiple cognitive processes in mind, and ultimately allow for an evidence-based and psychologically driven design process.

One thing for any reader of this or any book/source citing psychology: the most you can get an approximation...a “best” guess. Any psychologist claiming “the” answer(s) must necessarily be taken with an ocean full of salt. (Same goes for any book claiming “the secret”, “the answer”, “the ten things you need to know”...) An answer, possibly. Psychology is a fuzzy science of averages and general observations have no meaning to an individual, or more to the point, a specific individual. To claim otherwise should raise alarms and firewalls.
That said, there are a lot of good takeaways that can apply to other deliberate actions, design intents, team services, ... many things.

Jumping off points... the author provided good sources and recommended reading. Props for that.

[Denis Romanovsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Name of the book is misleading. This book is about service design firstly. And it proposes a good empathy analysis model - Six Brains. Everything else in this book is pretty shallow. I have a feeling that the author just did not have enough time and content to create a solid work.

[MacKenzie Fitzpatrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book, just the last chapter was more broad about ai and seemed more unrelated/different from the actual flow of the book.

I loved all of the examples of specific insights and potential reasons why a user would think, feel, or say. I felt like the author broke it down to the basics. I wished sometimes he talked more in depth about cognition in more advanced terms— but I just don’t think that was the purpose of this book so I’m not mad at it!

Super interesting and quick listen on audible while running errands and cleaning!!!

[Paulo Peres · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author presents us an good way to field research and/or evaluate an prototype. The Six Minds framework differently of an persona (or even more and jobs to-be done) try to elicit the maximum of the user (during research) to create good prototypes, or make an assessment of the existent prototype.
Good for service designers, but better for UXers or Product Designers. Complement for Product Owners or Product Managers.

[Heather Winkle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book takes John's years of research and practice and turns them into an accessible, practical, and enjoyable read with a playful sense of humor. Regardless of the role you play on your team, the Six Minds framework and discovery techniques will help you unlock key insights about your customers and propel your product's success.

For anyone new to UX and human-centered design and research, this is a must-read. As a 20+ year design professional, the Six Minds framework and why it matters is worth the read.

[Konstancja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great position - must read for those who still believe that "Double diamond" framework can't be improved. Author argues that you can get all the information you need through qualitative research and watching people work without fancy equipment, huge budgets, or lengthy studies. He is talking about weeks, and not months (or, for our large enterprise and government colleagues, not years!)
Nonpsychologists can learn about individual cognitive processes through a combination of watching customers in action (contextual inquiry) and interviewing them.

Learn about the "six minds" of user experience and how each contributes to the perception of a singular experience
Find out how your team—without any specialized training in psychology—can uncover critical insights about your customers’ conscious and unconscious processes
Learn how to immediately apply what you’ve learned to improve your products and services
Explore practical examples of how the Fortune 100 used this system to build highly successful experiences

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Professional reading. Some tags:

"The customer experience doesn't happen on a screen, it happens in the mind." (7)

"as a product or service designer [you] need to understand: -the actual steps to solve a problem or make a decision; -what your audience thinks the problem or decision is and how to solve it; - the subgoals your audience might create to get around 'blockers;' -how to help the target audience shift their thinking from that of a novice to that of an expert int he field (changing their view of the problem space and subgoals) to be more successful." (53)

Listen: "what would appeal to [audience] immediately; what would enhance their lives and provide more lasting and meaningful value; what their deepest goals and wishes [are] for [work] life" (59)

Double Diamond Design framework -- see https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/news... (174)

[André Pimenta · Rating 3 out of 5]

In short, the best experience is the one that:

• 🧠 Attracts attention effortlessly
• 🗣 Uses the language that the user expects
• 🧾 Supports memory without depending on it
• 🎯 Facilitates decisions safely
• ❤️ Generates confidence and reduces anxiety
• 🌱 Helps the user achieve their life goals

The book spends a lot of words to say that... But I think at least it gives us some insights. Overall, it's good for design students or someone that never had contact with user research or UX repositories.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Presents a good model for understanding and dissecting users and their behavior. Draws distinction between the "six mind" of attention, language, wayfinding, memory, decision-making, and emotion model and the do-think-see-feel model. The latter results in a set of discrete data points that must be further dug into to determine the "whys". The former examines behavior from the broader framework of the individual - not just what they are doing now, but where they are coming from.

[Khalid Hasan Zibon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book felt unnecessarily long. Too many case studies with too little to learn from. I won't recommend it to anyone else. But it can be a somewhat decent read if you don't have anything else to read at the moment and this book is sitting on your shelf.

The best part of this book is the framework, or as the author calls them "Six Minds". It will be useful for user research, data analysis, and inform design decisions.

[Radoslava Koleva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Key takeaway is to always remember we are designing multidimensional and multisensory experiences. No matter if we are creating a new webpage or just redesigning an existing digital feature - the CX is never just on the screen.

I'd recommend this to any product manager especially those who recognize that we often forget or don't dedicate time to empathise with the user.

[max momot · Rating 2 out of 5]

Книга состоит из трех частей. Полезная информация только в первой части. Две остальные части, якобы должны детальнее разжевывать первую часть, но больше похожи на саморекламу состоящую из странных выводов и не менее странных примеров. В первой части есть интересная и полезная информация, но ее очень мало.

[CalebA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Content was not deep enough.
You could have a steady knowledge of this book by just reading the first or last chapter. I was enticed by the "Brain science" promises, but the content wasn't very deep. Felt like a blog article. I found a few insights. I appreciated the humor here and there. I recommend this topic, but would probably try some other books.

[Jon Daiello · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, this is a great book. If you are a produce or UX designer, looking to improve the way that you design and build product experiences. The framework this author provides is a very helpful ways in evaluating your work, offering six different lenses that you can see your work through to increase its effectiveness and success.

[Jonathan Patrowicz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good solid advice, and a unique approach to affinitization that is well worth trying. However the book included an out-of-place final chapter bereft of a conclusion.

I noticed a few editorial issues too, which did not detract from the content, but distracted me nonetheless

[Bri Moritz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple to comprehend, even if you aren't a designer! But if you are, this is a great book for refreshing your memory on important basics, but also for catching onto some helpful psych concepts and improving your user testing and designing.

[Daniella Parra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the kind of book you'll want to have by your side all the time. Full with interesting real-life examples and situations, it's always good to get back to it to recall the concepts of "the Six Minds".

[Alok · Rating 4 out of 5]

After hours of filtering books that I wanted to read on this subject, this one caught my interest and it's everything I expected from the title, but the author's vast experience and detailed narration is what makes this book worth the read.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice and practical framework for designing better things

[Nikhil Deshpande · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good framework especially for designing digital products

[Fabian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too shallow for my taste.

[Tiffany McCrary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read with product team at work. Helpful look at prototyping and user research to influence product design.

[Daniel Noventa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent insights into refining a users experience along with tips for user testing.

[Khoa · Rating 5 out of 5]

What to expect when you're expecting?

[Ecaterina Moraru · Rating 3 out of 5]

Theory and some examples in how to do user research having the Six Minds of Experience in mind. Not great, not terrible. Target: Beginner UX-ers.

[Kim Bell Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mhhhhh, psychology should be considered for your products.

[Faruk Ljubović · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Utkarsh Kaushik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great case studies across different business models of how we don't often design sites and products in the way users expect. A lot of unexpected new ideas and thoughts produced.