Insight: There is no such thing as 'neutral' design: all design influences how people respond.
Insight: Even small details can have a big influence on people's behaviour.
Insight: A "Nudge" is an aspect of the choice architecture that changes people's behaviour in a predictable way, without limiting options or incentives. A nudge must be easy and cheap to avoid.
Insight: Active choosing, or presenting specific choices is also part of choice architecture.
Insight: Choice architects have the power to make people's lives significantly better by designing user-friendly environments.
Insight: Filters can make difficult choices easier.
Insight: Smaller, boutique stores cannot compete with larger stores by offering more choices. "Curation is essential for any business that wants to compete with online giants."
Insight: Offering more choices is not always optimal. More choices must be accompanied with effective choice architecture.
Principle: Designers should aim to make life as easy of possible.
Principle: The signal you receive should be consistent with the desired action. Example: A red octagonal road sign with the word "GO" on it violates this principle.
Principle: A good choice architecture system helps people link choices with outcomes, and act in ways that makes them better off.
Principle: Make the desired activity fun.
Insight: Choice architecture can work to make a good decision easy.
Example: Removing administrative burdens to access to healthcare.
Example: Making information about products explicit and clear: e.g clearly explaining fees and charges with financial products.
Example: Putting healthy foods in supermarkets in clear and obvious places.
Insight: By understanding social science, product managers, marketers, designers, and engineers can build products and experiences that people use and love.
Insight: Choice architects can design environments that help people make better decisions.
Insight: Designing good public policies has a lot in common with designing consumer products, both include choice architecture.
Insight: Environment matters.
Insight: An environment can have a great influence on things such as spending habits, exercise, happiness, work life balance, success.
Reference: Thorndike study Study of product placement in hospitals relating to water vs soda. By providing water as an option at all places where drinks were available "the number of soda sales at the hospital dropped by 11.4 percent. Meanwhile, sales of bottled water increased by 25.8 percent."
Insight: Decisions that people make are heavily influenced by the way that choices are presented.
Insight: In many situations, people don't consciously know what they want but take cues from the environment.
Insight: People often take the path of least resistance, even if they pay a heavy price for it, usually in the longer term.
Insight: Framing of decisions have a large influence on the choices people make.
Reference: Thaler and Sunstein defining choice architecture in the book Nudge
IV. Summary of Key Insights & Principles
Design
All design influences how people respond.
Design can make a huge difference in people's lives, helping them make better choices.
Filters in design can make difficult choices easier.
Presenting more choices is not always optimal. More choice needs good choice architecture to make it effective.
Effective choice architecture helps people to easily link choices with outcomes.
Link signals with desired actions.
Link choices with outcomes, make this clear to the decision maker.
Make life easier.
Make the desired choice fun.
Decision Making
Environment influences the decisions we make.
The way choices are presented greatly influences the decisions we make.
We often take the path of least resistance.
Change the environment to encourage optimal decisions.
