The Design Psychologist | Psychology for UX, Product, Service, Instructional, Interior, and Game Designers

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• Season 1 Finale: Design for a Better World (w/ Don Norman) 05.01.2026 1Std. 8Min.

  Go to thedesignpsychologist.substack.com to get episode summaries right in your inbox so you can easily reference, save, and apply what you learn. What happens when human-centered design is no longer enough? Designers are trained to make things easier to use—but what if ease and elegance are no longer the point? What if the systems we need to change go far beyond screens and interfaces, touching global structures and collective futures? Our guest, Don Norman, coined the term "Norm...
• The Power of Social Proof (Part 2): 18 Methods Across 5 Psychological Drivers 01.12.2025 30Min.

  Go to thedesignpsychologist.substack.com to get episode summaries right in your inbox so you can easily reference, save, and apply what you learn. Why does social proof work? And, what are some practical tips on how to use it to create better designs? In part one of these Social Proof episodes, we started with the foundations of social psychology. We looked at the history, key studies, and some helpful frameworks. Now in part two, we’re picking up where we left off—at the five-poi...
• The Power of Social Proof (Part 1) 03.11.2025 25Min.

  Go to thedesignpsychologist.substack.com to get episode summaries right in your inbox so you can easily reference, save, and apply what you learn. Have you ever been in a crowd where no one clapped until one brave soul started the applause? Or walked past two restaurants—one bustling with a line out the door, the other nearly empty—and felt pulled toward the busy one? These small, everyday moments reveal something big: we are profoundly influenced by the people around us, often without ...
• Align Before Design: The Psychology of Strategic Alignment (with Tamara Adlin) 06.10.2025 1Std. 2Min.

  Get episode summaries right in your inbox so you can easily reference, save, and apply what you learn: thedesignpsychologist.substack.com Why do so many user personas fail in practice, and what can we do about it? Have you ever worked on a team where everyone had a different idea of who the user was? Or watched a beautifully crafted persona become ignored or misused? You're not alone. In this episode, we explore why traditional personas often fall short—and how alignment personas can ch...
• Why Games Work: Emotional Arcs, Flow States, and Meaningful Play (with Jesse Schell) 29.09.2025 58Min.

  Why are games so deeply engaging? What psychological principles make game design such a powerful tool for shaping attention, emotion, and learning? Game design is not a niche skill. It's one of the most refined disciplines we have for designing attention, emotion, and motivation. If you're designing anything for people, game design can sharpen your craft. This episode reveals how the craft of game design can teach us to build more immersive, emotionally resonant experiences. Whether yo...
• Advance Without Alienating: How MAYA Drives Adoption 22.09.2025 16Min.

  What is the sweet spot between new and familiar, and how do you design for it? Create products that feel groundbreaking and instantly intuitive by applying the psychology of the MAYA Principle. By unpacking how humans respond to familiarity and novelty, you’ll gain practical guidance for designing experiences that spark excitement without overwhelming users. WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE What is the MAYA Principle, and why does it matter for product and experience design?How do familiarity an...
• Frontstage, Backstage: How Service Design Really Works (with Marc Stickdorn) 15.09.2025 59Min.

  What’s the real impact of service design on customer experiences? In this episode of The Design Psychologist, host Thomas talks with service design expert Marc Stickdorn, PhD, author of "This is Service Design Doing," about the evolution and holistic nature of service design. They discuss the importance of community involvement and collaboration in shaping effective strategies and enhancing user interactions across various touchpoints. WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE: - The r...
• The Peak-End Rule in Design: What We Take Away 08.09.2025 17Min.

  What shapes the memory of an experience, and how can designers use that insight to create better, more human-centered products? Design more memorable and emotionally resonant experiences by understanding how people actually remember what they go through. It turns out we do not remember experiences by their length, but by their intensity and how they end. By uncovering the psychological principle known as the peak-end rule, you will learn how to shape experiences that stand out in people’s min...
• Less Load, More Learning: First Principles of Cognitive Load Theory (with John Sweller) 01.09.2025 1Std. 4Min.

  What’s the best way to choose how you’ll teach something so it actually sticks? Design your next lesson so learners don’t just follow along—they understand, remember, and apply their new skills. By grounding your instruction in Cognitive Load Theory, you’ll gain a practical compass for sequencing content, trimming unnecessary load, and accelerating real mastery. Our guest, Dr. John Sweller, pioneered Cognitive Load Theory during more than four decades as Professor of Educational Psychology at...
• Designing with Tension: What the Zeigarnik Effect Reveals About Memory and Momentum 25.08.2025 10Min.

  Have you ever noticed how an unfinished task — or a cliffhanger at the end of a show — keeps tugging at your attention? How can the Zeigarnik effect’s lingering cognitive tension help us design products, services, and experiences that people actually come back to and complete? When you learn to harness the motivational pull of “unfinished business,” you can turn mundane flows into engaging journeys and guide users toward the outcomes that matter. We explore why interruptions strengthen ...
• Closing the Knowing-Doing Gap: Designing for Real Behavior Change (with Julie Dirksen) 18.08.2025 1Std. 11Min.

  Why is it so hard to change behavior—even when people already know exactly what to do? Design your next learning experience so people don’t just understand what to do— they actually do it. By uncovering the psychology behind the knowing–doing gap, you’ll gain practical tools to move your audience from passive understanding to sustained action. Our guest, Julie Dirksen, has spent two decades helping organizations design training and products that lead to measurable behavior change. WHA...
• Order Matters—But Not the Way You Think: How Serial Position Gets Misused 11.08.2025 19Min.

  In this episode, we uncover how the order in which information is presented affects what users remember—and what they forget. From the “primacy effect” that gives early items a cognitive boost, to the “recency effect” that gives the last ones staying power, you'll learn how sequence can make or break a design. We explore: Why we remember the first and last items in a list better than the middle onesWhy many designers mistakenly apply memory principles to visual design when they should be focu...
• From Vibes to Variables: How We’re Measuring the Unmeasurable in UX (with Bill Albert) 04.08.2025 55Min.

  Why is it so hard to know whether people want to use what we design—not just whether they can? Design research can (and should) go far beyond basic task success. Our guest Bill Albert joins us to show how to expand our measurement toolbox. By learning to measure desirability, emotion, and true engagement, we unlock clearer insights, align teams faster, and invest only in ideas that will actually resonate. WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE Usability vs. desirability — why the distinction mat...
• The Shape of Choice: What Hick’s Law Really Reveals About Decision Time 28.07.2025 19Min.

  What happens when your design asks users to make too many choices? In this solo episode, we explore a deceptively simple principle with massive implications for user experience: Hick’s Law. This law explains why more options mean more decision time—and why that’s not always a good thing. From cluttered navigation to bloated dropdowns, we’ll break down how cognitive overload quietly slows users down. You'll learn when reducing choices helps, when it hurts, and how to use psychological insights...
• How to Visualize the Invisible: Metaphors, Models, and Meaning (with Stephen P. Anderson) 21.07.2025 1Std. 1Min.

  Explaining an abstract idea can feel easy—until you put pen to paper. In this episode, our host sits down with Stephen P. Anderson to unpack the craft of turning complex concepts into clear, memorable visuals. Together they dig into the challenges of sketching an org chart, mapping a process, or nailing a scientific metaphor—and ask what really separates a helpful illustration from a confusing one. You’ll hear them explore: Why visualizing a concept (not just data) often stalls on...
• How Well Do Our Words Reflect Our Inside World? A psychological perspective on the limits of self-report, introspection, and understanding the human mind 14.07.2025 17Min.

  How much can you trust what users tell you? In this solo episode, we dive into one of the most slippery yet essential tools in UX research: self-reporting. From interviews to surveys, self-reports are everywhere—but they come with hidden psychological traps. We explore: Why self-reported data can be both useful and misleadingThe psychological reasons people often misrepresent their own behaviorWhen to trust what users say—and when to dig deeperThe subtle difference between described and obser...
• Disruptive by Design: Uncovering Game-Changing Insights (with Larry Marine) 07.07.2025 1Std. 2Min.

  Ever wonder how certain products feel inevitable the moment they appear—rearranging entire markets overnight? In this episode of The Design Psychologist, Thomas sits down with UX pioneer Larry Marine to unpack the mechanics of truly disruptive research—the kind that yields insights so fundamental they can’t be unseen. Most teams unknowingly skip a handful of critical research steps, blinding themselves to the knowledge that changes everything. Larry shows us how treating users, tasks, and ent...
• The Why Behind Sample Size: How Many People Do You Really Need to Test With? 30.06.2025 25Min.

  How many participants do you need to test in order to make valid research claims? In this episode, we dive deep into the science and psychology behind sample sizes in user testing. Whether you're working with five users or five hundred, the number you choose can shape the story your research tells—and how credible your findings appear to stakeholders. Why sample size is one of the most misunderstood elements in product researchThe psychological impact of “too few” vs. “just enough” users in h...
• How to Decode Conversation: A Paradigm Shift in Qualitative Insight and Human Understanding (with Indi Young) 23.06.2025 1Std. 2Min.

  In this episode of The Design Psychologist, we dive deep into the world of qualitative research and human-centered design with legendary UX thinker Indi Young. If you've ever felt like your user interviews only skim the surface—or if you've relied too heavily on personas—you might be missing the most powerful insights. Indi joins us to explore how deep, non-judgmental listening can revolutionize your understanding of users and, ultimately, your design outcomes. Together, we tackle...
• Why It Feels Right: Affordance and the Mind’s Hidden Expectations 16.06.2025 11Min.

  Why do some products feel natural the moment you touch them—while others are baffling from the start? In this episode, we explore the psychology of affordances—those subtle cues that tell us what to do next, without saying a word. From door handles to digital apps, we break down how great design speaks directly to human intuition. You’ll learn: The psychological principles that make interfaces feel “just right” What Don Norman meant by affordances, signifiers, and anti-affordances H...