Persuasion is an important capacity for designers to understand and apply in their design practice. Understanding what persuades you and others, how behavior change happens, and how we are influenced by other people, media and technology, our environment, and design—is a crucial reflective and critical skill to develop in better understanding yourself, your design practice, those around you, and society more broadly.
In this course, we will explore persuasion and behavior change theories through various influencing tactics or approaches from a series of perspectives; some are focused on design specifically, and some look at insights from other fields and their application within a design context.
This is an expansive subject, and we will introduce you to various ideas and methods that form a broad body of knowledge rather than a deep dive into a single subject. The classes will be a mixture of discussions, practical activities, lectures, and workshops. You will have the opportunity to engage with the different themes and angles individually (through readings), as well as in group activities and a group project, allowing you to properly reflect and enhance your learning at your own pace and develop it through dialogue and collaboration.
