Designing motivation

How can products be designed to change our habits for the better? What is some of the leading research that designers can draw on to create new systems that motivate people towards healthier behaviour? Designing Motivation is an edited collection of ‘industrialist cheat sheets’: 22 single-page summaries of research articles relating to technology design, motivation, and behaviour change. Ranging across the fields of economics, sociology, design research and behavioural science, each summary draws out the design implications of the research. It is intended as a resource for designers who are grappling with how to create motivating products, and as a primer for students who want a brief introduction to some of the relevant theories, findings and design interventions in these fields. The editor's introduction raises a number of issues encountered when we try to apply behavioural research to the practical job of designing for motivation, and explains why there are, as yet, no easy answers for design.