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Boost task completion with dopamine
What if there was a way, through design, to trigger the release of neurotransmitters that affect how we feel and how we do?
Earlier this year, I wrote an article about how designers, through their designs, can deliberately promote the release of dopamine. In this article, I will dig in a bit more to show designers why and how to tap into dopamine to emote joy, promote simplicity, and drive action.
Dopamine is for motivation
Dopamine is a major factor in reward-motivated behavior. Most people think dopamine is a chemical that causes pleasure, but that’s not quite right.
Instead, dopamine is about anticipating an outcome (good or bad) and the ensuing behavior. It affects motivation. And without motivation, there is no action.
This is why designers tasked with driving user action should understand how their designs can motivate people to complete a task. Dopamine is released for several reasons, but two, in particular, are of interest for UX designers:
- Celebrating little wins
- Completing a task
Error prevention, error recovery, and feedback are at the center of user experience design. I argue that most of UX is…
