Social Design talks

Social design is the design of products and features that shape how people interact with each other: profiles, friends and followers, sharing, comments, reputation, groups and collaborative activities. It draws on psychology to understand what makes people comfortable joining in and what keeps a community healthy.

In UI, UX and product design, social features can drive engagement and discovery, since people respond strongly to what others do and think. They also bring risks, from social anxiety and pressure to spam and abuse, so the details of how people meet, share and give feedback matter a great deal.

The four talks here run from 2009 to 2015. Sebastian Deterding presents “Hacking Shyness – Designing Social Interaction”, and Amy Jo Kim covers “Applying Game Mechanics to Functional Software” at a Google Tech Talk in 2009. At TED Talks, Sheena Iyengar speaks on “The art of choosing” and David Carson on “Design, discovery and humor”. Related themes include cognitive psychology, behavioral economics, gamification and user engagement.