Design Isn’t Just Aesthetic – It’s Behavioural
The NHS England and The Social Agency’s session on visual design challenged our thinking about formatting. Small changes – font size, layout, paragraph length – significantly influence perception and action in health communications. Their experimental testing showed that treating design as a behavioural intervention, not just a visual one, led to measurable improvements in engagement and trial participation.
The lesson: every design choice is a behavioural choice. We’re now approaching formatting with the same strategic rigour we apply to messaging.
Innovation Needs Behavioural Science from Day One
A standout session explored how behavioural science is underleveraged in innovation. The insight? True innovation isn’t about finding market gaps – it’s about creating new behaviours and meeting unmet needs. The “Fuels and Frictions” framework offered a practical approach: maximise motivators (superior benefits, value alignment) while minimising barriers (effort, limiting beliefs, situational factors).
Google Glass failed not because of technology, but because it didn’t address behavioural frictions. The takeaway for us: embed behavioural science at the start of the innovation process.
Gamification Changes Behaviour Better Than Information
Ofcom tackled a growing problem: how do you teach people to spot romance scams on dating apps? Traditional text-based warnings weren’t cutting it. Their solution? A “serious game” that simulated a realistic dating app experience, where users navigated conversations and learned to identify red flags like early requests to move off-platform, love bombing, or requests for money.
The results were striking. People who played the game could identify scam messages with 85% accuracy, compared to 76% for those who just read information sheets, and 60% for those with no intervention. Crucially, the effect lasted – after four weeks, the learning stuck.
The breakthrough was the method: experiential learning where people practice spotting scams in a safe environment, combined with immediate feedback. This builds psychological resilience through inoculation (exposing people to weakened threats), debiasing (encouraging reflective thinking), and boosting (giving people practical skills they can apply).
We’re now exploring how these experiential learning principles can transform how we approach our campaigns. The key is creating experiences that stick, not just messages that inform. Curious? You can play their game here.
Small Interactions, Big Impact on Health Outcomes
Haleon and The Behavioural Architects’ session on pain management consultations revealed a striking stat: medical care contributes only 10-20% to overall health outcomes, while behavioural changes account for 36%. This reframes the role of healthcare professionals – particularly pharmacists – from dispensers of medication to behavioural influencers.
By conducting behavioural audits of consultation environments and applying the COM-B framework (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation), they identified how subtle changes in language, interaction style, and solution framing could guide patients toward better self-management. Techniques like nudging, reframing, and leveraging authority bias transformed everyday consultations into behaviour change interventions.
