Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Oct 2020

Creating Content That Influences People: Considering User Experience and Behavioral Design in Technical Communication

Gustav Verhulsdonck Central Michigan University ; Nadya Shalamova Milwaukee School of Engineering

Abstract

As people today use information products in contexts with distractions, we need to design for people’s attention. User experience design routinely relies on behavioral design to engage distracted users and nudge them toward specific behavior. Although practiced in user experience design, behavioral design is less known in technical communication. In this article, we use the CHOICES (Context, Habits, Other people, Incentives, Congruence, Emotions, and Salience) framework developed by McKinsey’s Behavioral Lab to introduce students to learn about behavioral design principles that make use of cognitive biases to influence people. We maintain that behavioral design is useful for technical communicators because they create digital assets that are part of the user experience.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
2020-10-01
DOI
10.1177/0047281619880286
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
multimodality technical communication

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (11)

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    Investigating User Empowerment Through the Fertility App Glow
    Technical Communication Quarterly
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    Expanding Human-in-the-Loop: Critical Sensemaking for Technical and Professiona…
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  5. Tham (2025)
    Design and Deliberation: Reimagining Rhetorical Arrangement in Technical Commun…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
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