Implementing positive reinforcement.

Designers should provide immediate positive feedback in various formats to reinforce sustainable energy actions and boost intrinsic motivation.

About this paper

The author argues that existing energy feedback technologies are ineffective because they use a universal approach, failing to account for individual differences in attitudes and motivational stages.

They propose leveraging motivational psychology, specifically the Transtheoretical Model, to develop more personalized and effective strategies for promoting sustainable energy behaviors.

Here are some methods used in this study:

Transtheoretical Model Motivational Interviewing

Which part of the paper did the design guideline come from?

“‘Ubigreen’[24] (Figure 3, top right) employs these techniques. It is a mobile phone visualization that uses semi-automatic sensing technologies to provide feedback of transportation behaviors. It uses a series of emotionally persuasive icons [24] (i.e. a polar bear standing on an iceberg) as positive reinforcement. The more “green” one’s transportation behaviors, the further in the progression of icons one gets (i.e. the iceberg grows and the ecosystem improves) until one reaches the final stage (...)” (‘Positive Reinforcement, Emotional Persuasion (through the ELM) & Values’ section)

He, H. A., Greenberg, S., & Huang, E. M. (2010). One size does not fit all. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.

Inspiration and scope

In this paper, the authors focused on the characteristics of designers of energy feedback technology for individuals like Mary to motivate sustainable energy usage behaviors.

You are designing for the public who wants to be productive. Your context and the paper's context differ: the paper's design targets energy feedback technology to motivate sustainable behaviors, while your focus is a scheduling app for productivity. At the same time, both need behavior-influencing strategies—sustainable energy in the academic context and productivity habits in yours. Both can use goal-setting, feedback mechanisms, and personalized recommendations.

Also, they differ as the academic paper involves household energy systems integration for energy consumption feedback, whereas yours involves smart watch OS and productivity tools integration. At the same time, both contexts aim to optimize user experience by providing intuitive interfaces and seamless interactions. Energy feedback tech includes clear visualizations and recommendations, while the scheduling app includes easy navigation and proactive notifications.

By leveraging these similarities, consider integrating the scheduling app with smart watch OS to give immediate, positive feedback on task completion and schedule adherence. Users will boost intrinsic motivation, promoting consistent productive behaviors, leading to enhanced productivity and satisfaction.

Your input

  • What: I'm designing a scheduling app integrated with smart watch OS.
  • Who: I'm designing for the public who wants to have a productive day.
  • Design stage: Research, Ideation

Understanding users

The following user needs and pain points may apply to your design target as well:

Personalized Feedback

Providing users with individualized feedback can enhance their productivity by making the feedback directly relevant to their personal habits and goals. This can increase the likelihood of user engagement and help them see the direct impact of specific actions.

Goal-setting with Progressive Challenges

Incorporating goal-setting features that allow users to set specific, challenging, yet achievable productivity goals can improve their engagement and satisfaction. This approach can keep users motivated by providing a sense of accomplishment as they progress through different tasks.

Design ideas

Consider the following components for your design:

1

Implement dynamic, real-time notifications that offer immediate feedback when tasks are completed.

2

Incorporate a reward system with engaging visuals such as confetti animations or badges when users adhere to their schedules.

3

Design the app interface with clear, color-coded visual representations of tasks and deadlines to improve ease of use.

Methods for you

Consider the following method(s) used in this paper for your design work:

Transtheoretical Model (TTM)

Using the Transtheoretical Model may help in understanding the stages of behavior change that your target users might go through. Keep in mind to identify and address users' readiness to change their scheduling habits to ensure the app effectively motivates them towards productivity.

Motivational Interviewing (MI)

Using Motivational Interviewing principles can help engage users by addressing their intrinsic motivations to adopt productive behaviors. Remember to build users’ self-efficacy and develop discrepancies between their current and desired productive behaviors.

[Table 2] From this figure, you can derive motivational goals relevant to encouraging public productivity at different stages.