Understanding the role of intuition in decision-making when designing for experiences: contributions from cognitive psychology

Abstract

In the cognitive sciences, intuition is described as a way of processing information based on automatic, affective and personal standards, but it is not the opposite of rationality. Designers generate solutions to daily issues, which forces them to make decisions that cannot be always understood rationally. Designing for experiences is a delicate practice in a rational perspective, since the designer's interpretation on how to trigger particular experiences can be highly influenced by intuition. Designers have a choice to use intuition in the design process without control, or to understand the process and use it consciously. In this context, self-knowing is a key factor in intentional intuiting. This paper aims at discussing how intuition works when professionals design for experiences and, by providing the basis to understand the process, offers inputs on how to deal with it, avoiding biases in the design practice and helping to develop self-knowledge.Relevance to ergonomics theoryIn recent decades, ergonomics has been concerned with the understanding of designing to evoke or prevent particular experiences among users. The designer's challenge is to interpret users’ bodily experiences, commonly without awareness of the situation or context in which they are perceived. The design process is often affected by intuition and its role needs to be understood by professionals in order to be used accurately. Theoretical inputs from cognitive psychology are discussed in relation to the design practice, to help improve ergonomics theory in the context of intuition in designing for experiences.The paper indicates that a designer can make a conscious decision to use intuition when designing for experiences. The use of intentional intuiting in this context does not exclude rational thinking, but complements it and helps qualifying design decision-making, since it reduces the use of biased subjectiveness in the interpretation on how to evoke or prevent particular experiences. The training of intentional intuiting is possible but challenging since it takes time, and the keys to successful use of intuition lay in self-knowing and appropriate state of mind of a designer.