At first glance, design and psychology are not related to each other - well, perhaps when building sites, when the individual wishes of the customer are taken into account. But the scope of application of the foundations of psychology can be much wider, incorporating the latest achievements in this area of ​​science.

Architecture is sometimes poetically called frozen music. Indeed, the influence external appearance building, and especially its internal space, on the human psyche is comparable to the impact of melody. Sometimes even an insignificant nuance can plunge into sadness or, conversely, cause a feeling of cheerfulness, a surge of strength and joy.

Fortunately, those times have sunk into oblivion when in the arrangement of the interior they were guided exclusively by pragmatic considerations of expediency and utilitarian benefits. The desire to fully follow in this often very dubious criteria of fashion and prestige also ceases to be the main thing, but the personal and psychological aspect of the design of the room comes to the fore. Apartment or a private house gradually become not just a space for life, but a kind of expression inner peace owners. The style of the home is focused, first of all, on creating a comfortable and harmonious psychological climate, and with a careful selection of all design components, it can serve as a kind of passive psychotherapist.

Psychological design examines the complex of interactions in the "person-environment" system. This is the psychological rationale for design. Justification of its causality, its existence in general, its components in a broad sense and in each specific case.

Psi-design is based on data from general psychology, social psychology (design as a channel of media systems), ethnopsychology, ethnography, sociology (an approach from the point of view of design globalization), philosophy, cultural studies, synergetics, information science and physics.

Psi-design assimilates data from all ways of knowing reality - science, art, religion, etc., as well as empirically accumulated knowledge of traditional teachings.

The structure of psi-design includes consideration of two-way relationships between a person and the environment: videoecology, color and light psychology, psychology of form, psychology of materials science, psychology of composition, psychology of individual differences, etc.

IN applied aspect psi design is divided into three main sections:

- the formation of the integrity of ideas about the environment of human existence (in other words, diagnostics of the environment as a point of application of the transformative impact of design),

- research methods of specific situations and interactions in the "person-environment" system,

- design recipe for the formation of the environment.

Psi-design develops non-standard and independent thinking, creativity, breadth of outlook on the world of things and Nature, their connections. The one who has mastered it opens up new bottomless sources for creativity, inspiration, intuition. From that moment on, life becomes clearer, more meaningful, brighter, more interesting, "tastier", its quality increases many times over. And no witchcraft.

Psychology is interesting to everyone, because it concerns everyone. Because she is about the secrets of the psyche, she deeply knows about us even what we do not know ourselves. Supposedly we do not know. In fact, not so deep, not everything and not always right. But he tries. Conducts research, collects statistics, analyzes. He is often fond of theorizing and thinks like science for the sake of science. But its applied part works, though not one hundred percent. Still, the main developments were made a long time ago and, most importantly, in the West. The basis was European thinking. Both subjects and psychologists.

As a result, the methods do not fully fit the Russian mentality, and often do not suit at all for understanding the “mysterious Russian soul”. Strictly speaking, just as it is impossible to compare the intelligence of representatives of different cultures with each other, so it is impossible to apply the techniques created in a different mentality to analyze a different mentality.

To design in last years show increased attention. First, this is a new phenomenon for us. Secondly, interesting. Finally, simply beautiful. And few people realize how influential. In terms of influence on a person as an environmental factor. Nobody argues anymore about the importance of ecology as an environmental factor. Moreover, all the troubles are now being placed in this area. But the subject environment has no less influence on a person. From this point of view, it is the responsibility of the designer to ensure that this impact is positive and not negative. This is a separate topic, but let's say that violation of the rules of videoecology can lead to diseases, including provoking mental disorders. And the sick person will never guess that the reason is poor design.

The second reason is that the designer often cannot take the position of the customer and design the environment for him. When fulfilling an order, he expresses his worldview, is guided by his own taste. No wonder almost everyone complains about psychological problems with the customer as basic. It has already become common place... A designer is the same person with his own system of views, and even if he tries to adapt to the taste of the customer, he rarely gets into the top ten. Lack of objectivity.

In addition, designers often act dishonestly, they "take the customer into circulation", impose their taste and preferences. Many people do this unintentionally. Partly due to the fact that the customer himself does not know what he wants. And even if he formulates his wishes, it is not at all a fact that in the realized form they will not harm him in the future. After all, the customer's desire can be dictated by mood, fashion, someone's clue.

To be honest in the profession, we must admit that a designer, although he is an artist, is still a person from the service sector. That is, "what you please." A designer is obliged (literally like a doctor) to love all his customers (patients), to love all styles (diseases), all colors (syndromes) and textures, and to skillfully operate with them. But even that is not enough. There is a lack of a tool for objectifying a design solution.

It turned out, however, that the creation of such psychological method really. Moreover, it has already been developed and tested. The beauty is that it helps to avoid subjectivity on both sides of the contract and, with a greater degree of certainty, determine what the customer actually wants. As a result, a unique "design recipe" is formulated for this customer. Similar to custom tailoring in the atelier. Specific recommendations are given on the style, shape, space, texture of materials, light, according to the mental disposition of the individual. If the customer is a family, then an average general recipe is issued without "harmful" factors for any of its members.

As a result, the designer manages to express the customer's worldview and sense of self by means of the interior. It is not easy to turn a client into a co-author (then the size of the fee will look unprofitable for the designer), but “to sew a suit according to the figure”.

It is also very noteworthy that the technique provides a real opportunity to exert a therapeutic effect by means of the interior. Yes, physics, in particular, new sections - synergetics and eniology.

Of course, in fairness, it must be said that the psychological technique is not a device, for the use of which you need to know several buttons. It is necessary to acquire a minimum of psychological knowledge on the interpretation of the data obtained. But this is quite real for an ordinary person and does not require deep knowledge.

The psychological approach to interior design conventionally includes two main functions. The most widespread and well-known harmonizing function is when the atmosphere of a single room or the whole house reflects a person's temperament, habits and worldview. The task of such a room is to create an atmosphere of harmony and peace. Bold and non-trivial decisions are hardly justified here. In fact, such a technique presupposes the passivity of the interior in relation to its owner. Thanks to the optimal combination of shades and textures of finishing materials, as well as decorative elements and accessories, the interior adjusts to a particular individual, being a continuation of his inner self.

The second, much more interesting function can be called stimulating. Design now plays an active role: it favorably accentuates certain features of the owner's character and temperament, or, conversely, smooths out and neutralizes unwanted traits. For example, such an interior can balance an impulsive choleric person or inspire a melancholic who is prone to depression. It is no secret that the popularity of Feng Shui these days is largely due to the variety of methods of organizing stimulating spaces that this ancient teaching offers. However, the followers of Feng Shui look even deeper, claiming that the correct arrangement can mysteriously influence not only the psyche of the inhabitants of the house, but also the events in their lives, business and personal success. Of course, a room design that combines both stimulating and harmonizing functions could be considered ideal.

Interior design begins with the layout of the premises, with the creation of a certain structure of the interior space. From the point of view of psychology, such structuring is of paramount importance. In fact, she sets the rhythm of life in the house and often dictates specific models of the relations of its inhabitants with each other and with guests. Although the options for spatial planning are countless, they can be reduced to two main types: indoor and outdoor interiors. A closed interior implies a clear and fixed division of a single whole into several isolated rooms, each of which performs specific function... For example, a living room cannot be a dining room, and a bedroom cannot be a study. From a psychological point of view, privacy, and even the intimacy of the owners of the premises, is at the forefront here. An open interior, on the other hand, is a design embodiment of the concept of an accessible society, demonstrating a kind of show-off life, an active, dynamic and communicative style of behavior and, possibly, the priority of public and business interests over personal ones.

Research types and focus

How to use research to transform disorganized creative process into a technological chain of actions that lead to a predictable result.

Designers with extensive experience sometimes ignore the research stage, running out of the fact that they have many patterns of ready-made solutions accumulated in their heads. But there is a high degree of randomness in this - you can make a mistake and use the wrong pattern, or you simply don’t find what you need. It is even more difficult for novice designers.

Research helps both, allowing you to formalize the design process, qualitatively (with deep immersion and high level) develop analytics and creative concept in the allotted time.

Any disorganized creative process is like a black box. You give the designer a task, he disappears for a week, then he brings something. It is not clear what was happening at this time and where it came from. Magic. This poses two big problems:

1. The decision is highly dependent on the life experience of the designer... The more a designer knows about the world around him, the more likely he is to draw a good design. This is a limitation. Quality is determined by subjective parameters, but should be stable.

2. It is impossible to plan the work in terms of time and result... If you hope only for inspiration, illumination and divine providence, then sometimes it happens that the result is obtained in three days. But if you have not guessed correctly, then the solution of the problem takes three weeks.

To open the black box, you need to understand what stages the process consists of and formalize it. Then the result will be predictable.

It is very important to analyze the design process in order to move further beyond the initial ideas and pop-up images. As a result, you do it all on autopilot, freeing your head to get an extraordinary result.

Sign of stagnation - if you think the same way as before. This is a signal: most likely, you have stopped developing. A good sign when from project to project all processes look more and more technological and the range of processed conventions tends to infinity. This is the only way to "dig up" really worthwhile solutions.

Better not to use the word "guessed". It is better to appeal with facts, whether the problem was solved or not. "No" - when the solution does not stand up to criticism, and this happens if the result is based on an intuitive search. The result should always be based only on the rational and logical.

What does research do?

Immerses the designer in context, and decisions become reasoned. The designer offers not just something cool, but builds logical relationships.

Allows you to build relationships with the customer more efficiently. Research is communication. You study not just the business, but also the customer and his client, and in the process you begin to better understand what the user needs, what the customer wants and how to implement it.

Primary research

Primary research is a method of collecting information through direct interaction: interviews, observation, conducting experiments, etc.

Primary research is divided into qualitative ( in-depth interviews, observation of a person all day long) and quantitative (statistics, polls, site analytics).

Among qualitative research allocate:

Ethnography- learning method Everyday life consumers. Method name borrowed from historical science when ethnographers, examining unfamiliar tribes, describe the way of life of people in order to understand their motives and actions. Ethnography is used when information about target audience is minimal. Observations make it possible to understand different scenarios of user behavior and "entry points" - in which situations a person needs to use the product.

Reflection- self-observation, analysis own experience... Fixation and awareness of their feelings and experiences.

Shadow method- repetition of human actions. For example, you record user behavior on the site, and then copy, marking significant points.

Observations are recorded using a camera, audio and video recordings. Record the conversation on a dictaphone, send the recording for transcript, and you will have a ready-made document that will help you return to any point in the conversation. Take pictures of the people you are interviewing. If in the future another person will work with the material, the photo will help to better understand the user. Capture the interaction with the product on camera, and then you can watch the video and see some moments that you did not notice immediately.

In UX design, research is a fundamental part of solving relevant problems and / or reducing to the “right” problems that users face. A designer's job is to understand their users. This means going beyond initial assumptions to put yourself in the shoes of other people in order to create products that meet a person's needs.

Good research doesn't just end with good data, it ends with good design and functionality that users love, want, and need.

Design research is often overlooked as designers focus on what design looks like. This leads to a superficial understanding of the people for whom it is intended. Having such a mindset is contrary to what isUX... It's user-centric.

UX design is centered around research to understand people's needs and how the products or services we create will help them.

Here are some research techniques that every designer should know when starting a project, and even if they don't do research, they can communicate better with UX researchers.

Primary research

Primary research essentially boils down to new data to understand who you are designing for and what you plan to design for. This allows us to test our ideas with our users and develop more meaningful solutions for them. Designers typically collect this kind of data through interviews with individuals or with small groups, using surveys or questionnaires.

It is important to understand what you want to research before you stop looking for people, and the type or quality of the data you want to collect. In an article from the University of Surrey, the author draws attention to two important points that should be taken into account when conducting primary research: validity and practicality.

Validity of data refers to the truth, it is what it tells about the studied subject or phenomenon. It is possible that the data is reliable without being well founded.

The practical aspects of the research should be carefully considered when designing the research project, for example:

- cost and budget
- time and scale
- sample size

Bryman in his book Methods social research (2001) identifies four types of validity that can influence the results obtained:

  1. Validity of measurement or validity of design: whether the measurable measure uses what it claims.

That is, do church attendance statistics really measure the strength of religious belief?

  1. Internal validity: refers to causality and determines whether the conclusion of a study or theory is developed as a true reflection of causes.

That is, is unemployment really the cause of crime, or are there other explanations?

  1. External validity: considers whether the results of a particular study can be generalized to other groups.

That is, if one kind of community development approach is used in this region, will it have the same impact elsewhere?

  1. Environmental soundness: considers “… social scientific outcomes are appropriate for day-to-day natural environment people ”(Bryman, 2001)

That is, if the situation is observed in a false situation, how can this affect the behavior of people?

Secondary research

Secondary research uses existing data such as the Internet, books, or articles to support your design choices and the context behind your design. Secondary studies are also used as a means to further validate information from primary studies and create a stronger case for overall design. Typically, secondary studies have already summarized the analytical picture of existing studies.

It's okay to only use secondary research to evaluate your design, but if you have the time I would definitely recommended doing primary research along with secondary research to really understand who you are developing and collecting ideas for that are more relevant and compelling than existing data. When you collect user data specific to your design, this will generate best ideas and the best product.

Evaluation studies

Evaluation studies describe a specific problem to ensure usability and justify it by needs and desires real people... One way to conduct evaluative research is to use your product and give them questions or assignments to reason out loud as they try to complete a task. There are two types of assessment studies: summing and forming.

Summative evaluation study... Summative evaluation aims to understand the results or effects of something. She emphasizes the result more than the process.

Pooled research can measure things like:

  • Finance: Impact in terms of costs, savings, profits, etc.
  • Impact: broad effect, both positive and negative, including depth, spread and time factor.
  • results: Whether desired or unwanted effects have been achieved.
  • Secondary analysis: Analyze existing data for more information.
  • Meta-analysis: integration of the results of several studies.

Formative evaluative research... Formative assessment is used to help strengthen or improve a person or item being tested.

Formative research can measure things like:

  • Implementation: monitoring the success of a process or project.
  • Needs: a look at the type and level of need.
  • Potential: the ability to use information to form a goal.

Exploratory research


Combining pieces of data and making sense of them is part of the exploratory research process.

Exploratory research is conducted around a topic that little or no one knows about. The purpose of exploratory research is to gain a deep understanding and familiarity with this topic, immersing yourself as much as possible in it, in order to create direction for the potential use of this data in the future.

With exploratory research, you have the opportunity to get new ideas and create worthy solutions to your most significant problems.

Exploratory research allows us to validate our assumptions about a topic that is often overlooked (i.e. prisoners, homeless people), providing an opportunity to generate new ideas and developments for existing problems or opportunities.

Based on an article from Lynn University, exploratory research tells us that:

  1. Design is a convenient way to get background information on a specific topic.
  2. Exploratory research is flexible and can address research questions of all types (what, why, how).
  3. Provides the ability to define new terms and clarify existing concepts.
  4. Exploratory research is often used to generate formal hypotheses and to develop more precise research problems.
  5. Exploratory research helps to prioritize research.

Clinical trial design

Design clinical research is the plan for its implementation. The design of a particular clinical study depends on the objectives of the study. Consider three common design options:

Clinical study in one group (single group design)

Clinical study in parallel groups (parallel group design)

· Clinical study in "crossover model" (crossover group design)

Clinical study in one group

(single group design)

When a study is conducted in one group, all subjects receive the same experimental treatment. This study model aims to compare treatment outcomes with baseline conditions. Thus, subjects are not randomized to treatment groups.

The single-group clinical trial model can be illustrated as follows:

Screening - Inclusion - Baseline - Treatment - Outcomes

The one-group model can be used in phase I research. Single group study models are usually not used in phase III clinical trials.

The main disadvantage of the single-group study model is the lack of a comparison group. The effects of experimental treatments cannot be differentiated from those of other variables.

Parallel group clinical trial

(parallel group design)

When conducting clinical trials in parallel groups, subjects of two or more groups receive different therapies. For achievement statistical validity(to exclude bias), the subjects are distributed into groups by random distribution (randomization).

The parallel group clinical trial model can be illustrated as follows:

Treatment a - Outcomes a

Treatment b - Outcomes b

Where a, b are different drugs or different doses or placebo

Clinical trials in parallel group design are expensive, time consuming and require a large number of subjects (with a low incidence of the events being considered). However, clinical studies in parallel groups are the most objective in determining the effectiveness of treatment and accurate in formulating conclusions. Most clinical trials are thus conducted in a parallel group design.

Sometimes parallel group studies can be used in two versions - factorial and heterogeneous models.

Factorial design is a design based on the existence of several (more than 2) parallel groups. Such studies are carried out when it is necessary to study a combination of different drugs (or different doses of the same drug).

The factorial model of a clinical trial can be illustrated as follows:

Screening - Inclusion - Preparatory period - Baseline - Randomization -

Treatment a - Outcomes a

Treatment b - Outcomes b

Treatment c - Outcomes c

Treatment c - Outcomes c

Where a, b, c, d are different drugs or different doses or placebo

The factorial model is useful in evaluating combination medicines.

The disadvantage of the factorial model is the need to attract a large number of subjects and, as a consequence, increase the cost of conducting research.

Withdrawal (Discontinuation) Design

A heterogeneous model is a variant of a parallel group study in which all subjects first receive experimental treatment and then randomize patients with appropriate responses to either blinded, double-controlled technology or placebo to continue the experimental treatment. This model is usually used to assess the effectiveness of experimental treatment by stopping the drug as soon as a reaction occurs and registering a relapse or remission. In fig. 5 shows a diagram of a heterogeneous research model.

Screening - Inclusion - Experimental Treatment - Treatment Response - Randomization of Treatment Responders - Treatment or Placebo

The heterogeneous research model is especially effective for evaluating drugs for the treatment of intractable diseases. In such studies, only a small percentage of subjects show a response to treatment.

During the treatment period, responses are identified and a heterogeneous randomization phase is used to demonstrate that the response is real and not a response to placebo. In addition, heterogeneous models are used to study relapse.

The disadvantages of heterogeneous models are:

· a large number of subjects who initially receive treatment to detect responses

Considerable duration of the study

The preparatory period should last long enough so that the patient's condition stabilizes and the effect is more clearly identified. medicinal product... It should be noted that the percentage of subjects excluded from these studies can be high.

Ethical standards require careful consideration of the application of this research model due to the fact that when using it, it may be necessary to exclude from therapy the drug that brings relief to patients. Rigorous monitoring and clear definition of endpoint metrics are paramount.

"Cross" model

(Crossover Design)

In contrast to parallel group study designs, crossover models allow the effects of both study drugs and comparative courses of treatment to be assessed on the same subjects. The subjects are randomized into groups in which the same course of treatment is carried out, but with a different sequence. As a rule, a "wash-off" period is necessary between courses in order for the patient's indicators to return to their initial values, as well as in order to exclude the undesirable influence of the residual effects of the previous treatment on the effects of the subsequent one. The "wash-off" period is not necessary if the analyzes of the individual reactions of the subject are limited to their comparison at the end of each course, and the treatment period lasts long enough. Some "crossover" models use upfront "crossover", which means that patients who are excluded from studies at the treatment stage can be transferred to alternative treatment groups earlier than planned.

Screening - Preparatory period - Condition monitoring - Randomization - Treatment A in group 1 and Treatment B in group 2 - Washing period - Treatment B in group 1 and Treatment A in group 2

Cross-sectional models are commonly used to study pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics when the task is to control variability within a population of subjects. In addition, it is fair to assume that the effects of the first course do not affect the second in pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies with a sufficient "wash-off" period.

Crossover models are more economical than parallel group models because fewer test subjects are required. However, sometimes there are difficulties in interpreting the results. The effects of one therapy can be mixed with those of the next. It can be difficult to distinguish the effects of sequential treatments from those of individual courses. In clinical trials, the crossover model is usually more time consuming than parallel group studies, since each patient undergoes at least two treatment periods plus a washout period. This model also requires obtaining more characteristics for each patient.

If the clinical conditions are relatively constant throughout the study period, then the crossover model is effective and reliable.

The relatively low sample size requirements make crossover models useful in early clinical development to facilitate decision making about larger parallel study models. Since all subjects receive the study medicinal product then "cross-sectional" studies are also effective in assessing safety.