Design Can Change Behavior: A Workshop

David Barringer

A work of graphic design can inspire people to change their behavior. People are usually in a hurry and on their way to somewhere else. They are here, but they are on their way there. They are in this restroom, but they are on their way to the office, the airplane, or the theater. A work of graphic design, like a poster, can stop that person in their tracks and invite them to take a closer look.

That response alone has changed behavior: The poster has made them look. But that work of graphic design has a message, and the message is about making that person do something else: ride a bike to work, see a play this Saturday, or wash their hands right that second.

Changing people’s behavior is ...

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