Design, Science and Information

for Retail News Magazine 3/2019

The Effectiveness of Design Should Be Evident in the Brain’s Reactions, Which in Turn Influence Our Behavior and Actions.

Let’s view design as a mirror—its reflection is our reaction.

Understanding those reactions is supported by various scientific disciplines: neuromarketing, psychology, and behavioral economics, among others.

Professionals who use design in any aspect of their work must understand the mechanisms behind human behavior to make informed decisions and achieve effective outcomes.

Naturally, the perceived importance of design differs across cultures and communities. However, basic cognitive mechanisms—those embedded in our brain’s function—are largely universal and deeply rooted in evolution. Once we identify and understand these mechanisms, we can align with them and even influence them to elicit desired responses.

The Role of Brain Sciences

While detailed scientific data is available to academia, it is often not directly accessible or applicable in everyday practice. Designers, however, who are trained in creative and conceptual thinking, should also be well-versed in these insights and be able to apply them in real-world settings.

We all know not everyone possesses an "academic brain," and in this age of information overload, gaining someone’s attention—be it a customer or a professional peer—is increasingly rare and precious.

When someone gives you their attention, they’re lending you a part of their consciousness. Making the most of that attention doesn’t mean overwhelming them with information. It means delivering targeted, high-quality content, where each element carries strategic importance.

And this is where design steps in again. It's not just about visuals—it’s about function.

How to Persuade Today’s Customer? With Design.

The mission of design is to enable information to move from short-term to long-term memory. Designers should guide customers toward remembering the intended message.

But just because someone sees something doesn’t mean they consciously process it. That’s why we turn again to scientific research.

How do we convince today’s overstimulated, impatient, and distracted customer?

Through design.

By breaking down information into segments and applying models from cognitive science—like AGES (Attention, Generation, Emotion, Spacing).

In practice, this means:

• Capturing attention using proven tools.

• Helping users generate their own meaning and context, embedding the message in their memory network.

• Activating emotions—especially strong ones like anger, joy, surprise, sadness, or fear—to intensify the experience.

• Ensuring repetition at the right time intervals.

The execution—videos, infographics, layouts—is just the method. The underlying concept is what matters.

Design isn’t just about transmitting information.It’s about organizing it and defining clear functions to activate the brain’s natural processes.

Well-crafted design transforms complex, technical data into digestible formats. It bridges the gap between specialized fields and makes them understandable to potential customers.

Final Thought

In the Czech market, the value of design is still not fully appreciated, even though it can often be measured in pure economic terms.