The Design Psychologist | Psychology for UX, Product, Service, Instructional, Interior, and Game Designers

Have you ever noticed how an unfinished task — or a cliffhanger at the end of a show — keeps tugging at your attention?

How can the Zeigarnik effect’s lingering cognitive tension help us design products, services, and experiences that people actually come back to and complete?

When you learn to harness the motivational pull of “unfinished business,” you can turn mundane flows into engaging journeys and guide users toward the outcomes...

Why is it so hard to change behavior—even when people already know exactly what to do?

Design your next learning experience so people don’t just understand what to do— they actually do it.

By uncovering the psychology behind the knowing–doing gap, you’ll gain practical tools to move your audience from passive understanding to sustained action.

Our guest, Julie Dirksen, has spent two decades helping organizations design training and pr...

In this episode, we uncover how the order in which information is presented affects what users remember—and what they forget. From the “primacy effect” that gives early items a cognitive boost, to the “recency effect” that gives the last ones staying power, you'll learn how sequence can make or break a design.

We explore:

• Why we remember the first and last items in a list better than the middle ones
• Why many designers mistake...

Why is it so hard to know whether people want to use what we design—not just whether they can?

Design research can (and should) go far beyond basic task success. Our guest Bill Albert joins us to show how to expand our measurement toolbox.

By learning to measure desirability, emotion, and true engagement, we unlock clearer insights, align teams faster, and invest only in ideas that will actually resonate.

WHAT WE C...

What happens when your design asks users to make too many choices? In this solo episode, we explore a deceptively simple principle with massive implications for user experience: Hick’s Law.

This law explains why more options mean more decision time—and why that’s not always a good thing.

From cluttered navigation to bloated dropdowns, we’ll break down how cognitive overload quietly slows users down. You'll learn when reducing ch...

Explaining an abstract idea can feel easy—until you put pen to paper. In this episode, our host sits down with Stephen P. Anderson to unpack the craft of turning complex concepts into clear, memorable visuals. Together they dig into the challenges of sketching an org chart, mapping a process, or nailing a scientific metaphor—and ask what really separates a helpful illustration from a confusing one. 

You’ll hear them explore: 

• Why...

How much can you trust what users tell you?

In this solo episode, we dive into one of the most slippery yet essential tools in UX research: self-reporting. From interviews to surveys, self-reports are everywhere—but they come with hidden psychological traps.

We explore:

• Why self-reported data can be both useful and misleading
• The psychological reasons people often misrepresent their own behavior
• When to trust what users say—and when...

Ever wonder how certain products feel inevitable the moment they appear—rearranging entire markets overnight? In this episode of The Design Psychologist, Thomas sits down with UX pioneer Larry Marine to unpack the mechanics of truly disruptive research—the kind that yields insights so fundamental they can’t be unseen.

Most teams unknowingly skip a handful of critical research steps, blinding themselves to the knowledge that changes ...

How many participants do you need to test in order to make valid research claims? In this episode, we dive deep into the science and psychology behind sample sizes in user testing. Whether you're working with five users or five hundred, the number you choose can shape the story your research tells—and how credible your findings appear to stakeholders.

• Why sample size is one of the most misunderstood elements in product rese...

In this episode of The Design Psychologist, we dive deep into the world of qualitative research and human-centered design with legendary UX thinker Indi Young. 

If you've ever felt like your user interviews only skim the surface—or if you've relied too heavily on personas—you might be missing the most powerful insights. Indi joins us to explore how deep, non-judgmental listening can revolutionize your understanding of user...

Why do some products feel natural the moment you touch them—while others are baffling from the start? 

In this episode, we explore the psychology of affordances—those subtle cues that tell us what to do next, without saying a word. From door handles to digital apps, we break down how great design speaks directly to human intuition.

You’ll learn:

• The psychological principles that make interfaces feel “just right”
  
  
  
• What...

In this episode, Thomas interviews Dr. Chris Wickens, a pioneer in cognitive engineering and human factors, and they discuss how designers can reduce errors and enhance decision-making when lives are on the line. They delve into the high-stakes world of design psychology for critical environments—think operating rooms, airplane cockpits, and military control systems. 

Together, they explore the real science of attention, what causes...

How do you figure out what features to build into your design?
How do you get those magical insights that actually improve your product—versus just shifting things around?

In this episode, we unpack one key distinction that helps design psychologists and UX researchers choose the right method at the right time: inductive vs. deductive research.

Imagine you have two different ideas for how to design an app for restaurant waitstaf...

Imagine dragging a jammed suitcase through a crowded airport—frustrating, right? Now imagine that same experience happening in your app, your website, or your product design. That’s performance load: the hidden mental and physical effort users endure when your design isn’t working for them.

In this episode, we take our first step into the world of design psychology by exploring the concept of performance load. You’ll learn how clutt...

Today on The Design Psychologist, we're diving deep into the intersection of psychology and design with none other than Susan Weinschenk, PhD—the person you’ll literally find next to the term “design psychologist” in the dictionary.  Susan is a pioneer in applying behavioral science to UX and product design, and the author of essential books like How to Get People to Do Stuff and 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About P...

What does the color of your brand really say about your business? Is there truth behind the popular color psychology charts? In this episode, we cut through the noise and explore the actual science behind color psychology—what it tells us, what it doesn't, and what that means for your branding decisions.

We’ll explore:

• Why some color associations (like “blue = trust”) persist—and whether they hold up under scrutiny
• The surpri...

This episode is an absolute masterclass in human-centered design, featuring Dr. John Whalen—cognitive scientist, seasoned UX expert, and author of Design for How People Think.

John introduces us to his powerful framework, The Six Minds of UX, which breaks down the complexity of user experience into six distinct cognitive lenses. Whether you’re designing a website, app, service, or physical product, these six minds offer a foolproof ...

In this teaser episode, host Thomas Watkins introduces The Design Psychologist—a podcast where human behavior meets design. Thomas shares what inspired him to bridge the gap between psychology and design, outlines what listeners can expect in future episodes, and invites you to explore how design shapes our thoughts, emotions, and actions. Whether you're a designer, psychologist, or curious thinker, this show is your gateway i...