Choose images or words suggesting a specific concept you’d like associated with an interaction. This can include everything from subtle microcopy beneath a form field to the style of photography used on a page. You can set expectations and direct what is brought into short-term memory by choosing predictable associations. Also examine what is suggested by the imagery and language already on your site.

Are actions tied back to a profile or an identifying piece of information? In online social contexts, sharing actions (or a subset of actions) with others helps encourage good conduct. People build reputation through things like sharing information, connecting people, and keeping a record of their personal activities. While identity is often site-specific, consider ways to use the external identities people have built.

People have a general desire to be (and appear) consistent in their behavior. Ask someone to state a position, declare their intentions, or show a small gesture of support. Why? Generally, people will act in a manner consistent with these small requests, even if later asked to make a much larger (but consistent) commitment. Be careful: done poorly, these will be viewed as compliance tactics.

Are there opportunities to use visuals to create an emotional response or to speed up response time? If you blur all text, does the imagery convey what you want to communicate? Asking “Can a 5-year old understand this?” is a great way to uncover where text can be replaced or reinforced with an image. Use images to elicit emotions, to make literal associations (an icon or avatar) or suggestive associations (see “Priming”).

While scarcity is typically invoked to encourage purchasing behaviors, it can also be used to increase quality by giving people a limited resource—such as tokens—with which to vote up, purchase or upload items. This introduction of a limited resource encourages people to be more judicious with the actions they take.

‍

Imagine a page on your site blurred just enough to be unreadable. What content areas are visually connected? Should they be? What items aren’t connected but should be? This is especially useful with form design, spreadsheets and other areas where you have many discrete pieces of information that may or may not relate to each other.