Human-Focused Design goes beyond just creating experiences that cater to the needs and preferences of users. Instead, it emphasizes understanding and leveraging the core drivers of human motivation to make experiences more engaging, fulfilling, and ultimately enjoyable.
By incorporating these motivators into the design process, Human-Focused Design aims to create a deeper, more intrinsic connection between users and the experiences or products being designed. This approach not only improves usability and satisfaction but also fosters long-term engagement and loyalty, ultimately leading to more successful and meaningful outcomes for both users and organizations.
Transform Your Workplace Through the Science of Human Motivation
The Power of Games
Games serve no other purpose than to please the humans playing them. No one ever has to play a game. The reason we call this design discipline "Gamification" is because the gaming industry was the first to master Human-Focused Design.
Games have the amazing ability to keep people engaged for long periods of time, building meaningful relationships between people and develop their creative potential. Through gamification, we can tap into this potential and apply it to our businesses. Looking through the lens of games, we can understand how to combine different mechanics and techniques to encourage desired behaviors, and create joyful experiences for everyone.
Assessing Your Organization: The HEXAD Model
The Hexad Model, developed by Andrzej Marczewski, is a gamification framework that classifies users into six distinct player types based on their intrinsic motivations and behaviors. These types are Achievers, Explorers, Socializers, Philanthropists, Players, and Disruptors. Understanding the composition of your company in terms of these player types can offer valuable insights into what motivates your employees, allowing you to tailor your approach and strategies to foster higher levels of engagement, satisfaction, and productivity.
Achievers are motivated by personal accomplishments, mastery, and goal completion.
Explorers seek to understand the world around them, constantly learning and discovering new things.
Socializers are driven by social connections and interactions with others.
Philanthropists find fulfillment in contributing to the greater good, helping others, and making a difference.
Players are motivated by rewards, recognition, and extrinsic incentives.
Disruptors challenge the status quo and aim to drive change, even if it's through unorthodox means.
By understanding the predominant player types within your organization, you can create more effective and targeted strategies, including communication campaigns, incentive programs, and workplace initiatives. This tailored approach enables you to better resonate with your employees' motivations and interests, ultimately leading to a more engaged and committed workforce that can achieve its full potential.
Our Design Process: Applying Octalysis
The Octalysis Framework, developed by Yu Kai Chou, is an innovative gamification model that uncovers the key drivers of human motivation. It identifies eight core elements, or "octalysis drives," that influence human behavior and engagement. By incorporating these principles into the design process, the Octalysis Framework allows organizations to create deeply engaging and intrinsically motivating experiences for their employees.
Epic Meaning & Calling
Development & Accomplishment
Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback
Ownership & Possession
Social Influence & Relatedness
Scarcity & Impatience
Unpredictability & Curiosity
Loss & Avoidance
Human-Focused Design, as embodied by the Octalysis Framework, prioritizes understanding and leveraging these intrinsic motivators when building experiences for organizations. This approach is superior to function-focused design, which tends to concentrate on practicality and efficiency without considering the emotional and psychological aspects that drive long-term engagement.
By embracing Human-Focused Design, organizations can craft experiences that not only cater to their employees' functional needs but also ignite passion, foster a sense of purpose, and facilitate meaningful connections. This holistic approach creates a more fulfilling and rewarding work environment that inspires employees to perform at their best, stay loyal to the organization, and truly invest in its long-term success. In this way, human-focused design using the Octalysis Framework becomes an essential tool for building sustainable engagement and thriving corporate cultures.
