Skip to main content
Shikake: The Japanese Art of Shaping Behavior Through Design

Shikake: The Japanese Art of Shaping Behavior Through Design

Current price: $18.95
Publication Date: November 3rd, 2020
Publisher:
Liveright
ISBN:
9781631497810
Pages:
192

Description

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up meets Nudge in this irresistible design method from Japan.

We are living in a time when behavioral change is necessary for our health and survival. Yet we find it exceedingly difficult to transform our own habits, let alone those of other people. Enter Naohiro Matsumura, whose powerful new design method is as astonishingly simple in its logic as it is sophisticated in its psychology. It allows any of us—from UX designers and marketers to concerned citizens and overworked parents—to address challenges in our homes, our public spaces, and our social interactions.

As Matsumura shows, a shikake—or “device” in Japanese—is a design that exerts influence on us through subtle nudging, rather than direct command; it encourages a particular behavior without telling its (often unwitting) user the primary purpose of that behavior. For example:

• Footprints in a store guide shoppers and keep them socially distant
• A basketball hoop placed over a trash can entices children to tidy up their rooms
• A symbol of a shrine in a public square encourages respectfulness
• A staircase painted to look like piano keys prompts exercise through play

Combining traditional Japanese aesthetics with the lessons of behavioral economics, Matsumura reveals how to identify the hidden design cues that already shape our world, and how shikakes can help us confront some of the most pressing challenges of our era, from pandemics to declining civic engagement to climate change and beyond. Mind-bending yet elegant, Shikake presents a tool kit for anyone who wants to create their own mindful designs, for the delight and betterment of us all.

About the Author

Naohiro Matsumura is a professor in the Graduate School of Economics at Osaka University. He lives in Osaka, Japan.

Praise for Shikake: The Japanese Art of Shaping Behavior Through Design

Matsumura’s collection of ‘shikake’ ideas and theories embody the timeless Japanese pride in the design of ‘cleverness’. . . . The shikake book is a useful ‘shikake’ itself for planning and creating experiences that can deliver higher customer lifetime value.
— Dr. John Maeda, former president of the Rhode Island School of Design and author of The Laws of Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life

Whether you work in marketing, product design, or merely want to delight and inspire your customers and colleagues, Matsumura’s powerful, inclusive method will show you how to create sustainable behavioral change.
— Nir Eyal, best-selling author of Hooked and Indistractable