Design and media together are a powerful team in creating and shaping opinions, both positive and negative. Promoting adversarial relationships fuels negative emotions like fear and anger. As effective as this type of communication can be, it increases the divide between groups and can further enhance existing biases and conflicts.
Emotions are complicated and are controlled by many different factors. They are the subjects of a tremendous body of research and most recently brought forth as a topic of conversation through Pixar’s movie, Inside Out. This piece presents a design thinking approach to creating a more positive media message. Design thinking looks at the overall landscape of society and media and connects together the categories that affect our emotions in order to change the way they can shape their message. By reviewing these points with our media channels, design thinking can work to build a system that can inform, unify and ultimately produce a more sustainable future for us.
The Dark Side
“…beware of the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will…”
—Yoda (The Empire Strikes Back)
The dark side of the Force from the Star Wars movies is the foundation of the classic good vs. evil story line. Yoda instructs Luke Skywalker that it’s easier to follow negative feelings and emotions to the dark side. This isn’t science fiction. Our brains are wired to be more biased and sensitive towards negativity. Humans developed this trait in order to help avoid danger and threats.
Some current media channels focus on creating a very negative view and perception of our world. These media channels purposely design their editorial and visuals to create an adversarial or negative message. This negativity could have long-term effects on our behavior by contributing to stress, anxiety and depression. Because negativity bias focuses on people’s fears and worries it affects how you feel about pleasure and accomplishment. This anxiety can stop people from thinking outside of their comfort zone. This makes people afraid to take risks and shuts us off from thinking of new ideas and seeing opportunity. In the workplace, employees are more apt to remember negative interactions and are more likely to spread negativity to other people around them. Negativity bias behavior is an unsustainable way to function long-term.
Don’t worry, be happy
Conversely, happiness or positive thinking has a much different effect. Studies have shown that we are more creative when we are happy. While negativity bias is hard-wired into our brains, happiness is more complex and controlled by many different sources. It’s also harder to achieve, which means that creating a positive message requires a far more intensive and focused design system. Since we process information better when we are happy, positive emotions, such as joy and contentment, are associated with creative thinking and cognitive flexibility.
Happiness is best achieved when the strategy focuses people’s values and on long-term principles. A narrative surrounding the product and the user experience needs to be built on the memories of joy of anticipation and the fondness of remembering. The users then can be brought together to build a group bond and an emotional connection around the experience. This group interaction helps to make it stick.
Can a positive message be designed to be as effective as a negative one? Can we create a positive message that unifies instead of divides us? In many ways, President Obama’s 2008 Hope campaign followed this exact theme. The use of both digital and traditional media combined with the use of Shepard Fairey’s iconic image helped push the message of hope to millions of people was revolutionary at that time. The campaign was unprecedented in the way it was able to spread its positive message.
Social scientists have identified three sources of happiness: genes, events and values. About 50% of our ability to feel and manage our emotions is genetically hard-wired into our brains. Another 40% of our happiness is controlled by our memories of past isolated events. These help to shape our general attitude and outlook on life. What’s left is about 10% that has to do with faith, family, community and work. Since we cannot change our genetic coding, we need to focus on memories, values and connections to daily life when designing for happiness.
Use the power for good and not evil
According to Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman, “We make our decisions in terms of our memories.” In order to design for happiness, we need to present a positive expectation or anticipation. The message connects to the memories before and the expectation that is created afterwards. Researchers have found that more than half of our happiness is created around the moments of anticipation and remembering. The act of remembering connects to our values and our daily life. This is what makes it poignant and effective. In Obama’s campaign, it was the strategic narrative behind the concepts of hope and change that resonated.
Groups can have a powerful effect on individuals. A positive message around shared values can be promoted until a critical mass can be created within the group. This is accomplished by managing the speed at which the message tangibles are achieved (velocity) and the depth of the adoption of the message (mass) of the group communication and connection. The shared values of hope and change brought millions of people together in 2008. A positive message that has reached critical mass within a group will unify the people further. The power of the group can build on critical thinking and the sharing of ideas. But most of all, if you can reward the group for its knowledge the group will give back positive reinforcement.
With the proper guidance, groups can also be used to teach and enhance knowledge. A Harvard Business Review article by Sydney Finkelstein, a professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, discusses how Jon Stewart was able to get the most out of people at The Daily Show by creating an environment where groups were formed, so they could help and teach each other. Stewart’s personality and values connected to the other members of the show. This created a shared value and a common goal for the team. The success of this is embedded in Stewart’s unique leadership characteristics. He is equal parts humanizing, supportive and intensely focused on creating a perfect product. These are leadership qualities that connect to people and make them feel engaged and special. Any effective message needs to connect to the needs of the audience with a similar combination of authority, focus and empathy.
The challenge for design thinking and strategic design is to create the proper ecosystem that can drive a positive message through the noise of negativity. A positive message that makes people feel unique and special can invigorate and help create innovation and creativity, which in turn can spark more critical thinking and conversations. Although not everyone identifies themselves as a “designer,” we can all be creative and innovative.
Putting people in a positive frame of mind so that they’re open to new ideas is a step in the right direction. We’re a long way from that right now, but sometimes all it takes is a spark to create a movement.
– Identify the specific audience and their needs.
– Leaders need to champion the message and leadership style must resonate with the users.
– Create the appropriate message and content for the group; message empathetic to the audience’s needs is key!
– Build a communication system that can promote the velocity and mass of the message and promote it towards group critical mass.
– Design a narrative that builds on memories.
– Focus the storyline on the joy of anticipation and the fondness of remembering it.
– Deliver a positive message that touches their values.
– Let people remember the positive message together.
References:
Our Brain’s Negative Bias
Stress and Anxiety
Why Positive Encouragement Works Better than Criticism
A Formula for Happiness
The Science of Positive Thinking: How Positive Thoughts Build Your Skills, Boost Your Health, and Improve Your Work
6 Tips for Designing Happiness
How Effective Leaders Achieve Success in Critical Change Initiatives
Jon Stewart, Superboss
Happiness comes from intention, not luck
To Spark Creativity, Pursue Happiness