How can we design persuasive, emotionally resonant, and trustworthy digital experiences—without exploiting users?
In SI 611: Behavioral & Humane Design, you’ll explore how behavioral science, emotional intelligence, and ethical UX principles come together to influence user behavior for the better. You'll learn to create applications that are not only effective but responsible—balancing business goals with user dignity.
This course offers advanced, graduate-level training in behavioral design, user psychology, emotional design, stakeholder persuasion, and UX metrics. You’ll build prototypes, run experiments, and present design outcomes to mock stakeholders—all while grounding your work in humane design practices that avoid deceptive or manipulative patterns.
Course Objectives
Students in this course will:
Apply behavioral frameworks (e.g., Fogg Behavior Model, Cialdini’s principles, nudges) to design ethically persuasive interfaces.
Analyze emotional journeys and design for positive experiences that build trust and reduce frustration.
Communicate the value of UX through data storytelling, A/B testing, and key performance metrics.
Align user needs with business goals, practicing stakeholder persuasion and strategic design communication.
Advocate for humane design—considering long-term impact, avoiding dark patterns, and designing for user well-being.
Your final deliverable is a persuasive portfolio case study that includes:
A full redesign of a public-facing website
A/B testing or unmoderated usability studies
UX and business metric analysis
A compelling stakeholder pitch that justifies your design decisions
Projects emphasize measurable improvements in engagement, conversion, trust, and retention—all backed by user data and business alignment.
🎯 Hands-On Projects
Redesign a real-world site that lacks credibility, emotional engagement, or persuasive clarity. Test and iterate using professional UX tools.
🧑💼 Stakeholder-Facing Skills
Present your work to simulated product teams and stakeholders. Learn how to justify your designs with evidence and confidently advocate for ethical UX.
🤝 Collaboration & Critique
Engage in studio-style critiques and peer feedback to sharpen your ideas and iterate with purpose.
📁 Career-Building Artifacts
Produce a standout case study for your UX portfolio—with psych storyboards, journey maps, behavior maps, metrics dashboards, and stakeholder-facing presentation slides.
🧠 Behavioral & Emotional UX Techniques
Use psychology-backed design strategies including nudges, habits, and emotional tracking to improve user engagement without manipulation.
📊 Metrics & Experimentation
Run A/B tests, track key metrics like NPS and CSAT, and interpret analytics to validate your work and demonstrate ROI.
🛡 Ethical & Humane Design Focus
Apply frameworks like the Black Mirror and Regret Tests to reduce harm, avoid deceptive patterns, and design with integrity.
Example Student Work
Student Feedback
“Changed how I think about website design—especially balancing business goals and user trust.”
“Really set me up for thinking about stakeholders and how they perceive design solutions.”
“Covered topics like humane design and business metrics that we don’t get elsewhere at UMSI.”
Theme Skills You’ll Build
Behavioral Design Behavior models (Fogg, BJ Fogg Maps), nudges, habits, stopping cues, friction, motivation, user activation
Persuasion Strategies Cialdini’s principles, behavioral economics, growth design, social proof, gamification
Emotional Design Peak-end rule, humor and delight, emotional mapping, System 1 & System 2 thinking
Trust & Ethics Trust signals, humane design tests (Black Mirror, Regret Test), avoiding deceptive patterns
UX Metrics & Validation UX Discovery, A/B testing, NPS/CSAT/WoMI, unmoderated usability tests, analytics, retention, funnel analysis
Stakeholder Persuasion Business alignment, ROI framing, pitch strategies, OKRs/KPIs, handling objections
Storytelling for UX Case study writing, psych storyboards, data storytelling, visual explanation tools
A portfolio-ready case study grounded in experimentation and business insight
Confidence in advocating for your designs—to teammates, clients, and product owners
A professional toolkit for influencing users and stakeholders, ethically
A humane design perspective that helps you make meaningful, principled choices in your work
Download the Syllabus