social proof – Persuasion | CMU School of Design

Alice Cai (Communications), Annalisa Pao (Products)

We all remember the awkward day when we sat down and had “the Talk” with our parents. Or do we?

Many parents forego having what society has labeled “difficult” conversations about sex, gender, and sexuality with their children. This can be for a number of reasons: fearing that their child will lose their innocence, thinking that they might tell their child too much, believing that discussion of these topics might encourage their children towards unwanted experimentation, etc. While intended to be in the best interest of the child, this parenting style, which we have named the Connect-the-Dots approach, creates a rigid framework that a child is expected to follow. By not providing resources and open dialogue in the formative years of self-discovery, parents raise their child in a manner that presents numerous challenges with emotional and physical consequences.

Instead, we propose that parents should follow what we call the Blank Canvas approach. Rather than outlining a path, parents should provide the tools and foundation for their child to discover their own identity in a safe, happy, and healthy way. Parents do not have to be experts in every topic—they just need to provide an open, safe, and non-judgmental environment to have open conversations with their children.

^Explore parent and child testimonials on experiences with Connect the Dots approach and Blank Canvas approach.

Our interactive article is meant to persuade parents to provide their child with a Blank Canvas. It provides real stories of how children raised on the Connect-the-Dots approach were affected and provides insights into how some parents are tackling a Blank Canvas approach with their own children. The article also offers key organizations, educational articles, and comprehensive resource guides so that parents have a strong starting point to begin these conversations.

Resources and Articles for further reading

Interact with our prototype here: https://www.figma.com/proto/IQ6XEkcORTyC6dI8skvJY2/Destigmatize-Sex?node-id=4%3A28&scaling=min-zoom&page-id=0%3A1

Nudge: dine with joy

Angela Lee (C), Joseph Zhang (C), and Yoshi Torralva (C) / Dining service that encourages social, in-person dining

Tactics: behavior change, social proof, plain folk, emotional engagement, visual persuasion

Overview

As social media algorithms push recommendations based on who you know and what you like, social circles and, as a result people’s perspectives, have become more siloed. In order to broaden people’s relationships and minds, we are proposing a dining service that offers in-person dining experiences at discount prices with the condition that you will be dining with 2-4 strangers.

As communication designers, we relied on visual persuasion through color, typeface, and layout to create a lively, inviting mood. Studies have shown that people associate food with the colors red and yellow, so we opted for a warm color palette, paired with rounded type to evoke a friendly personality.

Social Media Campaign

We designed a digital campaign of posts and physical merchandise to launch this new service. These posts will be spread via Facebook and Instagram’s business advertisement and catered towards young adults in busy metropolitan areas. In our social media campaign, we relied heavily on the persuasive tactic of social proof by creating reviews, crowdsourcing images and quotes from real users, and telling their stories. We also leveraged the tactic of emotional engagement particularly through the quote posts, which piques viewers’ curiosity through a catchy line and also frames the service through real users’ stories. Furthermore, we use plain folks appeal through pop culture references (e.g. our screencap with Yoon Seri from Crash Landing on You), the use of colloquial language, and humor.

Other Collateral & Signage

To better design for behavior change, we have design visual cues for both users and non-users alike to remind them of the service offered; thus, we designed a takeout bag and signage for restaurants.