Look at the way the text in the illustration above goes edge to edge with no margins at all. That is a CLASSIC example of 'design with intent' when the intent is to discourage the reading of some obligatory text - like the cancer warnings in a cigarette ad.

Are the naysayers here designers themselves that feel threatened by this simplified information or simply people that don’t design at all and think that producing a flawless final product on the first go is as easy as their morning deuce?

Don't feel the need to defend yourself, Dan. It's the internet.

I'm just surprised you're getting your doctorate making a list of other people's design ideas.

I'm always saddened by Lego kits on eBay which have been assembled and then taken apart and kept in the original box with the original instructions. What a narrow existence.

The point of the research really isn't 'knowing what's best' - it started out trying to identify these kinds of techniques designed into products / systems / environments so that (with a better understanding of how our behaviour's influenced) we could be much more aware of it (and where it's being used against our best interests as users). But there is a potential for applying many of the ideas to _help_ users instead - which is what the research is primarily about: designing things which help users use them in a more effective way (especially in ways which reduce environmental impact).

Seriously, we didn't 'draw straws to decide what to write a book about'. It's not a book, it's (at least at present) just a set of design ideas and patterns that's intended to help designers working on briefs where user behaviour is important, that I've developed and am testing as part of my PhD.

Thanks Alex for linking to it.