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ai r c raf t inter iorsinternat ional . com 029
JUNE 2019
PA SSENGER B E HAV IOUR
Crisis response
Visual cues are only one example of nudging design.
It is also possible to nudge using structure, texture, scent,
sound or even through the power of suggestion, which
can make nudging compatible with universal and
accessible design.
Krukow says that even when we start with a good
baseline of cues, it becomes too easy to design away from
nudging because we are thinking in different ways when
we add new steps, products or services. “Somehow over
time we develop all these other systems and we forget
what is intuitive and easy for us to follow,” she says.
“We start writing things, and we write them in different
languages, and all of a sudden we have created this whole
map of complexity.”
To avoid this, a nudging design audit should be
undertaken before applying changes. “What it requires
from the aviation companies is that they start being a
tourist in their own passenger journey. They have to be
able to see what the barriers are that they have created
for passengers,” she says.
PREPARING TO NUDGE
Projects to identify nudging opportunities and deploy
solutions can take around two months, Krukow says, if
focusing on specific goals to change behaviour. A project’s
scope could be to achieve goals such as shortening
boarding times by ensuring passengers arrive at the
gate on time, or it could encompass the improvement
of take-off time by monitoring passengers’ decisions
from boarding to take-off.
“We move in and we map the existing passenger
behaviour, and that can be very specific,” Krukow says.
“You use data and observation to map out the different
actions, the different steps in the journey, and then
describe those. What you are really looking for is to
identify the barriers keeping us from succeeding.”
When Krukow runs master classes in nudge
design, the team focuses on three specific categories
of behavioural barrier. The first is to find the steps that
push people into a system two decision-making process.
Another barrier is the need to identify social proof,
in which our decision making is overridden by what
others are doing.
“Social proof has to do with our pack mentality,
which means that we copy each other. In a situation like
boarding the airplane, we have a very strong tendency to
look at everyone else and copy their behaviour,” Krukow
explains. “We say, ‘The flight attendant may have told
me to go right, but everyone is going left so I am
going to do the same.’ That can be a barrier to doing
the right thing in a specific situation.”
The last barrier is physical, whereby the
product, as designed, prevents positive behaviour
or facilitates negative behaviour.
“If we don’t have room for our cabin baggage,
we are not going to put it in the right areas. If we
Of course, sometimes there is a life-threatening
situation to manage, and nudging design can
help airlines ensure that passengers heed safety
instructions, even when they’ve forgotten them.
“When we are in an emergency situation, system
one kicks in,” Krukow says. “That means you are not
thinking – you are reacting intuitively. Of course, it’s
good to give safety instructions, as this gives people
a sense that they know what they should be doing,
but when you are in an emergency situation, it is the
surroundings that should guide you.”
Because passengers act on instinct, it is important
that systems and structures not only encourage
proper behaviour but also discourage negative
behaviours that might cost lives. Krukow believes
that in some areas, such as emergency doors,
aircraft design has already adopted some nudging
design principles, although she feels that more may
be needed. “In the case of an emergency, people
often jump up to get their luggage, so we need to
prevent that by implementing barriers,” she says.
Adding barriers to the process to nudge people
away from bad behaviour is another element of the
tool kit. “Look at making the inappropriate behaviour
a little more difficult, either more time consuming or
harder to get to. Today, if you look at an emergency
exit there are built-in barriers keeping people from
just pulling the handle for fun. You always see a
piece of glass or plastic, or something else that you
have to pull off. That’s a built-in barrier that keeps a
child or anyone else from pulling on the handle. We
have to think in that way – in the opposite direction.”
“Aviation companies have to
see the barriers that they have
created for passengers”