We’ve been talking a lot about “seductive interactions” around here lately – having been inspired by recent Stephen Anderson presentations. Specifically, these are little design flourishes – that could relate to content, interaction, functionality, etc. that have the effect of engaging the user on a more emotional level with the task or interaction. Here’s a nice example I ran across today.

The image is part of the form to donate money to a school’s annual fundraising drive. At the close of the drive, the donations are published in a report that categorizes the givers according to the amount given. As you can see, the form helpfully tells you where you will fall in this categorization according to the amount you plan to give.

Was it a missed opportunity, however, that the category designations seem to make no attempt to denote a hierarchy of giving? In other words, would it have been possible to notch up the amounts donated by creating more aspirational donation categories such that I would feel compelled to give more in order to earn a more prestigious designation? Perhaps. Although this approach could also have had the unintended effect of discouraging people from giving lower amounts – and therefore causing them to give nothing at all – for fear of looking “cheap.”

Overall, an interesting example of using social forces to influence behavior and communicating these forces through form design.

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