Architectures of control in product design

Abstract

Strengthening the user’s mental model of a product’s functions makes the user feel more confident and hence be more productive with the device, whatever it may be. Nevertheless, there is a small but increasing trend towards explicitly attempting to constrain, restrict and lock down users’ behaviour through the way that the product is designed:‘architectures of control’.At present, this thinking is most prevalent in the design of digital media products where technology developments make it easier to implement, but, as we shall see, there are numerous, if disparate, examples from across many design fields. I have defined architectures of control in design as ‘features, structures or methods of operation designed into any planned system with which a user interacts, which are intended to enforce or restrict certain user behaviour.’