Years back when we were conducting a user study with older citizens on online banking there was a quote that has stayed with me till date. “I feel like James Bond whenever I bank online”. His reasoning was simple. Just like James Bond who is diffusing a bomb transacting online is strictly time bound. You need to remember the password, get the right payee, enter the amount, the OTP. In all it was convenient but stressful and not something that he really liked doing.  

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Money is anything but transactional. Money is complex, relative, and deeply emotional. Yet the only two basic emotions things that seem to work well for the category are - greed and fear. When you think of BFSI and frustrations KYC is right up there even for people working within BFSI. Despite having the same 2 artefacts as evidence- AADHAAR and PAN it is frustrating how every financial entity keeps asking you the same thing and, in some cases, demands a physical visit.

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Don Norman is among the many people who created a fascination for me in the world of Design. In his book Emotional Design, he suggests a useful approximate model of human cognition and emotion that breaks it in three levels of processing: visceral, behavioral, and reflective.

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The visceral is the most basic level. They are fast and automatic. It is tightly coupled to the body’s musculature. From a design perspective it is where style and appearances matter. It is nothing to do with usability and effectiveness. The next level is Behavioral which is a state that is learned and acquired. This level is very important to designers as every action is associated with an expectation. The third level is the reflective level which is where deep understanding develops. The visceral and behavioral levels are sub conscious and they respond rapidly but without much analysis.

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Think of street food. The aroma and generally the way it is displayed appeals to you viscerally. Post that if you are tempted to buy and consume it you are inclined to rate it in terms of taste and of course texture (a must use word when it comes to food after TV shows) which is the behavioral. But if the next day you develop stomach complications, chances are you will never be attracted to that street food. That’s visceral. Alternatively in case of no complications this3-state cycle works brilliantly.

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The question then to ask when building digital assets is” At what level are your digital assets? Do they differentiate in terms of just your logo? Are your digital assets merely trying to conform to your competitors have done? Are they differentiated to make users to repeatedly come back?

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These are complicated questions that every business owner should answer and not the lowest common denominator who is trying to get the digital asset up and running. How involved is the senior management in the development and running of digital assets?

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