Amy Bucher's Blog, page 2

Taming My Financial Beast

A very cool thing happened today; I was quoted in a New York Times article! A few months ago I spoke with writer Sally French about how credit cards can tempt people into spending more money than they should, and some behavioral science-based tips to mitigate the damage.  I hadn’t known exactly when the article would … Continue reading Taming My Financial Beast →

Engaged is Now Available for Pre-Order

I promise this won’t be an all-book-all-the-time website forever, but right now things are happening fast and I’m excited! As of today, Engaged: Designing for Behavior Change is available for pre-order from Rosenfeld Media. The target publication date for the hard copy is March 3, with e-book formats available earlier. Pre-orders are 15% off the … Continue reading Engaged is Now Available for Pre-Order →

Engaged Updates – We Have a Cover!

As the publication date for Engaged nears, everything is getting a bit more real! Yesterday Rosenfeld Media shared the book cover, designed by Jason Kernevich of The Heads of State.  It’s so exciting to see a real design applied to the cover (and the palette cascades throughout the internal pages–very pleasing to me as a person … Continue reading Engaged Updates – We Have a Cover! →

Three Surprising Things About Writing a Book

Since last January, I’ve written a book! That’s one reason why I’ve not updated this site much–it turns out, I have a limited amount of writing energy and the book took all of it. Engaged: Designing for Behavior Change comes out in February from Rosenfeld Media, and I’m super excited to have people read it. Unless … Continue reading Three Surprising Things About Writing a Book →

Why We Can’t Predict Future Happiness: the Hedonic Treadmill

Have you ever found yourself daydreaming about a day, perhaps not too far in the future, where you’ve finally gotten something you really want and just feel happy? Of course you have; this is a very common thing for people to do. They are sure that if they just lose the weight, get the job, … Continue reading Why We Can’t Predict Future Happiness: the Hedonic Treadmill →

Case Study: Patagonia Makes Questions Easy To Answer

A major challenge with designing health questionnaires is making sure that questions are both clinically meaningful and are easy for users to answer. One example has to do with hip-to-waist ratio, which can be an important indicator of heart health. I’ve seen health risk assessments ask people their hip and waist measurements, but how many … Continue reading Case Study: Patagonia Makes Questions Easy To Answer →

When You Don’t Speak the Language, Literally: My Experience with the Japanese Health Care System and Radical Empathy

A common thing in my world of behavior change and design is a focus on building empathy by talking to people, sharing their perspectives, and living in their worlds. We talk about not designing for but rather with people, and empathy is required to do that. The truth is that even our best tools don’t really let us … Continue reading When You Don’t Speak the Language, Literally: My Experience with the Japanese Health Care System and Radical Empathy →

Designing for Financial Behavior: FxD 2018 Panel Recap

It’s easy for financial experts to say what people should do to achieve financial well-being. We can rattle off rules of thumb like: contribute enough to your 401k to achieve the full employer match; set aside enough savings to cover three months of expenses in an emergency; and leverage health savings accounts and other tools to offset … Continue reading Designing for Financial Behavior: FxD 2018 Panel Recap →

Behavior Change Reading List

It’s been a while since I’ve updated anything here, but for good reasons: I am very busy! And with projects and problems that keep my brain occupied, to boot. But, in the interest of not being totally under the radar, I thought I could put my behavior change reading list online here. Often after I … Continue reading Behavior Change Reading List →