Design for Default

Although most of us have the freedom to make a wide range of choices at any given moment, we often make decisions based on the environment we find ourselves in.

Consider how your default decisions are designed throughout your personal and professional life. For example:

• If you sleep with your phone next to your bed, then checking social media and email as soon as you wake up is likely to be the default decision.
• If you walk into your living room and your couches and chairs all face the television, then watching television is likely to be the default decision.

Of course, defaults can be positive as well.

• If you keep a water bottle with you throughout the day, then drinking water rather than soda is more likely to be the default decision.
• If you place floss in a visible location (like next to your toothbrush), then flossing is more likely to be the default decision.

Researchers have referred to the impact that environmental defaults can have on our decision making as choice architecture. It is important to realize that you can be the architect of your choices. You can design for default.