A study on the relationship between personality type and design habits

Abstract

There are a number of factors that influence an individual's ability to design. Designers vary by characteristics of their designs. Some product designers may be very practical, while others attempt to induce surprise and delight in their target user. Even when selecting what design to move forward with, designers' personalities and their classification as either satisfiers or maximizers greatly impacts their final designs. We surveyed a number of students from MIT class 2.97, Designing for People, in order to gauge their design habits. The data we extracted provided us with information on their design experience and comfort, their attitudes towards surprising designs, and their characterization as satisfiers or maximizers. Due to the relatively small sample size, we did not find any overarching trends, but the results do establish some correlations between self-reported confidence in personal designs and their potential to surprise the user.