Designs that change what people do — by invitation, not instruction.
Shikake (仕掛け — "device" or "mechanism") are small physical or digital cues that prompt a behavior people are glad to do. No mandate, no penalty, no lecture — just an invitation that curiosity or play makes hard to refuse. Coined by Naohiro Matsumura at Osaka University; the playful, physical cousin of the nudge.
The basketball-hoop bin makes you want to score. Nobody told you to bin your trash.
fail Fair → dark pattern · fail Attractive → annoying notification
Seven triggers — and each tile below is the thing it names. Poke them.
▸ set complete. notice the counter pulled you through all eight?
You just synced your breath to a moving shape. Nobody asked. That's affordance.
A burst when you finish a task. Harmless, finished, done.
The same burst — for placing risky trades. It got pulled after the criticism.
Stay focused and it grows. Gentle stakes, real benefit to you.
Keep going or lose everything. It holds your fear hostage.
In software the trigger is free to copy. The ethics live entirely in what you're triggering.
Every one passes FAD. That line is the whole difference between design and manipulation.
Find the behavior you keep asking for and keep not getting.
Swap the instruction for an invitation — curiosity, play, feedback, a tiny goal.
Run it through FAD before you ship it. Fair, Attractive, Dual — or don't.
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