When I embarked on my career as a psychologist, I never imagined I’d end up designing technology products and services. Funny where you end up in life, and lucky for me all those years at university weren’t wasted: the business of understanding humans and the way they behave is critical to designing.

With the digital and physical worlds merging more than ever before, it is vital to understand how technology can enhance the human experience, and not cause frustration or angst at every touchpoint.

To create technology that seamlessly fits into our daily lives, there’s a simple formula. First, consider the person attached to your technology solution and the context in which they’ll be using your creation; then, design your solution and involve users in the process to refine your thinking.

Today, technology is used to change attitudes and behavior, creating amazing challenges for designers. And if we want to create products and services that have the power to educate people so that they may live better lives, or help to reduce the time people take to do certain tasks—or even attract them to our products instead of our competitors—we need to first understand what makes them tick.

User-friendliness is fast becoming a necessity in product design. Nevertheless, we still have a long way to go to deliver on our users’ (high) expectations, and this will only increase as technology and the real world continue to merge.

Understanding behavior allows us to change the customer experience, and that change happens through great design—your great designs.