Review - Shikake: The Japanese Art of Shaping Behavior Through Design

 

I received an electronic ARC of this book through NetGalley for an honest review.

I'm never quite sure what to make of the "The [Cultural] [Art, Magic, Theory, etc.] of [Thing]" trend in book titles. I've admittedly not read that many, but they often seem to deal with something that is not so much a unique aspect of the titular culture as merely a method of doing things that is being labeled either by the author's country of origin or, in the case of those written by authors from the same country as the target audience, where the author first "discovered" the method. I get the impression that for this book, it's mostly a "Japanese art" because Naohiro Matsumura is from Japan and uses a Japanese term to describe the book's subject--not because design meant to gently modify behavior and encourage people to engage with aspects of their environment is specifically Japanese (though maybe it is more prevalent in Japan--I don't know).

The author is fairly clear that the types of objects he classifies as "shikake" are not exclusive to Japan (in fact, he specifically points out that just about the only one he uses as an example that is exclusive to a Japanese cultural context is the use of torii to discourage littering by invoking a sense of the sacred). Most of his examples are from Japan, because that's the location of much of his work--but he also uses several from the United States and elsewhere. Some of the book does seem like it's intended for a Japanese audience, but at least in the ARC I received, it's not clear if this is an English translation of a book previously published in Japan or if this English-language version is the original.

This is essentially a book about the ways design is used, mainly in the built environment, to encourage people to behave in the desired manner by offering them a choice, but making the "right" choice the one that is most appealing. I imagine this principle is pretty familiar to a lot of people--whether you've tried to train an animal using primarily positive methods, or have tried to arrange objects in your home or place of work in a way that encourages visitors to act how you prefer them to act, many of the basic concepts are here. While reading it, I also came to realize that much of what makes places like Disney World fun and memorable isn't the rides and the people dressed up in character costumes--it's little things this book defines as shikake, which delight the visitor and encourage engagement by making simple things a little more interactive or interesting.

The book also offers a definition of what makes something a shikake (as the author uses the term), and some advice for designing your own. It's a pretty fun little book that highlights some cool ideas, and at least in my view, it's always worth thinking about ways to gently guide behavior in positive ways without compulsion.