Jan 15 2007
What The Hell Is A “Persuasion Architect?”
As I've mentioned previously, in addition to pursuing my current projects (or schemes, as I like to think of them), I am currently looking to rejoin the standard workforce - either as a full-time attorney (shudder) or as an in-house counsel/consultant. As such, I am scouring the various job boards and employment firms, and contacting various friends and family to see if they know of anything that may fit my background and expertise.
During my virtual travels in this regard, I've come across a wide range of careers and job titles, some of which I was previously unaware. I have been chalking this up to the fact that, in practicing law, you are somewhat insulated from Corporate America and its 500 levels of Vice Presidencies. However, I recently came across one position that, I think, goes beyond my simple naivety. Indeed, even after reading the duties and responsibilities associated with this position, I STILL have no freaking idea what it is.
Specifically, one company is looking for a "Persusion [sic] Architect." Even if I am to assume they meant "Persuasion Architect," I still have no fucking clue what that means.
Is this now a course of study being offered at colleges and universities around the country? Since it involves architecture, are there drawing and design classes involved? And if there are lab classes and trigonometry requirements, I want nothing to do with it.
If you want to hire a marketing manager or a copy writer - just say so. I don't have a problem with it. And if it's a paying job, I'm sure the applicants themselves also won't have a problem with it. But please don't make up meaningless positions and titles just to make the job and the company sound more important than they are. That is, in my mind, the equivalent of calling Paris Hilton a "whoring architect."
Whatever credibility you had to begin with drops yet another notch when the job comes with a silly title.
Nota Bene: Please no ugly commentary, I am aware that the term "Persuasion Architecture" is the invention of Bryan Eisenberg (for which he has a patent pending), the co-founder of Future Now, Inc. and co-author of (no, I'm not kidding) "Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?" I have nothing against Mr. Eisenberg - or his cat. I'm simply making a point about, among other things, the extent to which Orwellian doublespeak has permeated out daily lives.
I work in a graphics department for a large company, and awhile ago we were redesigning one of our websites, which is a large e-commerce store. A couple weeks into the design, one of the higher-ups made an appointment with a persuasion architect, who claimed he could help us with our website. The other designers and I only talked to him for a couple minutes, so we didn’t get his full presentation, but he basically said he was interested in the “psychology” behind websites, which would lead to better navigation and subsequently a higher rate of sales.
We decided after he left that the entire thing was nothing but fluff, and that the higher-up who brought him in was simply won over by his fancy title. I looked it up, and saw some before and after comparisons of sites that a persuasion architect had fixed. Basically all they do is create layouts that let the viewer understand what the pertinent information is, so it’s clear where the viewer should go (using websites as an example).
So essentially all persuasion architecture is, in my opinion anyways, is just design and layout. Any designer who went to school for more than a couple weeks already knows how to make a layout “architecturally persuasive”.
….did I mention that the “persuasion architect” used to own a furniture store chain until it went bankrupt? ’nuff said.
I know this so late but I just cam accross your website while looking for persuasion architecture topics. Anyway I am not one of them.. yet.. but my current profession requires it. So aside from your website being cool and pretty. Every section/design aspect needs a certain function. persuasion architecture is how you make your website browsers convert into sales or into any desired action that a certain page requires. This involves good copywriting, eye tracking, proper placement of call to action and a good call to action. This is how you improve your online convwersion and better ROI for your business.