Behavior is our medium. The focus should remain on human | by Filipe Nzongo | UX Collective

This article is a tribute to Robert Fabricant, a thinker who deeply influenced me, not through direct mentorship, but via his inspiring lecture at IXDA 2009. In that talk, Fabricant revealed a simple yet powerful insight: as designers, what we work with is behavior, shaping it, understanding it, and ultimately impacting lives. His words have stayed with me over the years, guiding my journey as a designer and researcher in the fields of HCI and Interaction Design. Time has passed. I’ve worked across various companies and projects, yet Fabricant’s phrase, “Behavior is our medium,” resonates now more than ever. Too often, those of us in design are consumed by efficiency metrics, conversions, and growth. You know the acronyms well: CAC, NPS, CSAT, LTV, ARPA, WAU, MAU, the endless race of numbers. It’s easy to get lost designing for what drives revenue or satisfies stakeholders. I understand; this is the reality of capitalism. I don’t view design purely from a ‘romantic’ perspective. I beli

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• Stella Wang