What

We design human-friendly services and products that help people close the gap between their best intentions and actions, increasing well-being and pro-social behaviors.

How

Design for Humans blends the science of human decision-making with the art of design.

Design Process

Who

Design for Humans is a boutique consulting company that creates big changes with small nudges.

Who We Are

Design for humans advises governments, businesses, donors, and NGOs around the world on applying cutting edge behavioral science to measurably improve products, programs, and policies.

Mindy Hernandez

Founder and Director

Mindy Hernandez is the founder and principal of Design for Humans. She is an expert in applied behavioral science and behavioral economics with a special focus on closing the gap between people’s intentions and their actions around pro-social behaviors like voting, medicine adherence, and savings.

Mindy has advised governments, companies, donors, and NGOs around the world on applying cutting edge behavioral science to measurably improve programs and policies. In 2013, she was asked to be the the liaison to the White House’s Social and Behavioral Science Team for the US Agency for International Development. Prior to launching Designs for Humans, Mindy was a Senior Researcher with ideas42, a behavioral economics action tank at Harvard University. Mindy received her undergraduate degree from Cornell University and her MPA from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School. Mindy and Design for Humans are based in Washington, DC.

Rita Nunez

Implementation Manager

Rita’s work focuses on helping clients implement intricate, multi-stage interventions. Rita draws on years as an English and Spanish teacher to support clients in problem-solving through clear, step-by- step processes. Prior to teaching, Rita worked as an electrical technician, overseeing the programming of complex industrial machinery. As a native Spanish speaker with fluent English and Portuguese, Rita has also worked as a translator. Rita has two children and lives in Galicia, Spain.

Katie Brennen

Research Assistant

Katie is a third year Mathematics student at UCLA and a board member of UCLA’s Global Development Lab. Katie’s work focuses on quantitative data analysis. Before working with Design for Humans and Mobiles 4 All, Katie lived in Peru and worked on agricultural development projects. Katie is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese. In her free time, Katie enjoys traveling, outdoor sports, and reading.

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Domestic

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International

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Domestic Projects

Texting to increase college savings

Place: Mesa, AZ
Partners: Center for Economic Development (CFED), Mesa Community Action Network (MesaCAN)
Status: Complete

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Behavioral web design to increase savings for low-income young people

Place: Washington, DC
Partners: Center for Economic Development (CFED), Bank on DC and Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) of Washington, DC
Status: Complete

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Making a plan to prepare for tax day

Place: Philadelphia, PA
Partners: Center for Economic Development (CFED), Campaign for Working Families (CWF) of Philadelphia
Status: Complete

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Donuts to increase survey completion

Place: Philadelphia, PA
Partners: Center for Economic Development (CFED), Consumer Credit Counseling of the Delaware Valley (CCCSDV)
Status: Complete

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International Projects

Behavioral nudging to increase use of Digital Financial Services in rural Mozambique

Place: Mozambique
Partners: Mobiles4All (M4A), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Vodafone/Pesa
Status: Implementation underway.

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Texting to improve the health of people living with HIV and TB

Place: Mozambique
Partners: USAID, EGPAF, ARK, SBST
Status: Implementation complete.

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Behavioral design to increase use of modern family planning methods in Nigeria

Place: Nigeria
Partners: USAID, SBST, Harvard University, Swarthmore College
Status: Currently being designed

Design for Humans loves helping! Our services are tailored to meet your needs, from consulting conversations to full project design and evaluation services.

Learn

Personalized learning opportunities designed to build your organization’s knowledge and capacity
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Advise

1:1 consultation services to help you expertly design or redesign products and services
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Design

Full support to re-imagine the challenge, map the barriers, design and test solutions, and scale your success
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Elizabeth Fox

Director, Office of Health, Infectious Diseases, and Nutrition at USAID

Working with Mindy has been eye-opening. She is exceptional at identifying opportunities to test and apply behavioral insights to improve our programming and help save the lives of more moms and kids.

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Elizabeth Fox

Director, Office of Health, Infectious Diseases, and Nutrition at USAID

Working with Mindy has been eye-opening. She is exceptional at identifying opportunities to test and apply behavioral insights to improve our programming and help save the lives of more moms and kids.

Greg Propper

Co-President, Propper Daley

We recommend Mindy to everyone! She makes our work smarter and better — plus she’s fun and easy to work with. She has helped us think about our challenges differently and has given us exactly what we need: insightful and actionable suggestions.

Hillary Miller-Wise

C.E.O, Esoko

Our company has shifted its way of thinking as a result of our work with Design for Humans and Mindy! As CEO of a for-profit company, value for money is paramount. Each time I engaged with Mindy, she offered highly relevant insights and practical ways for us to incorporate proven behavior change techniques in our work. Her approach is very data-driven, which aligns with the way we think as a company. She is careful not to take on too many engagements so that each client is assured her full attention and focus.

Megan Kiesel

Senior Program Development Manager, Clarifi

Working with Mindy was an absolute pleasure and I learned so much in the process. She has a unique ability to take complex ideas and make them practical and useful. Work with her!

Sergio Dista

Inclusive Growth Policy and Program Manager, UK Department for International Development, Mozambique

Mindy is bringing innovative behavioral design thinking and solutions to create systemic changes in the mobile space. Her work is done with passion, it’s concrete, and it’s transformational.

Onoriode Ezire

Director of Programs, FH+ Project Marie Stopes International, Nigeria

Mindy has been hugely helpful in supporting the Family Health Plus project in developing the evaluation design. She is really pushing our thinking on how little tweaks to our project can produce better and cost effective results. Working with Mindy is great and exciting and we couldn’t recommend her more highly!

Margaret McConnell

Assistant Professor of Global Health Economics, Harvard School of Public Health

I have enjoyed collaborating with Mindy immensely. She combines an impressive ability to wrangle multiple stakeholders with varied objectives with a dedicated focus on designing research that can have real and measurable impact on the lives of vulnerable populations.

Gregg Rapp

Menu Engineer

Working with Mindy was easy and amazing. Mindy brings insights on customer behavior that helped shape our direction…..and they worked GREAT!

Crystal Hall

Assistant Professor of Public Policy & Governance, University of Washington

Mindy is a stellar collaborator. She has a unique depth of expertise in the behavioral science literature, coupled with years of experience on design and implementation work. She’s fun and easy to work with, and I enthusiastically recommend her to anyone and everyone.

Iulian Circo

Social Entrepreneur and Co-Founder of Triggerise

Mindy and I worked together in Mozambique, where she helped us design and implement very interesting research. She is sharp, pragmatic, and a pleasure to work with. I am looking forward to more opportunities to collaborate with her.

Andrew Karlyn

Regional Advisor, Africa, US Agency for International Development, Global Development Lab

Having worked with Mindy Hernandez in the field for several years now, I have found her approach to development problems to be insightful in terms of development theory and practice, and actionable in terms of behavior change and adoption. I would work with Mindy again in a heartbeat.

Margaret O’Connor

Chief Strategist, Impact Brands Africa

Mindy taught me to think differently about survey design and tolerating ambiguity. Her proven ability to move between board rooms and the field makes her an incredibly valuable learning partner and behavioral researcher. Mindy’s compassion for and understanding of people across Africa heightens her ability to develop and implement useful market tests.

We are passionate about building things: new ideas, new projects, and especially new partnerships.

Mindy Hernandez

Founder & Director

mindy@designforhumans.co

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To help people close the gap between their best intentions and their actions, we must first understand the road that leads to that behavior. How complex (or just plain annoying) is the journey? What steps are needed? Where are the potholes or barriers? Understanding the answer to these questions will help you understand the "behavioral map" (or what the great psychologist Kurt Lewin called tension systems) that leads from the status quo to the ideal behavior.

Generate Your Map

This behavioral mapping tool has been designed to help you chart the path to your target behavior the way a behavioral cartographer would, if there were such things as behavioral cartographers.

Follow a few simple prompts and create your own personalized behavioral map