How words structures thoughts in the era of adaptive user interface
How can metaphors we read in digital interfaces trigger emotional changes and unconscious decision-making? This essay aims to increase people's awareness of why they feel certain emotions or make unconscious decisions based on the response to what they read on a digital interface.
This is an excerpt from the essay I've written for the Language and Cognition course during my master's in Cognitive Science at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Romania.
Introduction
Do metaphors merely express thought, or do they structure thought? This is a question that was analyzed in the Language and Cognition course, and I would analyze it through the lens of how designers use this knowledge when writing text for digital interfaces. Copywriting is the art of writing persuasive text for websites or marketing campaigns to convince people to buy a product, use a service, vote for someone, or take a certain action. I’ll analyze how the text people read on our screens across different devices influences their thinking, particularly in the emerging phase of user interfaces (UIs), namely adaptive user interfaces (AUIs).
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The digital design is currently shifting from static user interfaces to agentic, generative interfaces. This transition requires a new set of ethical rules and frameworks to protect people’s cognitive abilities and maintain their agency. In my master’s thesis, I analyze how the designer’s role has changed over the years. We’re currently transitioning to what I define as Design Ethics 3.0, a period in which the designer’s role shifts from creating a non-agentic graphical user interface to creating agentic systems that generate multiple dynamic interfaces.
The main role of a designer has always been to create frictionless experiences that reduce the cognitive effort. One way to reduce it is to design interfaces that use common components and layouts. Before the development of artificial intelligence-driven interfaces, they could choose what to display, when, and how to display it to users. In agentic-driven interface design, the decisions are delegated to an agentic digital system that chooses what, when, and to whom to display different colors, photos, or words. All of these elements influence people’s emotional state, decisions, and behavior.
People always use technology to make their work more efficient or to extend biological cognitive functions. For example, they write on paper to extend their memory. Each time they need something, they know the information is there, and they can access it whenever they want. Similarly, they use Google search to recall different facts. As multiple studies in behavioral science have shown, relying on external tools to recall information, make decisions, or delegate cognitive tasks diminishes natural cognitive abilities such as memory, attention, critical thinking, and logical reasoning. Therefore, our tools are not just there waiting for us to use them; they also reshape how people think and behave. The interaction with adaptive interfaces is two-way communication. People influence what the system knows about them; it interprets the data and responds accordingly to their needs, creating a mirroring effect of people’s own biases, needs, and wants.
Looking back in history, between 1970 and 2005, designers created graphical user interfaces (GUIs) with static, predictable designs. In this early phase of digital interfaces, the designer’s moral character was not altered by the technology. The user interacted with the same interface and read the same words that the designer added to it.
After 2005, social media algorithms entered the consumer market. These new types of interfaces use a hybrid design in which the designer creates the medium, and technology serves the content. The intelligent algorithm listens, understands, and adapts to each user, resulting in different versions of the same interface being displayed to each person using it. I define this phase as Design Ethics 2.0. Recent technological developments in large action models (LAMs) have enabled designers to create adaptive user interfaces, an emerging phase in digital interfaces. In this emerging era of digital interfaces, the designer’s control over the interface is reduced compared with previous interfaces. In this emerging phase of digital design, the agentic interface dynamically generates itself based on the current user’s needs and wants.
We know as a fact that product teams work with psychologists, behavioral scientists, anthropologists, or cognitive scientists to create pleasing and addictive interfaces. As Nir Eyal describes in his book Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, the last two decades of design were more about psychology and exploiting human minds than about designing beautiful pixels. The book was written in 2013, when the software industry was all about making interfaces engaging by using psychological mechanisms to create habits and hold people’s attention for as long as possible.
In this essay, I’m focusing specifically on how people’s thoughts have been and will be formed by the use of words in digital interfaces. This paper argues that metaphors do not merely express thought but fundamentally structure and alter it, guiding people towards a specific outcome. By displaying specific phrases and words that align with a user’s existing cognitive patterns, a user can be tricked into doing certain things, such as using an app, buying a product, or paying for a service that appears to solve their unresolved issue, current pain, or emotional need.
The blueprint of reality
To understand the impact of words, we must recognize that metaphors are not merely ornamental linguistic devices but tools of thought that define what is real for us. Lakoff and Johnson, in Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), argued that we understand abstract “target domains” by mapping them onto concrete, physically grounded “source domains.” This is how we map words at a cognitive level, translating the concrete source into the abstract target.
For example, the “argument is war” structure shapes our social interaction. We tend to attack weak points and defend our position with the ultimate goal of winning a discussion. “Theories are buildings” is another example. This metaphor dictates how we reason about evidence and logic. We ask if a theory has a solid foundation, and we worry it might collapse if its framework is weak. Even our perception of time is structured metaphorically. We treat it as a linear entity that can be spent or wasted.
We also defined time as money by telling others that “time is money” when we’re in a rush. This metaphor equates time to a valuable, limited resource that can be invested, budgeted, saved, or wasted. Our perception of time is hidden in how we talk about it. “I’ve invested a lot of time in learning this skill” shows that someone put a lot of effort into it. “This shortcut will save us an hour” is used to suggest that the speaker has set aside an hour to do something else. “I spent three hours on that report,” can say a person who believes that he can manage his time as he wishes. Time seems like a commodity in these phrases; it can be stored, spent, traded, or produced.
“Life” is another word that we use as a metaphor to translate complex, abstract human experiences into concrete, easily understood images. Life is sometimes compared to a journey, with a starting point, a path to navigate with obstacles along the way, and a destination. To describe life as a journey, we might say, “He didn’t know which path to take at this crucial crossroads in his life.” Life is also associated with the stage, as in the sentence “We are all merely players on the stage of life, performing our parts.” People also liken life to a battlefield, saying, “Every day in this industry feels like a battlefield, but I refuse to surrender.”
How metaphors sell
These are a few examples of how we metaphorically frame simple concepts using alternatives from other domains to describe them more effectively. Designers and copywriters use the same principle to communicate a product’s features and make it appealing to a target audience by phrasing the webpage headline or the call to action to evoke specific emotions. In advertising, “selling time” evolved from simply buying commercial slots on radio and television into the psychological art of selling the concept of time itself. Advertisers shift the focus away from literal hours or seconds to abstract metaphors, using figurative language and visual imagery to associate their products with saving time or creating deeper, more meaningful moments.
In the early days of broadcasting, “selling time” literally meant networks auctioning off minutes and seconds of airtime to brands for explicit, feature-based promotions. As media became saturated, advertisers recognized that literal time was an abstract, intangible concept. To create an emotional resonance, marketers transitioned toward conceptual metaphors. Instead of telling the audience that the product is fast, the ad uses imagery that maps it to a more relatable experience.
“Time is money” is one of the most commonly used metaphors in business. Ads that use this frame focus on functional benefits, emphasizing efficiency, productivity, and cost savings. Example: “Save 15% in 15 minutes” or “Invest your time wisely.” Framing time as a physical vessel allows advertisers to pitch products as a way to fill, spend, or buy back moments. Time is also disguised as an adversary or an unstoppable journey in ads for anti-aging cream or life insurance, where products are presented as a pause button or a shield against aging.
Why metaphors are persuasive
Copywriters and designers rely heavily on metaphors because they compel the audience to engage with the message. Metaphors are effective because they bypass logic and touch the audience on a deeper emotional level. Instead of communicating facts, they make consumers feel the product’s psychological benefits instantly. Shifting the perspective from communicating features to conveying psychological benefits has increased sales for many companies since the early 1930s, when Edward Bernays introduced this approach to advertising. When a consumer views a metaphorical ad, their brain experiences a slight puzzle as it figures out the connection between the image (the source) and the brand (the target), leading to higher memorability.
Metaphors are used in digital interfaces to reduce cognitive load by serving as mental shortcuts. Instead of letting the reader work through a long explanation, a metaphor can shortcut the entire thinking process. It’s hard for regular people to understand what a large language model (LLM) is. Instead of this long technical description, we can call it a digital assistant. Additionally, people are wary of direct sales pitches, and a well-crafted metaphor can break down these defenses. Words alone can sound sterile, but metaphors anchor a cold fact in a familiar emotional area. For example, a security system could be sold as a “shield.” The audience’s reasoning is structured by the metaphor. Framing a financial product as “investing” rather than “gambling” changes risk perception, making it more appealing.
In digital interfaces, metaphors build instant mental models. In the early days of computers, Xerox educated people about new interfaces by using familiar terminology, teaching users to open “files,” drop them into “folders,” and throw items into the “trash.” By using known terminology (the source), they teach them how to use the new interface. Additionally, many back-end processes are invisible because the architecture is simplified and not explained. Technological innovation and improvements in user experience have turned most of the technology around us into an opaque black box. If you’re not a technical person, you don’t know that a “swipe” on the screen triggers many actions at the hardware level. A “tap” on a phone screen can trigger cross-continent actions in data servers, communication networks, or satellites. All of these “hidden” actions reduce the cognitive load on people using the technology at the cost of their understanding of it. This cost translates to a diminished ability to critically analyze it, question it, or alter it.
Words and minds in the era of AUIs
Similar hidden actions happen on the user interface level. For example, testing different variations of a headline or call to action is common in digital products. Netflix tests five variations across different test groups simultaneously for its content-browsing page. They choose a winner, develop additional iterations, and continue until the experience becomes more engaging and the time spent on the platform increases.
Building on these premises, the next phase of interfaces would apply the same principles. These are tested and proven frameworks for improving the appeal of products and services. The next phase of digital user interfaces would dynamically adjust the design and experience in real time. They will listen, learn, and dynamically adapt to the user’s preferences, delivering images, shapes, and metaphors that evoke specific emotions and prompt people to take specific actions. Of course, this is not a general rule, but many companies want to increase user retention, time spent on the platform, the number of transactions, actions, sales, and so on. All of these will increase if they optimize the psychological hooks in the design, including the copywriting and metaphors used to trigger different emotional responses, which can be addressed by the product or service they sell.
This paper was limited to metaphors, but it can be expanded to also analyze how copywriters use the “signifier” and “signified” in words, as well as theories from semiotics and linguistics.
Conclusion
The role of designers and copywriters has changed throughout history. Before the 1930s, products and services were presented based on their features and functions. After that, Edward Bernays changed how advertising is made and began presenting products in a meaningful way, using metaphors to evoke different emotions. His principles are used in digital interfaces, where designers present products to appeal to a specific market with a problem or emotional need. They sell anti-aging cream or life insurance as a button for pausing life or time as money, investment, and a commodity. By framing the communication to trigger emotional responses, designers use metaphors to increase sales, improve user retention and engagement, and sell dreams and hopes.
The third phase of design interfaces would continue to exploit the psychological hooks currently used, but on autopilot. They would listen, learn, and adapt as people interacted with them, showing them the most appealing metaphors to hook their attention or make them spend their money.
There is an ongoing debate, but multiple research studies have shown that these mechanisms work. In this new phase of user interfaces, the designer’s responsibility is to design moral systems that won’t trick or psychologically manipulate people to maximize company profit, user retention, and engagement. Current technology exerts asymmetric power over its users, reducing their cognitive autonomy. Instead of prioritizing the company’s profit and designing for “user” and “human” needs, designers might prioritize something else...
References
[1] Language and Cognition course material, Conf. Univ. Dr. Alexandru Nicolae
[2] Clark, Andy, and David J. Chalmers. "The Extended Mind." Analysis, vol. 58, no. 1, 1998, pp. 7–19. https://doi.org/10.1093/analys/58.1.7
[3] Eyal, N., & Hoover, R. (2014). Hooked: How to build habit-forming products. Portfolio/Penguin
[4] Lavie, T., & Meyer, J. (2010). Benefits and costs of adaptive user interfaces. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 68(8), 508–524. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2010.01.004
[5] Poell, T., Nieborg, D., & Van Dijck, J. (2019). Platformisation. Internet Policy Review, 8(4). https://doi.org/10.14763/2019.4.1425
[6] Bernays, E. L. (2004). Propaganda. Ig Publishing. (Original work published 1928)
Future reading
[1] Berger, J. and Packard, G. 2023. ‘Wisdom from words: The psychology of consumer language’, Consumer Psychology Review, 6(1), pp. 3–16.
[2] Packard, G. and Berger, J. 2024. ‘The Emergence and Evolution of Consumer Language Research’, Journal of Consumer Research, 51(1), pp. 42–51.
[3] Pogacar, R., Shrum, L.J. and Lowrey, T.M. 2018. ‘The effects of linguistic devices on consumer information processing and persuasion: A Language Complexity × Processing Mode Framework’, Journal of Consumer Psychology, 28(4), pp. 689–711.
[4] Al-Badawi, M. (2025). The Influence of Language Choice on Consumer Attitudes and Behaviors in Dubai Marketing Campaigns. In: Musleh Al-Sartawi, A.M.A., Al-Okaily, M., Al-Qudah, A.A., Shihadeh, F. (eds) From Machine Learning to Artificial Intelligence. Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, vol 572. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-76011-2_137
[5] Pogacar, R., Lowrey, T.M. and Shrum, L.J. 2018. ‘The influence of marketing language on consumer perceptions and choice’, in M.R. Solomon and T.M. Lowrey (eds), The Routledge Companion to Consumer Behavior. New York: Routledge, pp. 263–275.
[6] Dumitrescu, F. (2019). Retorica sloganului. Manual de copywriting în limba română. Editura Integral.