Nudge introduces the term Choice Architect—the people who design the options we’re presented with, multiple times a day. Sometimes it’s innocent and well-meaning, like nudging a child to eat more vegetables by putting them first on the menu. But the same mechanisms can be used in reverse: making unhealthy or processed food more attractive.

Are we free to make our own choices? Or are we just choosing the path of least resistance, guided by invisible hands? We’re not always rational; in fact, we reliably make bad, irrational decisions about important things. You might think you’re too smart to be tricked by clever design—but the data says otherwise. We consistently make poor choices, even when we should know better.

That’s why we need to pay close attention to the choice architects around us—their incentives matter. Would tobacco companies warn you about cancer if not required to by law? Would financial institutions make their fees understandable and visible if they didn’t have to?

The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman taught me how small design choices can have huge effects. A door with a metal plate signals push. A handle signals pull. These aren’t just usability tweaks—they’re behavioral nudges. Designers are choice architects.

But there’s a darker side too: sludge. If nudges help people make better choices, sludge is the deliberate use of friction to slow them down, confuse them, or trap them. It’s when canceling a subscription takes ten clicks on ten different web pages that are only available for 5 minutes every day when there’s a full moon. In january… Or it’s when key information is buried in fine print. Sludge isn’t just annoying—it’s harmful, and is often designed that way on purpose.