To understand what it means to design ‘persuasive technology’, one probably needs to understand it in relation to design in general. Using examples from a variety of areas of design discourse, the first part of the paper presents the idea that design is inherently persuasive. Following a discussion of what this might imply to the identification of ‘persuasive design’ as an emerging research area, the idea of objects as persuasive arguments in material form is presented. Suggesting that this notion could be used as basis for working with persuasion in design, the paper finally presents a practical example of how this might work in a design research project.