Laws of UX

Question 1

Hick’s Law

Answer 1

The time it takes to make a decision increases with the complexity of the choices.

• Simplify choices by breaking complex steps into smaller ones
• Avoid overwhelming users by highlighting recommended options
• Use progressive on-boarding to minimize cognitive load for new users.

Question 2

Doherty Threshold

Answer 2

Productivity accelerates when a computer and it’s users interact at a pace (<400ms) that ensures neither has to wait on each other.

• Provide system feedback in 400ms
• use perceived performance to increase response time & reduces perception of waiting.

Question 3

Fitt’s Law

Answer 3

The time to acquire a target is a function of the distance to and size of a target.

• Touch targets need ample space between them
• Touch targets must be large enough for users to both discern what it is & to accurately select them
• Touch targets are placed in an area of the interface that is easily acquired.

Question 4

Aesthetic Usability Effect

Answer 4

Users perceive aesthetically please design as design that’s more usable

• makes users more tolerant of minor usability issues
• Aesthetically please design -> positive brain response - them thinking it works better
• Can mask usability problems & prevent issues from being discovered

Question 5

Jakob’s Law

Answer 5

Users spend most of their time on other sites. This means that users prefer your site to work the same way as all the other sites they already know.

• Users will transfer expectations they have built around one familiar product to another that appears similar.
• By leveraging existing mental models, we can create superior user experiences in which the user can focus on their task rather than learning new models.
• Minimize discordance by empowering users to continue using a familiar version for a limited time.

Question 6

Law of Common Region

Answer 6

Elements tend to be perceived into groups if they are sharing an area with a clearly defined boundary.

• Adding a border around an element or group of elements is an easy way to create common region.
• Common region can be created by defining a background behind an element or group of elements.

Question 7

Law of Prägnanz

Answer 7

People will perceive and interpret ambiguous or complex images as the simplest form possible, because it is the interpretation that requires the least cognitive effort of us.

• The human eye likes to find simplicity and order in complex shapes because it prevents us from becoming overwhelmed with information.
• Research confirms that people are better able to visually process and remember simple figures than complex figures.

Question 8

Law of Proximity

Answer 8

Objects that are near, or proximate to each other, tend to be grouped together.

• Proximity helps to establish a relationship with nearby objects.
• Proximity helps users understand and organize information faster and more efficiently.

Question 9

Law of Similarity

Answer 9

The human eye tends to perceive similar elements in a design as a complete picture, shape, or group, even if those elements are separated.
-Ensure that links and navigation systems are visually differentiated from normal text elements, and are consistently styled.

Question 10

Law of Uniform Connectedness

Answer 10

Elements that are visually connected are perceived as more related than elements with no connection.
-Group functions of a similar nature so they are visually connected via colors, lines, frames, or other shapes.

Question 11

Miller’s Law

Answer 11

The average person can only keep 7 (plus or minus 2) items in their working memory.
-Chunking is an effective method of presenting groups of content in a manageable way. Organize content in groups of 5-9 items at a time.

Question 12

Occam’s Razor

Answer 12

Among competing hypotheses that predict equally well, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected.
-Analyze each element and remove as many as possible, without compromising the overall function.
(simplest solution is the best)

Question 13

The Pareto principle

Answer 13

The Pareto principle states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.
-Focus the majority of effort on the areas that will bring the largest benefits to the most users.
(prioritize clarifying the design that 20% of the site your users will focus on)

Question 14

Parkinson’s Law

Answer 14

Any task will inflate until all of the available time is spent.

Question 15

Peak-End Rule

Answer 15

People judge an experience largely based on how they felt at its peak and at its end, rather than the total sum or average of every moment of the experience.

• Pay close attention to the most intense points and the final moments (the “end”) of the user journey.
• Identify the moments when your product is most helpful, valuable, or entertaining and design to make those moments even better.
• Remember that people recall negative experiences more vividly than positive ones.

Question 16

Postel’s Law

Answer 16

Be liberal in what you accept, and conservative in what you send. (Simple in what you show/define)
-Be empathetic, flexible, and tolerant to any number of actions the user could possibly take. This means accepting variable input from users, translating input to meet the requirements, defining boundaries for input, and providing clear feedback to the user.

Question 17

Serial Position Effect

Answer 17

Users have a propensity to best remember the first and last items in a series.

• Placing the least important items in the middle of lists can be helpful because these items tend to be stored less frequently in long-term and working memory.
• Positioning key actions on the far left and right within elements such as navigation can increase memorization.

Question 18

Tesler’s Law

Answer 18

Tesler’s Law, also known as The Law of Conservation of Complexity, states that for any system there is a certain amount of complexity which cannot be reduced.

Question 19

The Von Restorff effect

Answer 19

The Von Restorff effect, also known as The Isolation Effect, predicts that when multiple similar objects are present, the one that differs from the rest is most likely to be remembered.
-Make important information or key actions visually distinctive.

Question 20

Zaigarnik Effect

Answer 20

People remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks.
-Use progress bars for complex tasks to visually indicate when a task is incomplete, and thus increase the likelihood it will be completed.