Principles Flashcards
Aesthetic-Usability Effect
More aesthetically pleasing design = design more usable
Chunking
Breaking down information and categorizing it into meaningful whole to decrease cognitive load
Cognitive Bias
Systematic errors of thinking that conserves energy by leaning on prior information/ preconceived notions to come to conclusions
Cognitive load
amount of mental resources needed to interact with an interface
-Intrinsic: amount of info we carry relevent to goals, absord new info, and keep track of goals
-Extrinsic: mental processing that uses resources to process info but doesn’t help users learn interface
Doherty Threshold
Engagement increases when feedback from websites in <400 ms & niether has to wait for the other
Fitts’s Law
Time it takes to interact with a touch target = distance + size
-Should be large & have lots of spacing between other targets
-Should be placed in easily seen/accessible areas
Flow
Mental state of total immersion & enjoyment in an activity
- balance of ease + challenge (mental engagement)
-need to show feedback so user know what to do and what needs to be done
Goal-Gradient Effect
Tendency to work faster to the goal when can see it’s end
-Provide clear indication of progress and where end goal is
Hick’s Law
Decision-making time increases with an increase in number and complexity of choices
-lessen choices to increase response time
-break tasks into smaller tasks to decrease cognitive load
-avoid overwhelm by using highlighted recommendation options
-show progress bar
-ex: Google home page…Simplistic design
Jakob’s Law
Users will expect your website to work like similar websites they’ve been to
-When changing how website works/looks, use familar interface for a short amount of time
Law of Common Reign
Elements will be percieved as one group if in one area of the webste together with a boundary
Law of Proximity
Objects that are near to each other tend to be seen as part of same group
-Ex: spacing between Google search results
Law of Pragnanz
People will interpret an image with the most simple explanation to reduce cognitive effort
Law of Similarity
Human eyes percieve similar elements in a design as one image, even if separated
Law of Uniform Connectedness
Elements that are visually connected are percieved as related more than elements that are not
Mental Model
Compressed model of how we think a system works and what we know about it
Miller’s Law
Average person can only hold 7 (+/-) 2 items in working memory
-Organize information into chunks
Occam’s Razor
Simpilest answer is always the best option
Paradox of the Active User
Users never read manuals but use software immediately
-Integrate user manuals in onboarding process or user journey
Pareto Principle
For many events, 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes
-Focus majority of energy on areas that will bring the most benefits to users
Parkinson’s Law
Any task will seem more cumbersome the longer it takes to complete
-User experience will improve if task takes less time than user expected
-Use autofill for forms
Postel’s Law
Be liberal in what you accept, but conservitive in what you send
-Be flexible with the various actions users could take or any input they give
Peak-End Rule
Users judge overall experience by Peak and End of experience rather than by total average experience
-Recall negative experiences better than positive
-Identify when product is most helpful, valuable, or entertaining & design to delight end user
Selective Attention
Process of focusing attention on subset of environment-usually having to do with our goals
-Banner Blindness: avoid styling information that makes it look like an ad, users have learned to ignore
-Change Blindness: significant changes in an interface get ignored due to limitedness of human attention and lack of strong cues
-avoid by analyzing design for competing changes that may take attention from each other
