24 Essential UX Laws for a Great Product Design
Shrey
- 3 mins read
Every human action includes an interaction. Whether this involves calling someone over the phone or cooking a meal in your kitchen, every activity has been designed by a human being for the rest of the race. All these interactions have been designed keeping in mind the visual aesthetics, ease of use, and general utility. Similarly, when we design digital products, we have to keep in mind some general tendencies of user behavior, needs, and preferences. Celebrated UX designer Jon Yablonski has carefully curated laws of UX rooted in human behavior that must be considered while building an intuitive, friendly experience. These laws of UX are being used throughout design processes across the world by leading UI UX design agencies.
‘The time required to rapidly move to a target area is a function of the ratio between the distance to the target and the width of the target’ says the fitt’s law of UX.
Fitts’s Law is relevant in the sphere of interactive interface design. We can observe this law in use while sizing and spacing objects in a graphical display. The time taken to select an object decreases as the size of the object increases and vice versa. And as the distance between the user’s starting point and the object decreases the time taken to make the selection decreases as well. This is why small objects on any interface that are placed far away from the user’s starting position take longer time to access and hence, to get selected. These guidelines with respect to space and size are important parameters to consider while designing interactive elements on screen, ie, as large as sensibly possible without disturbing the aesthetics. Therefore, during the ux design process Fitt’s law can be used to enhance conversions.
‘The time taken to complete a certain task depends on the number and complexity of choices’ describes Hick’s law of UX
Think back to a visit to an ice-cream store. It’s easier to pick a flavor if the store offers only 3 choices, versus making a choice among 20 different flavors. Similarly, while designing the experience for a user online, you can use hick’s law to reduce the options on the screen so that the user can accomplish the goal without being confused or giving up.
Always attempt to simplify the choices offered to help the user make decisions faster. If these choices cannot be reduced, try to bucket similar options together. This will reduce the cognitive load on the user. Or use this to simplify complex information, for example, by asking them to do one thing a time, like the purchase process. E-commerce sites or the information consuming sites, generally use this principle at large. There are innumerable examples of decluttering content in order to boost user experience.
‘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.’
A very famous saying by Carl Sagan goes,‘if you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.’ In the digital universe as well, you do not need to reinvent the wheel. Use the existing mental models to let users focus on their goals. Let the user be comfortable with familiar principles such as gestures, visual cues, scrolling, etc. Hence, it helps if generic elements like icons, gestures and call-to-action language is consistent with what they already know. And this is well explained in Jakob’s law of UX
‘The average person can keep only 7+-2 elements in their working memory.’
Memory is a limited resource.The structure and flow of information on a webpage or app should be designed keeping this crucial law in mind. If we flood the screen with more than 9 elements, it leads to a cognitive overload causing the user to lose interest. Overloading pieces of information beyond the average memory capacity is an example of bad user experience design.
As a rule, the human mind can keep track of five to nine elements, depending on an individual’s memories, pieces of information whether they are words in a list or names of people they have just met! This cognitive ability is further compromised by our constant multi-tasking and juggling between tasks for the better part of our days. According to Miller, our mind performs an activity called ‘chunking’ which joins together all the pieces of information that we know into a cohesive gestalt. Example: ‘ f i n g e r is one cohesive gestalt and r e g n i f is another, which is why the sequence of information presented is also of crucial importance.
‘The simplest problem-solving solution is the right one’
While designing the user experience for a website or application, always work towards simplifying the steps by removing as many assumptions as possible. Always eliminate unnecessary or cumbersome elements of the user experience that may cause distraction or confusion to the end-user. Some design approaches may seem more embellished and designers will often fall prey to employing these tricks in the user experience. However, users rarely like to be hoodwinked and will always strive to take a shortcut and find a simpler way to do things, else they will pick another product that enables this. Simplicity drives user engagement & also helps in creating a more appealing UI & UX design.
‘Any task will inflate until all the available time is over’
Procrastination is a bane of mankind as a whole; it’s not reserved for the college going teenagers alone! Parkinson’s law, also known as the law of productivity, states that we delay a task that does not have any defined deadlines. Hence, when this rule is applied to user design, we see that certain tasks are best accomplished with the ticking clock icon. This is especially true for ‘one-time passwords’ that are shared while net banking or booking airline tickets. The sense of urgency helps in prompting the user to take action. The illusion of the clock running out is actually proved to improve the odds of conversion and speed up the sale in general.
‘For any system, there is a certain amount of complexity that cannot be reduced’
A big mandate of the UX design process is simplicity and reducing steps of the process. Conversely, there is a logical number of steps required to get the job done which cannot be reduced by any number of permutations and combinations. Hence, in order to preserve the utility of the product or service, a certain number of actions or decisions must be taken by the end-user to efficiently meet his/her needs.
‘When multiple similar objects are present, the one that differs the most is likely to be remembered’
The advertising industry has used this rule to the ‘T”. Von Restorff Effect is also known as the isolation effect since it allows for the visual categorization of similar elements. Whenever there is a change of style or a color that pops out it draws attention and stays memorable in the eyes of the user. For example, in a classroom full of uniformed kids, the one dressed differently catched the eye first. Similarly, in UX design, the user’s attention will be drawn to a change in colour, font, layout, visual effects et cetera.
Productivity soars when the interaction between the computer and the user takes paces at the pace of <400ms that ensures that neither has to wait on the other.
The app should present new information to the user once every 400 seconds. If the website processes and paces information at this pace the user experience turns into an addictive one. This speed provides the most productive pace of working for the majority of users and preserves the attention span for longer.
Items that stand out from the rest are more likely to be remembered. This law suggests that elements that are visually distinct, unusual, or unique in some way are more memorable than those that blend in or are more typical.
People remember incomplete or interrupted tasks better than completed ones. This law suggests that people have a greater tendency to remember tasks that are left unfinished, which can be used to encourage engagement and completion in digital interfaces.
Usability Effect: People perceive aesthetically pleasing designs as easier to use than less aesthetically pleasing designs, even when they are not actually easier to use. This law suggests that attractive and visually appealing interfaces can positively influence users’ perceptions of usability and satisfaction.
People judge experiences based on the most intense point (peak) and the end of the experience rather than the overall experience. This law suggests that the most memorable and impactful moments of an experience have a disproportionate influence on how it is perceived and remembered.
People tend to remember the first and last items in a list better than those in the middle. This law suggests that the position of items in a list or sequence can influence how well they are remembered and perceived.
People tend to interpret ambiguous or complex information in the simplest way possible. This law suggests that people naturally seek simplicity and clarity in information processing, and that designs should be as simple and straightforward as possible to minimize confusion and cognitive load.
This law states that people are better at remembering visual information than verbal information. Therefore, interfaces that rely on visual representations of information (such as charts, diagrams, or icons) are more likely to be effective than those that rely solely on text. This law highlights the importance of designing interfaces that use visual cues to convey information and aid users in understanding and retaining information.
This law emphasizes the importance of presenting information gradually over time, rather than overwhelming users with too much information at once. Progressive disclosure can help users process information more easily and reduce cognitive overload, making interfaces easier to use. By revealing information gradually, interfaces can guide users through complex processes and help them focus on the most important information at each stage.
This law states that too much information can overwhelm users and decrease their ability to make decisions. In an interface, information overload can occur when there is too much content, too many options, or too many features. This can lead to confusion, frustration, and decreased user engagement. To avoid information overload, interfaces should be designed to present information in a clear and concise manner, with a focus on the most important information and features.
This law suggests that people tend to follow the gaze of others, so gaze cues can be used to direct attention in interfaces. By using gaze cues (such as arrows or the gaze of characters in a game), interfaces can guide users to important information or actions. Gaze cueing can also be used to create a sense of connection or engagement between users and interfaces.
This law suggests that people are more likely to complete a task if they feel like they have already made progress towards it. In an interface, this can be achieved by providing users with feedback on their progress (such as progress bars or completion percentages). By highlighting progress, interfaces can motivate users to continue using them and increase their sense of accomplishment.
Cognitive Load Theory is a UX law that states that people have a limited capacity for processing information and that the design of user interfaces should take this into account. In other words, when designing a product or service, it’s important to consider the cognitive load that users may experience and to minimize unnecessary mental effort required to complete tasks. This can be achieved by simplifying complex information, breaking tasks into smaller, more manageable steps, and reducing distractions and visual clutter.
The Feedback Loop is a UX law that emphasizes the importance of providing immediate feedback to users. According to this law, users should receive feedback that lets them know what actions they have taken, whether those actions were successful, and what steps they need to take next. Providing feedback helps users to understand the consequences of their actions and improves their performance. Examples of feedback mechanisms include progress bars, notifications, and error messages.
The Expectation Effect is a UX law that suggests that users’ expectations of an interface can influence their perception of its usability and effectiveness. If users expect an interface to work in a certain way, they may be more likely to perceive it as usable and effective, even if it has flaws or limitations. This law underscores the importance of understanding user expectations and designing interfaces that align with them, as well as managing user expectations through clear communication and feedback.
The F-shaped Pattern is a UX law that describes the way users tend to read web pages, with more attention given to the top and left side of the page. This pattern is based on eye-tracking studies that have shown that users tend to scan pages in an F-shaped pattern, focusing on headings, subheadings, and the first few words of paragraphs. This law highlights the importance of designing web pages in a way that emphasizes the most important information at the top and left side of the page, and breaking up content into short, scannable sections. By aligning with the F-shaped pattern, designers can improve the usability and effectiveness of web pages.
Designing a user experience is an endeavour to improve the human experience for the person using the product or service. The Laws of UX are a set of guidelines deeply rooted in human psychology that can reveal the outcome of certain design decisions so that we make better choices at the strategy stage itself. There is a science behind the colour of the clickable elements on any interface or the number of images displayed in a grid in a social networking app. The Laws of UX can be looked upon as a series of cause and effect scenarios where one one design decision (the cause) causes the user to take a particular action (the effect). Using the Laws of UX in your design journey and reviewing your work against can be wise practise to adopt in the long-run; they form the cornerstones of effective design. UI UX design stems from human behavior & governs the way we interact with the internet & internet enabled devices. Let’s read about the principles of UX & principles of UI to further strengthen your core understanding about the design process.
Want to know about the same laws in-depth on a podcast? Lend an ear to one of the most heart episode of Thoughtcast by Onething, and learn from the masters of design.
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