Psychology applied to UX
Psychology plays a very important role in user experience design. As designers, we can use certain principles to influence (in the right way) user behavior so that products effectively achieve their objectives.
Hick’s Law
The time a user takes to make a decision increases with the number and complexity of choices.
- Minimize choices when there is critical decision-making time.
- Break complex tasks into small steps, reducing cognitive load.
- Avoid highlighting elements that aren’t important for the current task.
- Don’t oversimplify to the point of removing important information.
Cognitive Load
The total amount of mental effort being used in a person’s working memory.
- Avoid visual clutter with unnecessary elements.
- Create experiences based on existing mental models. Design patterns that the user has encountered before.
- Eliminate user effort when the product can be smarter and do it alone. Ex.: a form that asks for ZIP code and the product fetches the rest of the location information.
Von Restorff Effect
Or The Isolation Effect, when multiple similar objects are present, the one that differs from the rest is the easiest to remember.
- Important information and actions visually highlighted.
- Avoid elements competing visually with each other to ensure there’s no confusion.
- Don’t use only color to differentiate, remember colorblind users.
- Use animations moderately.
Serial Position Effect
Users tend to remember the first and last items in a list better.
- Less important items go in the middle of lists, as they tend to be stored in memory less frequently.
- Important elements positioned on the left or right in components, like an app’s navigation menu.
Visual Perception
This is where the famous Gestalt Theory comes in. It states that our brain processes information in a way that the subconscious groups separate objects to understand them as a whole.
Similarity
The law of similarity states that similar objects will group together.
Proximity
Elements close to each other are perceived as a group and multiple distinct objects close together are seen as one thing.
Continuity
Flow of a composition. When elements of a composition maintain fluidity from beginning to end.
Prägnanz/Simplicity
Elements seen in the simplest form to be more easily assimilated.
Closure
Even if an image is incomplete, our brain fills in the missing parts making us perceive it as whole.
Unity
An incomplete image can be understood as complete. Empty spaces are filled instinctively.
Unification
An object formed by multiple units can be harmoniously symmetric or not. It’s identified when prägnanz, proximity, unity, and similarity have equal weights.
Segregation
The brain’s ability to differentiate or highlight objects, even when overlapped. Includes the variation in form and aesthetics that one element has compared to another.
These are some of the principles we can apply in UX. Links to learn more: