5 Fundamental Principles of UX Design Psychology
Great UI/UX design requires you to be a curious human-nature researcher, investigate the mental patterns, and unobvious influences on the user’s perception. If you want to create a truly amazing and intuitive digital product, you must be aware of these fundamental principles of UX design psychology. They will help you navigate in your creative process and deliver the best outcome.
Fireart Team is happy to take you throughout the world of UX psychology and consider universal design laws as well as inspire all of us to think a little outside of the box.
Hick’s Law
Hick’s Law states that the time for making a decision increases as the number of given choices increase. You try to assess the costs and benefits of a decision before you take it. In other words, you subconsciously run a cost-benefit analysis that takes time. The more choices you are given, the more time it will take to weigh each of them.
The most actionable way to apply Hick’s Law in UX design is to offer users a simple path of taking a target action and suggest as much benefit as possible. Using it in web design or mobile app design, try to remove all the unnecessary links, images, text, and other details that can distract a user from the desirable action. Let people easily find what they have been looking for.
Gestalt Principles of Visual Perception
Some of our cognitive processes run according to the laws of information organization and visual perception. It means that a human brain can perceive the same information in a bit different ways if you structure a message differently. Often the perception is impacted by how we see objects and relate them to each other based on spacing.
According to the gestalt theory, viewers subconsciously group together separated objects from and perceive them as a whole. People subconsciously perceive symmetry as visually appealing. That is why when you see some specific objects, you perceive them as symmetry perfection. Excellent examples of symmetry in the design are logos of Starbucks and McDonald’s.
Another gestalt psychology hint is that if the elements are located tightly to each other, they are perceived as a single group. Designers often apply this principle to create responsive logos. In the image below, you can see it presented in two versions of Adidas logos. If the same three lines depicted in the logo are located further from each other than usually, they are not perceived as one object. On the contrary, if they are placed close to each other they are seen as a single logo.
The Law of continuity is one of the latest design trends. It lies in the eye’s ability to move through one object, continue it to another object, and perceive these objects as parts of one image. Brand identity designers often apply it to create logos with curved lines that allow the eye to flow the line.
Selective Disregard
In UX design, there is a concept of selective disregard. It means that people used to ignore information online, which they recognize as irrelevant at a glance. To structure important information on your website in the most effective way, you must be aware of some principles of selective attention.
The modern users have very short attention spans and used to look for the needed information on a website very fast. Make sure your website content does not have any excessive and distracting decorations. Make a user interface simple and intuitive. Place essential information or a CTA button it the center of a screen or in another well-visible place on a web page.
Do not force a user to look for a “Buy” button on your site if you do not want to lose conversions. You can also use different highlighting techniques to make the most important elements and information visible at a glance. Placement and contrast of content are critical when designing to avoid being overlooked by users
Memory Limitations
“Memory is deceptive because it is colored by today’s events.” — Albert Einstein
Memory is one of the biggest mysteries in the world. Its secrets are not uncovered even today. Scientists have only shaped a blurred idea of how it works indeed. However, we can notice specific memory rules, laws, and tendencies that are applicable in most cases.
The way we store information in our memory much depends on the intensity of experienced emotions and feelings, life events, thoughts, beliefs, cognitive overload, and so on. Since our memory is not a precise computer but rather a suggestive and malleable mechanism, it is crucial to create a user interface design that can be easily understood and does not need any extra-efforts of the user’s memory.
Some scientific studies have defined that human working memory capacity is around 10–15 seconds, remembering only 3–4 items at a time. So, when designing an interface, keep in mind that you should try to create an experience that is based on recognition, not recall. Experienced UI/UX designers know that it is better not to expect that users will remember specific information from one web page (or mobile app screen) to another.
Strive to provide the maximum psychological comfort for users by providing user assistance, support, and feedback if needed. Personalize digital experiences to match your user’s preferences, expectations, and cognitive patterns.
Mental Models
Mental models are commonly generated by the person’s beliefs and expectations from the world. We used to act and perceive the objects and information about them following our mental models.
After we have stepped into a digital era, users have already shaped the way they expect to interact with digital products. They have created specific behavior patterns, and if an interface does not correspond to them, it is not intuitive and convenient. If a user is not familiar with a user interface design, he/she spends much more time to understand how to use a product. It significantly decreases user loyalty and negatively influences the user experience.
Conducting usability testing, task analysis, observations, and interviews, you will get a clearer understanding of what your users’ mental models are and build a mobile app or website upon them.
Closing Thoughts
UX design psychology may help you navigate in the product design and development process, produce more effective design, and meet business objectives. It can perfectly complement your UI/UX design kit.
Armed with the knowledge of UX psychology, you can step into the user’s shoes, see a product as he or she does, and provide better UI/UX design solutions. Designing from the user’s perspective, you build the foundation for the future audience’s loyalty and satisfaction.
Originally published at https://fireart.studio on February 13, 2020.
