The psychology of UX design and its impact on users

It’s about understanding the complexities of human behaviour and designing in a way that resonates with users. The highly connected relationship between psychology and UX (user experience) isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s the first place to start when crafting a design that not only works but leaves a lasting impression.

Neuroscience, social psychology and cognitive psychology are central to UX design. Don Norman, principal of NN/g, refers to himself as a cognitive designer for this very reason: regardless of the type of products you are working on, what matters is that systems are designed for how people think. In UX design, there are many psychological principles that can be used during the design process to create delightful user experiences.

Designing for user emotions

Our emotions take part in how we experience a digital product, and operate on three key levels: the subconscious level, the behavioural level, and the reflective level.

The subconscious level

At the subconscious level, users react to what they experience with their immediate, instinctive response. The overall aesthetics of a digital product such as colours and shapes have the potential to determine whether a user’s attention is going to be grabbed and maintained, or whether they’re going to drop-off. Ensuring that visual elements adhere to best-practice (e.g., typography with a clear hierarchy) will provide users with an exceptional first impression, boost engagement and interactions, and lower bounce rates.

The behavioural level

After the first impression is made, users will start to look deeper into the digital product. At this stage, users will assess its usability and whether the product will successfully satisfy their needs. This is the behavioural level, at which the trustworthiness of the product is of the highest importance. If users proceed to interact with the product and find that the navigation is poor, buttons aren’t clickable, and there are multiple errors, they might be led to abandon the experience.

We would recommend conducting a UX audit to pinpoint potential usability issues and bottlenecks that might be causing user frustration. Alternatively, usability testing is an impactful user research method used to identify problematic areas, and are more appropriate to be conducted regularly unlike UX audits.

The reflective level

The third level involved in designing for user emotions is the reflective level. At this point, users explore further than what they see, and begin to make conscious decisions about what they think about the product’s value, meaning, and how it might align with their beliefs system. To engage users on the reflective level, impactful digital branding that shines through the product is essential. Brand purpose refers to the fundamental reason for an organisation’s existence beyond profit generation, encapsulating its values, beliefs, and impact on society: it represents the deeper societal contribution that a brand aspires to make, transcending mere transactions and fostering a meaningful connection with its audience. Through thoughtful UX design, user flows, interactions and interfaces are able to intuitively guide users and reinforce the brand’s message and value.

Concise and compelling copy that illuminates a brand’s narrative is also key in communicating this value. A well-defined brand narrative that permeates a digital product’s interface and copy provides clarity and consistency for an organisation, delivers persuasive and impactful marketing messages to the intended audience, and resonates with users on a reflective level.

The importance of visual perception

The process by which our brains interpret and compute visual information received through our eyes is known as visual perception. Visual perception is the gateway through which users interact with digital interfaces: in UX design, sensory data such as colour, shape, and layout are instrumental in determining how interfaces are perceived and navigated. To ensure that users perceive, recognise and interpret what they see on an interface in the intended way, thoughtful attention to visual elements is necessary in UX design.

The Gestalt Principles

Coined by Max Wertheimer in 1912, the Gestalt principles demonstrate that our brains create meaning in complex situations by ordering our experience in a format that is consistent and recognisable to us. These principles guide UX designers to evaluate how visual hierarchy, gradients, page structure and backgrounds should be applied, how to draw attention to specific points of focus, and effectively produce intuitive user experiences. The principles are as follows:

Closure: When our brain sees objects that have incomplete or not completely closed spaces, it attempts to fill these missing parts to create an image or pattern that is recognisable

Proximity: Our brains assume that objects that are close in proximity are related or belong together

Similarity: Objects similar in shape, colour and size are perceived as related

Figure-ground: Naturally, we perceive objects as either figures (objects that are in focus) or grounds (the backgrounds behind the figures)

Continuity: Our eyes follow patterns that are similar from one point to another, and therefore, elements arranged in a line or on a curve are perceived to be more related than elements not

Focal point: Elements that stand out in a group, which could be on the basis of shape, colour or size, will capture our attention first

Common region: Similar to proximity, we perceive objects located within the same enclosed region as grouped together or related

The impact of cognitive load on the user experience

Cognitive Load Theory (Sweller, 1988) illustrates that cognitive resources are finite, and if overwhelmed with too much information at once, learners can become overwhelmed. Sweller found that our working memory is only capable of retaining a small amount of information at any one time. Cognitive Load Theory is essential in UX design because designers can craft with the understanding that excess information can slow users down and discourage them from engaging with a digital product. If users are asked to complete too many tasks at once and read an overwhelming amount of information, all while trying to learn how to use and navigate a site, it will most likely result in the user becoming frustrated and abandoning their interactions overall. Design principles that best minimise cognitive load include:

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