Laws of ux design

Question 1

Safe Exploration

Answer 1

Good software allows people to try something unfamiliar, back out, and try something else
Examples:

Back buttons making it easy to get back where I started
Trying photo filters but making it easy to undo if I don’t like the result
Saving history
Undo buttons for documents

Question 2

Instant Gratification

Answer 2

If someone starts using an application and gets a “success experience” within the first few seconds, that’s gratifying! Consider in your design how you can give your users a feeling of satisfaction or achievement in the experience.
Examples:

Getting a match on a dating app
A blast of Confetti when you complete a habit
Calling an Uber and immediately having one on the way
Hitting the snooze button

Question 3

Satisficing

Answer 3

This is good enough. don’t want to spend more time learning to do it better
“People are willing to accept “good enough” instead of “best” if learning all the alternatives might cost time or effort.”
If you’re relying on your users to read large blocks of text to understand how your product can benefit them, then you’re allowing the majority of potential users to fall through the cracks.
Key points:

Make obvious options that are safe for the user to select
An interface should be easily scannable
Users will look for the first option that might work

Question 4

Deferred Choices

Answer 4

“I don’t want to answer that now; just let me finish!”
Don’t ask for unnecessary information, but more importantly, allow information to be entered later or make it optional.
Anything that isn’t 100% necessary should be skippable.

Key points:

Don’t have too many steps
Allow users to ‘skip’
Separate important questions from the ones that are less important
Allow users to add, change, or edit things later

Question 5

Habituation

Answer 5

“That gesture works everywhere else; why doesn’t it work here, too?”
If there is an industry-standard for interaction or UI, then it’s best to follow these conventions to be safe — redesigning existing patterns is generally more confusing than useful. Save your creativity for other aspects of the product.

Examples:

CTRL + S, CTRL + Z
Swiping left or right to go to the next or previous screen
Pressing X to exit a dialog
Swiping down to refresh on mobile

Question 6

Spacial Memory

Answer 6

Think about your application as though it’s a physical space. People will be arranging things in a way that they see fit, not how your algorithm thinks they should be. Make it easy for your users to re-arrange things and bookmark or save items for later.
Examples:

Grouping apps into folders
Snapchat placing different screens with a swipe left, right, up, or down
Arranging programs on a desktop
Sorting cards in Apple wallet

Question 7

Social Proof

Answer 7

Social proof can make your product more compelling. It doesn’t necessarily need to include the user’s friends, though it can. Displaying items based on popularity will make your users feel less alone in their decision making.
Examples:

Reviews on Amazon, Airbnb, Yelp, etc.
Likes, reactions, shares, retweets, followers, number of friends, a blue checkmark, comments, or views.
Advice or recommended products from friends
“48 of your friends like this page”

Question 8

Streamlined Repetition

Answer 8

In many kinds of applications, users sometimes find themselves needing to perform the same operation over and over again. The easier it is for them, the better. If you can help reduce the operation down to one keystroke or click per repetition — or better, just a few keystrokes or clicks for all repetitions — you will spare users much tedium
Examples:

Autofill when you start typing something
Google Chrome auto-completing the query “yo” with “www.youtube.com”
Automating routine processes in Slack with workflow builder
“Delete All” or “Select All”

Question 9

Prospective Memory

Answer 9

We arrange in prospective memory when we plan to do something in the future, and we arrange some way of reminding ourselves to do it.
Examples:

Leaving windows open as a reminder that something needs to be completed
Starring or marking an email as unread
Bookmarking websites to view later
Highlighting text in a document as a reminder to revise it later

Question 10

Microbreaks

Answer 10

They want to do something constructive or entertaining to pass the time, knowing they won’t have enough time to get deep into an online activity.
Examples:

Scrolling through Instagram
Reading news
Playing a game
Responding to messages
Checking email
Swiping on Bumble

Question 11

Aesthetic-Usability Effect

Answer 11

An aesthetically pleasing design creates a positive response in people’s brains and leads them to believe the design actually works better.
People are more tolerant of minor usability issues when the design of a product or service is aesthetically pleasing.
Visually pleasing design can mask usability problems and prevent issues from being discovered during usability testing.

Question 12

Doherty Threshold (<400ms)

Answer 12

Productivity soars when a computer and its users interact at a pace (<400ms) that ensures that neither has to wait on the other.
Provide system feedback within 400 ms in order to keep users’ attention and increase productivity.
Use perceived performance to improve response time and reduce the perception of waiting.
Animation is one way to visually engage people while loading or processing is happening in the background.
Progress bars help make wait times tolerable, regardless of their accuracy.
Purposefully adding a delay to a process can actually increase its perceived value and instill a sense of trust, even when the process itself actually takes much less time.

Question 13

Fitts’s Law Touch targets should be

Answer 13

The time to acquire a target is a function of the distance to and size of the target.
Touch targets should be large enough for users to accurately select them.
Touch targets should have ample spacing between them.
Touch targets should be placed in areas of an interface that allow them to be easily acquired.

Question 14

Goal-Gradient Effect

Answer 14

The tendency to approach a goal increases with proximity to the goal.
The closer users are to completing a task, the faster they work towards reaching it.
Providing artificial progress towards a goal will help to ensure users are more likely to have the motivation to complete that task.
Provide a clear indication of progress in order to motivate users to complete tasks.

Question 15

Hick’s Law complexity of choices.Give examples of how to implement

Answer 15

The time it takes to make a decision increases with the number and complexity of choices.
-Minimize choices when response times are critical to increase decision time.
-Break complex tasks into smaller steps in order to decrease cognitive load.
-Avoid overwhelming users by highlighting recommended options.
-Use progressive onboarding to minimize cognitive load for new users.
-Be careful not to simplify to the point of abstraction.

Question 16

Jakob’s Law Users spend most of their time on other sites.

Answer 16

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.
Users will transfer expectations they have built around one familiar product to another that appears similar.
By leveraging existing mental models, we can create superior user experiences in which the users can focus on their tasks rather than on learning new models.
When making changes, minimize discord by empowering users to continue using a familiar version for a limited time.

Question 17

Law of Common Region

Answer 17

Elements tend to be perceived into groups if they are sharing an area with a clearly defined boundary.
Common region creates a clear structure and helps users quickly and effectively understand the relationship between elements and sections.
Adding a border around an element or group of elements is an easy way to create common region.
Common region can also be created by defining a background behind an element or group of elements.
Origins

Question 18

CONFIRMATION BIAS DEFINITION

Answer 18

People tend to search for, interpret, prefer, and recall information in a way that reinforces their personal beliefs or hypotheses.

Question 19

PRIMING DEFINITION

Answer 19

Subtle visual or verbal suggestions help users recall specific information, influencing how they respond. Priming works by activating an association or representation in users short-term memory just before another stimulus or task is introduced.
A “Buy Now” button primes users to make a purchase.
A “Limited Time Offer” label primes users to act quickly.
A progress bar primes users to complete a task.

Question 20

COGNITIVE LOAD DEFINITION

Answer 20

Cognitive load is the total amount of mental effort that is required to complete a task. You can think of it as the processing power needed by the user to interact with a product. If the information that needs to be processed exceeds the user’s ability to handle it, the cognitive load is too high.

Question 21

Anchoring Bias

Answer 21

The initial information that users get affects subsequent judgments. Anchoring often works even when the nature of the anchor doesn’t have any relation with the decision at hand. It’s useful to increase perceived value.

Question 22

Nudge

Answer 22

Subtle hints can affect users’ decisions

People tend to make decisions unconsciously. Small cues or context changes can encourage users to make a certain decision without forcing them. This is typically done through priming, default option, salience and perceived variety.

Question 23

PROGRESSIVE DISCLOSURE

Answer 23

PROGRESSIVE DISCLOSURE
An interface is easier to use when complex features are gradually revealed later. During the onboarding, show only the core features of your product, and as users get familiar, unveil new options. It keeps the interface simple for new users and progressively brings power to advanced users.

Question 24

Banner Blindness

Answer 24

Users have learned to ignore content that resembles ads, is close to ads, or appears in locations traditionally dedicated to ads.

Question 25

DECOY EFFECT

Answer 25

When we are choosing between two alternatives, the addition of a third, less attractive option (the decoy) can influence our perception of the original two choices. Decoys are “asymmetrically dominated”: they are completely inferior to one option (the target) but only partially inferior to the other (the competitor). For this reason, the decoy effect is sometimes called the “asymmetric dominance effect.”

Question 26

The framing effect

Answer 26

The framing effect happens when your decision is influenced more by how the information is presented (or worded) than by the information itself. It’s partly due to the fact that people evaluate their losses and acquire insight in an asymmetric fashion (see Loss Aversion and Prospect Theory, by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky).

Question 27

Social proof

Answer 27

Social proof is a convenient shortcut that users take to determine how to behave. When they are unsure or when the situation is ambiguous, they are most likely to look and accept the actions of others as correct. The greater the number of people, the more appropriate the action seems.

Question 28

Scarcity

Answer 28

While scarcity is typically invoked to encourage purchasing behaviors, it can also be used to increase quality by encouraging people to be more judicious with the actions they take. It can come in different forms: Time-limited, Quantity limited, Access-limited. Never fake scarcity if you don’t want

Question 29

curiosity gap

Answer 29

The curiosity gap is the space between what users know and what they want or need to know. Gaps cause pain, and to take it away, users need to fill the knowledge gap.

Question 30

A mental model

Answer 30

A mental model is an explanation of someone’s thought process about how something works in the real world. It is a representation of the surrounding world, which might be accurate or not. What users believe they know about your product changes how they use it.

Question 31

Familiarity Bias

Answer 31

Users have an innate desire for things they’re already familiar with. And the more we experience something, the more likely we are to like it. So, try to use common patterns when creating new experiences.

Question 32

Skeuomorphism

Answer 32

Skeuomorphism is where an interface object mimics its real world counterpart to facilitate transition to new technology. The digital object imitates reality by how it appears or how the user can interact with it. Skeuomorphism partly relies Familiarity Bias and on a usability concept called “Affordance” (the actions which users consider possible while interacting with an object).

Skeuomorphism is best used to get users to adapt to new interfaces and new technology. Especially since nowadays, most users have become used to interacting with graphical user interfaces. That’s why creating a skeuomorphic interface strictly for aesthetic reasons won’t always work and might even clutter the interface.

Question 33

Reciprocity i

Answer 33

Reciprocity is a social norm of responding to a positive action with another positive action, rewarding kind actions. In the context of digital product experiences, users are more likely to engage with your product if you first provide them value. They’ll be more likely to trust you and reciprocate. That’s even more important when you’re about to ask for something big from your users (sign up, paywall, etc).

Question 34

Singularity Effect
to empathizewith 1

Answer 34

People are more willing to empathize with a single, identifiable person than large abstract groups. This means that the addition of more people doesn’t increase your willingness to help proportionally. On the opposite, your compassion fades as more people are involved. The Singularity Effect, combined with the Character Identification Effect and the Narrative Bias explains why you tend to remember stories with vivid characters much better than abstract statistics and data (see examples below).

Question 35

VARIABLE REWARD DEFINITION

Answer 35

In the operant conditioning method, a variable-ratio schedule is a schedule of reinforcement where a response is reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses. This unexpected schedule creates a steady, high rate of responding.

Question 36

Goal Gradient Effect

Answer 36

The closer users are to reaching a milestone (e.g., completing a task, reaching a goal, etc), the faster they work towards reaching it. Interestingly, even artificial or estimated progress indicators can help to motivate users. That’s why it’s crucial that your experience provides a clear indication of progress to provide this feedback to your users.

Question 37

Occam’s Razorit -is futile to do with more…

Answer 37

Occam’s razor is a mental model which states that “it is futile to do with more what can be done with fewer”—in other words, the simplest explanation is most likely the right one. Be careful, simple does not mean ignoring important facts in an attempt to reduce the complexity. It requires open mindedness to seek a better solution with less complexity and less assumptions, exploring a better way of doing things.
Next time you open Figma/Sketch to begin a new design, ask yourself these questions:

What’s the minimum of information needed to complete the job?
Would someone without my knowledge find this action confusing?
How can I reduce the effort in half?

Question 38

Noble Edge Effect

Answer 38

NOBLE EDGE EFFECT DEFINITION
When companies demonstrate genuine caring and social responsibility, they tend to be rewarded with increased brand loyalty, and greater profits.

Question 39

Hawthorne Effect being observed.

Answer 39

The Hawthorne effect is a theory that describes a type of reactivity in which individuals modify an aspect of their behavior in response to their awareness of being observed.

Question 40

Labor Illusion

Answer 40

Making users wait for something they requested while showing them how it is being prepared creates the appearance of effort. Customers are usually more likely to appreciate the results of that effort. This is also called the “KAYAK Effect” (based on the travel booking site that used that tactic).

Question 41

Default Bias Status quo bias

Answer 41

Unless the incentive to change is compelling, people are more likely to stick to the default situation presented to them. This is also called the Status quo bias. It can be a powerful actor when trying to change behaviors.

Question 42

INVESTMENT LOOPS

Answer 42

People invest time, money, information, or effort into a product in anticipation of future benefits. It makes them more likely to return because of the increase in perceived value. When executed properly, user investments load the next trigger to use your product.

Question 43

Loss Aversion

Answer 43

People prefer to avoid losses more than earning equivalent gains
We hate losing or letting go of what we have (even if more could be had). Prospect theory says that a loss hurts more than an equal gain feels good. In other words, losing $1,000 will “hurt” more than the joy of gaining $1,000. Loss aversion can also lead to sunk cost fallacy. (Related: Endowment Effect)

Question 44

Commitment & Consistency

Answer 44

Users tend to be consistent with their previous actions
When users are asked to do something, their brain instinctually perceive it as a threat. The smaller the initial ask, the smaller the fight or flight response and the more likely they are to agree to gradually bigger requests. Especially since the brain likes to be consistent with its previous actions. It’s part of the reason why multi-step forms can perform up to 271% better than a big single-step form.

Question 45

Sunk Cost Effect

Answer 45

sers are reluctant to pull out of something they’re invested in.
People experience the sunk cost effect when they keep doing something as a result of previously invested resources (time, effort, money, etc). That effect becomes a fallacy if it’s pushing them to do things that won’t make them happier.

Question 46

Reactance

Answer 46

Users are less likely to adopt a behavior when they feel forced.
Reactance occurs when a person feels that someone or something is taking away their choices or limiting the range of alternatives. It’ll trigger an opposite response to what was intended, and also increases resistance to persuasion.

Question 47

Law of the Instrument

Answer 47

If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
When we acquire a new skill, we tend to see opportunities to use it everywhere. This bias is also known as “the law of the hammer”, or “Maslow’s hammer”, in reference to psychologist Abraham Maslow’s famous quote: “I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail”
When something feels difficult when it should be easy, ask yourself:

Am I using the right tool for the right job?
Is there an easier path? (see #occamsrazor)

Question 48

Temptation Bundling

Answer 48

Hard tasks are less scary when coupled with something users desire.
TEMPTATION BUNDLING DEFINITION
We’re more likely to do the hard stuff when tightly coupled with something tempting. Researchers showed that bundling a want, or an instant gratification experience, with a should, or a valuable but delayed gratification experience would increase the chances of taking action.

Question 49

Dunning-Kruger Effect overestimate their skills

Answer 49

People tend to overestimate their skills when they don’t know much
DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT DEFINITION
This effect occurs when a person’s lack of knowledge and skills in a certain area cause them to overestimate their own competence. By contrast, it also causes those who excel in a given area to think the task is simple for everyone (curse of knowledge), and underestimate their relative abilities as well.

Question 50

DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT It takes competence to judge competence.

Answer 50

Next time someone with leverage (Boss) tries to sabotage a project because he thinks it’s better:

Collect the right data (Qualitative & Quantitative),
Use the right vocabulary (learn the psychology behind why something works),
Remind them why they hired you,
At last, remember that you can’t control everything! (Good luck)

Question 51

Discoverability

Answer 51

The ease with which users can discover your features.
Discoverability means that the user can extract the knowledge they need of the product by looking at it. If the key elements to take action are well presented then discoverability is good.

Question 52

Second-Order Effect(buttefly)

Answer 52

The consequences of the consequences of actions
A single decision can initiate a series of cause-and-effects, and it can be hard to predict or control them all. Still, as a product community, we have the ethical responsibility of trying to predict the undesirable consequences of the experiences we create as best as we can.

Question 53

Provide Exit Points

Answer 53

Exit points are meant to respect people’s time. They are opportunities to “put down” the product when users feel they have reached something. They are critical to an overall experience when you want to avoid product fatigue and reactance.

Question 54

Peak-End Rule
judge an experience by

Answer 54

Users don’t merely evaluate an experience based on the average or a sum of all the micro-experiences. Instead, their brain heavily weighs the peaks (high or low) and the end of the experience. Peaks—when pleasant—often correspond to memorable delighters sprinkled into the user journey.

Question 55

Sensory Appeal

Answer 55

Users engage more with things appealing to multiple senses
Why are we tempted to eat sweets when walking by a bakery in the morning? The smell out of the oven is strong enough to make us stop. The sights, sounds, feels, tastes, and smells of products are designed to engage users’ senses. And when multiple senses are engaged, people are more likely to create an emotional connection with the brand.

Question 56

Zeigarnik Effect
incomplete tasks

Answer 56

People remember incomplete tasks better than completed ones
Lewin’s field theory states that a task in progress creates task-specific tension. This tension is relieved when the task is completed, but if the task is interrupted, it stays. That tension makes relevant information more accessible and more easily remembered.

Question 57

Endowment Effect
ownreship

Answer 57

Users value something more if they feel it’s theirs
Users are more likely to want to keep something that they own than acquire that same thing when they don’t own it. They tend to overvalue the things they own, regardless of their objective market value.

Question 58

Chunking
People remember grouped information better

Answer 58

In cognitive psychology, chunking is when individual pieces of an information set are broken down and grouped in a meaningful whole. These chunks bypass the limited working memory capacity (see Miller’s Law) and allow the working memory to be more efficient. Chunks are easier to retrieve because your brain creates higher-order cognitive representations of the items within each chunk.

In terms of interface design, it comes down to breaking down steps, text, and interface elements into smaller pieces so that users can process, understand, and remember information them better.

Question 59

Delighters
People remember more unexpected and playful pleasures

Answer 59

We remember and respond favorably to small, unexpected, and playful pleasures. But, for your delighters to have a positive effect, you must first meet or exceed the user’s basic expectations. Otherwise, that moment will likely fall flat. Also, over time, delighters become expected features losing that slight edge.

Question 60

Internal Trigger

Answer 60

Then users are prompted to take action based on a memory
A “trigger” is a prompt of a user to take action. There are two types of triggers:

external (e.g. emails, mobile notification, billboards, ad) and
internal (e.g. places, situations, emotions, people).
External triggers are meant to alert people in case of an event. Slowly, by interacting with external triggers people begin to form associations with internal triggers, which become attached to existing behaviors and emotions. Soon, people are internally triggered every time they feel a certain way.

Question 61

Attentional Bias

Answer 61

Users’ thoughts filter what they pay attention to
Attentional bias refers to the tendency of an individual’s attention to be selectively focused on certain stimuli or aspects of their environment, often to the exclusion of other relevant information. This bias can be influenced by personal preferences, emotional states, or past experiences, and it can impact how people perceive and respond to the world around them.

Question 62

Empathy Gap

Answer 62

people underestimate how much emotions influence user behaviors
The empathy gap refers to a cognitive bias or phenomenon in which individuals underestimate or have difficulty understanding the emotions, feelings, or experiences of others, especially when they are in different emotional states or circumstances. This gap can lead to a lack of empathy and an inability to fully comprehend the perspectives and suffering of others, often resulting in judgment or misunderstanding.

Question 63

Visual Anchors

Answer 63

Elements used to guide users’ eyes
Visual anchors are prominent and easily identifiable reference points or elements within a visual scene or design that help viewers establish their bearings, make comparisons, or understand the context of what they are seeing. These anchors serve as visual cues to guide perception and interpretation.

Question 64

Von Restorff Effect

Answer 64

People notice items that stand out more

Question 65

Visual Hierarchy

Answer 65

The order in which people perceive what they see

Question 66

Selective Attention

Answer 66

People filter out things from their environment when in focus

Question 67

Survivorship Bias

Answer 67

People neglect things that don’t make it past a selection process
Survivorship bias is a cognitive bias that occurs when we focus on the individuals or things that have “survived” or succeeded in a particular process or selection, while ignoring those that did not make it. This can lead to a skewed or overly optimistic perception of success and outcomes because we’re not considering the full spectrum of results.

Question 68

Loser Bias” or “Failure Bias.”

Answer 68

This bias occurs when people disproportionately focus on or remember the failures, losses, or negative outcomes, while discounting or overlooking the successes and positive outcomes. It can lead to a pessimistic or overly critical view of one’s own or others’ achievements and can also skew perceptions in the opposite direction compared to survivorship bias.

Question 69

Juxtaposition

Answer 69

In UX (User Experience) design, juxtaposition refers to the deliberate arrangement of different design elements, such as text, images, or interactive components, in close proximity to create a contrast or connection that enhances the user’s understanding or interaction with a digital interface. This technique can be used to guide user attention, convey relationships between elements, or convey meaning and context. Juxtaposition can help designers achieve clarity, visual hierarchy, and effective communication in user interfaces.

Question 70

Signifiers

Answer 70

Elements that communicate what they will do
Signifiers are visual or auditory cues, symbols, or indicators that convey information or instructions to users in a design, interface, or environment. They help users understand how to interact with a product, navigate a system, or interpret the meaning of various elements, making it easier for them to use and understand the context they are in. Signifiers play a crucial role in user experience design and wayfinding.

Question 71

Contrast

Answer 71

Users’ attention is drawn to higher visual weights

Question 72

External Trigger

Answer 72

When the information on what to do next is within the prompt itself

Question 73

Centre-Stage Effect

Answer 73

People tend to choose the middle option in a set of items

Question 74

Law of Proximity

Answer 74

elements close to each other are usually considered related

Question 75

Tesler’s Law
if simplify too much

Answer 75

Tesler’s Law
If you simplify too much, you’ll transfer some complexity to the users
Use clear and concise language. Avoid using jargon or technical terms that users may not understand.
Provide helpful feedback. Let users know what they are doing and how their actions are affecting the system.
Give users control. Allow users to customize the system to their needs and preferences.
Use affordances. Design the system so that it is clear to users how to use it.
Provide support. Offer users access to help documentation and tutorials.