Principles

Question 1

Aesthetic-Usability Effect

Answer 1

More aesthetically pleasing design = design more usable

Question 2

Chunking

Answer 2

Breaking down information and categorizing it into meaningful whole to decrease cognitive load

Question 3

Cognitive Bias

Answer 3

Systematic errors of thinking that conserves energy by leaning on prior information/ preconceived notions to come to conclusions

Question 4

Cognitive load

Answer 4

amount of mental resources needed to interact with an interface
-Intrinsic: amount of info we carry relevent to goals, absord new info, and keep track of goals
-Extrinsic: mental processing that uses resources to process info but doesn’t help users learn interface

Question 5

Doherty Threshold

Answer 5

Engagement increases when feedback from websites in <400 ms & niether has to wait for the other

Question 6

Fitts’s Law

Answer 6

Time it takes to interact with a touch target = distance + size
-Should be large & have lots of spacing between other targets
-Should be placed in easily seen/accessible areas

Question 7

Flow

Answer 7

Mental state of total immersion & enjoyment in an activity
- balance of ease + challenge (mental engagement)
-need to show feedback so user know what to do and what needs to be done

Question 8

Goal-Gradient Effect

Answer 8

Tendency to work faster to the goal when can see it’s end
-Provide clear indication of progress and where end goal is

Question 9

Hick’s Law

Answer 9

Decision-making time increases with an increase in number and complexity of choices
-lessen choices to increase response time
-break tasks into smaller tasks to decrease cognitive load
-avoid overwhelm by using highlighted recommendation options
-show progress bar
-ex: Google home page…Simplistic design

Question 10

Jakob’s Law

Answer 10

Users will expect your website to work like similar websites they’ve been to
-When changing how website works/looks, use familar interface for a short amount of time

Question 11

Law of Common Reign

Answer 11

Elements will be percieved as one group if in one area of the webste together with a boundary

Question 12

Law of Proximity

Answer 12

Objects that are near to each other tend to be seen as part of same group
-Ex: spacing between Google search results

Question 13

Law of Pragnanz

Answer 13

People will interpret an image with the most simple explanation to reduce cognitive effort

Question 14

Law of Similarity

Answer 14

Human eyes percieve similar elements in a design as one image, even if separated

Question 15

Law of Uniform Connectedness

Answer 15

Elements that are visually connected are percieved as related more than elements that are not

Question 16

Mental Model

Answer 16

Compressed model of how we think a system works and what we know about it

Question 17

Miller’s Law

Answer 17

Average person can only hold 7 (+/-) 2 items in working memory
-Organize information into chunks

Question 18

Occam’s Razor

Answer 18

Simpilest answer is always the best option

Question 19

Paradox of the Active User

Answer 19

Users never read manuals but use software immediately
-Integrate user manuals in onboarding process or user journey

Question 20

Pareto Principle

Answer 20

For many events, 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes
-Focus majority of energy on areas that will bring the most benefits to users

Question 21

Parkinson’s Law

Answer 21

Any task will seem more cumbersome the longer it takes to complete
-User experience will improve if task takes less time than user expected
-Use autofill for forms

Question 22

Postel’s Law

Answer 22

Be liberal in what you accept, but conservitive in what you send
-Be flexible with the various actions users could take or any input they give

Question 23

Peak-End Rule

Answer 23

Users judge overall experience by Peak and End of experience rather than by total average experience
-Recall negative experiences better than positive
-Identify when product is most helpful, valuable, or entertaining & design to delight end user

Question 24

Selective Attention

Answer 24

Process of focusing attention on subset of environment-usually having to do with our goals
-Banner Blindness: avoid styling information that makes it look like an ad, users have learned to ignore
-Change Blindness: significant changes in an interface get ignored due to limitedness of human attention and lack of strong cues
-avoid by analyzing design for competing changes that may take attention from each other

Question 25

Serial Position Effect

Answer 25

Users tend to remember the first and last items in a series (Primacy and Recency Effect)
-Most important information should be placed at beginning and end
-Positioning key actions left to right in elements like navigation will increase memorization

Question 26

Tesler’s Law

Answer 26

(aka Law of Conservation of Complexity) Within any system, there is a certain amount of complexity that cannot be reduced
-Reduce challenge for user by dealing with the complexity of system in design and development
-Don’t build products for the rational user, because humans don’t always behave rationally
-However, users resist reduction of complexity of tasks, so will look for more complex tasks

Question 27

Von Restorff Effect

Answer 27

(aka The Isolation Effect) When silimar objects are shown, the object most different will be remembered more
-Consider users with motion sensitivity when using motion to communicate interest
-Don’t exclude those with color vision deficency or low vision when adding color for contrast
-Use restraint with visual elements so they don’t compete
-Make sure elements don’t get mistaken for ads

Question 28

Zaigarnik Effect

Answer 28

People remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than complete tasks
-Provide clear visual of progress so users can see they are in the middle of a task
-Introduce new content by having clear signals of additional content