When designing a user experience (UX), understanding human behavior is essential. UX design aims to create smooth, intuitive, and enjoyable interactions between users and products. By incorporating principles from psychology and cognitive science, UX designers can create better interfaces.
In this blog, we will explore 10 laws of UX that every designer must know. These laws can guide you in creating user-centered designs, making decisions, and improving overall usability.
List of 10 Essential Laws of UX
Let’s discuss how the 10 basic laws of UX work and how designers can follow them to make their designs user-friendly.
1. Fitts’s Law
“It states how quickly a person can move a pointer (e.g., a mouse cursor or finger) to a target area.”
Fitts’s Law is one of the foundational principles of UX. It explains that the time it takes to move toward a target is influenced by two main factors: the size of the target and the distance from it. Larger and closer targets are easier to reach, while smaller, distant ones take more effort and time.
To improve usability, you should position frequently used buttons and interactive elements in easily accessible locations. For example, making important buttons larger and placing them near the bottom-right corner of mobile apps can enhance user efficiency.
2. Hick’s Law
“The time it takes to make a decision increases with the number and complexity of choices.”
Hick’s Law focuses on how decision-making is affected by the number of available choices. The more options a user has, the longer it will take to make a decision. While offering multiple choices may seem helpful, it can actually overwhelm the user.
Simplify navigation by minimizing the number of options and breaking them into categories. Instead of bombarding users with too many choices at once, provide them with filtered or guided options. This makes decision-making quicker and easier.
3. Miller’s Law
“The average person can only keep 7 (plus or minus 2) items in their working memory.”
Miller’s Law is based on the idea that human short-term memory has limitations. Users can only process a limited number of pieces of information at once before becoming overloaded. Too much information can lead to cognitive overload.
To make your design more user-friendly, break information into smaller, digestible chunks. Group related information together and use techniques like bullets, headings, and numbered lists to improve readability and reduce cognitive load.
4. Jakob’s Law
“Users prefer your site to work the same way as other sites they are already familiar with.”
Jakob’s Law emphasizes familiarity. Most users spend the majority of their time on other websites, so they bring expectations about how things should work when they visit yours. If your interface deviates too much from common design patterns, it may frustrate users.
Stick to established conventions, research ongoing UX trends, and avoid being too unique when it comes to basic design elements like navigation, buttons, and forms. Familiar designs create less friction and a smoother user experience.
5. Pareto Principle (80/20 Rule)
“80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.”
Also known as the 80/20 rule, the Pareto Principle suggests that a small number of actions usually account for the majority of the results. In UX, this means that 80% of user interactions come from 20% of the features.
Focus your energy on optimizing the most critical features of your product. Identify the core functionalities that users engage with and improve those. Don’t waste time perfecting features that only a small percentage of users will use.
6. Serial Position Effect
“Users are more likely to remember the first and last items in a series.”
The Serial Position Effect suggests that people tend to remember the first (primacy effect) and last (recency effect) items in a sequence, while forgetting the middle items. This is an important psychological insight when arranging content.
Place key actions or information at the beginning or end of a list or sequence. For example, the most important categories in a navigation bar should appear at the beginning or the end for greater visibility and memorability.
7. Law of Proximity
“Objects that are close to each other are perceived as related.”
The Law of Proximity is one of the Gestalt principles of visual perception. It states that users tend to group together elements that are near each other. Proximity creates an association between objects, even if there’s no other explicit link.
Use spacing to indicate relationships between elements. Group similar content or actions together, and separate unrelated items to avoid confusion. This principle can improve the clarity and structure of your design.
8. Law of Similarity
“Elements that are similar are perceived as being related.”
The Law of Similarity is another Gestalt principle. It asserts that people perceive similar-looking elements as part of the same group. Elements that share visual traits—like color, shape, or size—are interpreted as related.
Maintain consistency in design elements to create a sense of coherence. Use similar colors and shapes for buttons that perform related actions, and reserve contrasting styles for different functions. This makes navigation more intuitive.
9. Tesler’s Law of Complexity
“Every application has an inherent amount of complexity that cannot be reduced.”
Also known as the Law of Conservation of Complexity, Tesler’s Law states that while you should strive to simplify user interactions, some complexity in a product is inevitable. Attempting to oversimplify can hurt functionality.
Simplify where you can, but don’t strip away essential features. Balance user experience by hiding complexity behind intuitive interfaces (e.g., progressive disclosure), but make sure advanced users can still access powerful features.
10. Aesthetic Usability Effect
“Users perceive more aesthetically pleasing designs as easier to use.”
The Aesthetic Usability Effect describes how users tend to overlook usability issues if a design looks attractive. A well-designed and visually appealing interface can foster positive emotional responses, leading users to believe it is more functional than it may actually be.
Never underestimate the power of visual appeal. While usability is crucial, enhancing your design’s aesthetics can make users more forgiving of minor flaws. An attractive interface can also build trust and encourage user engagement.
Putting It All Together
Designing an efficient user experience requires more than creativity; it demands knowledge about how users think, behave, and interact with interfaces. By applying these 10 laws of UX, designers can design products that not only work functionally but also intuitively and delightfully.
Remember, it’s all about the right balance. Users want to reach their goals easily without much effort. That means ease in decision-making (Hick’s Law), ease in information seeking (Miller’s Law), and ease with the familiarity of patterns (Jakob’s Law) would contribute to a frictionless experience. Equally important is the visual, aesthetically pleasing design (Aesthetic Usability Effect) coupled with well-arranged content (Law of Proximity).
Above all, these laws of UX will be a blueprint for you when it comes to designing interfaces that are in alignment with the cognitive abilities of users. The solutions given by these can prove to be both user-centered as well as result-driven. They will ensure that your designs are effective, efficient, and enjoyable to users.
Conclusion
Understanding and using the 10 laws of UX can dramatically improve the quality of your designs. You could make interactions clearer, consider user expectations, and present information more readily available so you create better digital experiences. Be it websites, apps, or software, keeping these laws in mind will help you improve the usability of a decision-making process for greater user satisfaction and success.
These principles should be internalized by every designer as a guide in the process of design. Laws are not binding rules; rather, they serve as frameworks to help in the thinking of the user first, designing intuitive interfaces, and driving better engagement.
VisionX’s designers are well aware of these laws and actively implement these principles within their designs. If your UI/UX design is outdated, we can provide UI/UX design solutions that can help you increase engagement.
