Heuristics

Heuristics are rules of thumb or guidelines that help designers make decisions quickly and efficiently. Part of Laws of UX.

Aesthetic-Usability Effect

Users often perceive aesthetically pleasing design as design that’s more usable.

• An aesthetically pleasing design creates a positive response and leads users to believe the design works better.
• People are more tolerant of minor usability issues when the design is aesthetically pleasing.
• Visually pleasing design can mask usability problems and prevent issues from being discovered during testing.

Fitts’s Law

The time to move to a target depends on how big it is and how far away it is. Optimize both when creating UI.

• Touch targets should be large enough for users to accurately select them.
• Touch targets should have ample spacing between them.
• Place targets in areas that allow them to be easily acquired.

Goal-Gradient Effect

The tendency to approach a goal increases with proximity to the goal.

• The closer users are to completing a task, the faster they work toward reaching it.
• Artificial progress toward a goal can increase motivation to complete the task.
• Provide a clear indication of progress to motivate users.

Useful components: progress indicators, loading animations, wizard steps.

Hick’s Law

The time it takes to make a decision increases with the number and complexity of choices.

• Minimize choices when response times are critical.
• Break complex tasks into smaller steps 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.

Jakob’s Law

Users spend most of their time on other sites. They prefer your site to work the same way as sites they already know.

• Users transfer expectations from one familiar product to another that appears similar.
• Leverage existing mental models so users can focus on tasks rather than learning new models.
• When making changes, minimize discord by empowering users to continue using a familiar version for a limited time.

Miller’s Law

The average person can only keep 7 (plus or minus 2) items in their working memory.

• Don’t use the “magical number seven” to justify unnecessary design limitations.
• Organize content into smaller chunks to help users process, understand, and memorize easily.
• Short-term memory capacity varies per individual, based on prior knowledge and situational context.

Methods for reducing cognitive load:

• Avoid unnecessary elements
• Leverage common design patterns
• Eliminate unnecessary tasks
• Minimize choices
• Display choices as a group
• Strive for readability
• Use iconography with caution

Parkinson’s Law

Any task will inflate until all of the available time is spent.

• Limit the time it takes to complete a task to what users expect it’ll take.
• Reducing actual duration below expected duration improves the overall user experience.
• Use features such as autofill to save time in forms and prevent task inflation.