User Experience Design tips#10
- Onur Okutur
- Apr 26
- 2 min read
Laws of UX are a set of principles rooted in psychology and behavioral science that guide user experience and user interface design. Below are some of the key principles I frequently apply in my work:
🍎 Peak-end rule
People judge an experience based on how they felt at its peak (most intense point) and at its end rather than the overall experience.
How to apply: Ensure users have a positive final experience with your product, no matter if it's a conversion (smooth checkout process) or offboarding (no hidden charges when closing the account).
🍎 Pareto principle (80/20 Rule)
80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.
How to apply:
✔ Attract right target audience: 80% of company revenue comes from 20% of its customers
✔ Feature prioritization: 80% of a product's usage involves 20% of its features. Prioritize features that provide maximum value to your target audience.
✔ Error handling: 80% of errors are caused by 20% of components. Refine scenarios where users can face problems.
🍎 Aesthetic-usability effect
Users perceive aesthetically pleasing designs to be more usable.How to apply: Invest in an attractive and clean design to make the product look visually appealing. However, balance aesthetics with functionality to ensure usability is not compromised.
🍎 Hick's Law
The time it takes to make a decision increases with the number and complexity of choices.How to apply: Simplify decision-making for users by reducing the number of options or breaking down complex tasks into smaller, manageable steps. For example, finding the right product on the eCommerce website with too many options can overwhelm users, so grouping items into categories and subcategories and using filters can reduce cognitive load.
🍎 Miller's Law
The average person can only keep 7 (±2) items in their working memory at any given time.
How to apply:
Chunk information into smaller, digestible groups to prevent overwhelming users. For example, in form design, grouping related fields together can help users process information more easily.
🍎 Doherty threshold
Productivity increases when a computer and its users interact at a pace where neither has to wait on the other (within 400 milliseconds).How to apply: Ensure your interface responds quickly to user interactions. Minimize delays, loading times, or other interruptions to keep the user engaged and productive.
🍎 Zeigarnik effect
People remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed ones.How to apply: Encourage user engagement by providing visual cues that indicate incomplete tasks, such as task lists, prompting users to return and complete the tasks.
📘 Guides
✔ Laws of UX (by Jon Yablonski)
✔ Laws of UX diagram
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