The A-Z of UX Design
Over the last 15 years, I’ve learned a lot. Here’s an A-Z of the most valuable lessons that have helped me get to where I am. Take these principles to heart and I guarantee you’ll become an even better designer.
Ambiguity
Unclear information creates discomfort
Bias
Legacy neural pathways that make poor decisions
Conformity
Familiar patterns (Jacobs Law)
Dark Patterns
Exploiting bias to encourage undesirable behaviour
Effervescence
Shared collective excitement unifies social groups
Friction
Design elements that hinder optimal flow
Gestalt
The space between objects is also symbolic
Hick’s Law
The more options, the harder the decision
Information Scent
Traces of content entice users on a journey
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Obsolescence
Remove features that no longer add value
Paralysis
Being faced with too many choices prevents decisions
Quality Signal
Every aspect of your product’s performance affects perceived trust
Reciprocity
Offer free value and users are more likely to return the favour
Semantic Crossover
Avoid shared meaning between content labels
Threat Perception
Rapid changes in peripheral vision triggers stress
Jakob’s Law
Design using familiar practices helps adoption
Kosher
Users must feel that their product consumption does no harm
Locus of Attention
Our attention focuses only on a narrow field of vision
MVP
Done is better than perfect
Noise
Elements that don’t add value to a user’s objective
Uncanny Valley
People feel repulsed by similar but not similar enough imitations
Von Restorff Effect
The element that differs most is more likely to be remembered
Wayfinding
Users like to know where they are in a journey
eXperience
Nothing is more important to success than delivering a good experience
Five Whys
A way to identify the root of a problem by asking "why?" repeatedly
Ctrl-Z
Don’t think twice about drawing ideas; you can aways undo it