The laws of UX guide designers in the best practice of UX. Psychology plays a big role in understanding how people perceive and interact with the product. Allowing designers to make better design choices. the ux laws are split into four groups, which are heuristics, Gestalt principles, cognitive bias and principles
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This book of the law of UX looks at the psychology that will help the design of apps and websites, and how the psychology will make them better. This book discusses how users think and behave, which can help designers make more informed decisions. Using these laws will help the interaction feel natural and navigate smoothly.
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People are used to how other apps and websites work, so they expect new ones to be similar. If something looks or feels familiar, they already know how to use it, which makes things easier for them. YouTube changed its design in 2017, but let users try the new version before fully switching. It helped people get used to the changes slowly, which is what I tried to do by using something familiar in my design. Also figma did this when they updated this year as i was using the new figma update which i found hard to navigate but Erin in my class was using the old one as they allowed you to switch between both which was really helpful before fully switching to the new update.
I used this law when adding the swipeable card feature to my app, like the one on Tinder. Most people already know how to swipe left or right to make a choice, so I didn’t have to explain much—it just made sense. My user testing backed this up, as I didn't need to explain how to work it. I also added buttons in case they didn't know how to use the swiping feature, which overall improved the accessibility of the app. Maeve-
We use mental shortcuts based on past experiences to make decisions quickly and save mental energy. while they help us be efficient, they can also affect our judgment without us noticing.
By using similar layouts for the course, favourite binned, and lecture insights sections, I made navigation easier and more familiar for users reducing the cognitive bias. This helps them quickly understand how to use each part of the app without extra effort.
"Be liberal in what you accept, and conservative in what you send" means allowing users to do different things in the app while ensuring the app always responds clearly and accurately. This makes the app easy to use and reliable. It also means gathering as much information as possible to create accessible designs, using empathy and user testing to build a great app.
“Be conservative in what you do, be liberal in what you accept from others.”-Jon Yablonski, Laws of UX
In my user testing, I made sure the app allowed users to interact in different ways while ensuring it responded clearly and accurately. after the testing I found a few problems which allowed me to fix them and
When users are overwhelmed with too many choices, it takes longer for them to decide what to click. That’s why it’s important to keep designs simple, swipeable, and easy to follow. By breaking things into small steps and showing only the most important info, we help users feel less overwhelmed and more in control.
"The time it takes to make a decision increases with the number and complexity of choices." - Jon Yablonski, Laws of UX
Google homepage - the home page is very simple it only had the search bar and minimal options, user will not have to make any decisions making the search quick.
Apple TV Remote - this remote has a minimal design with a few buttons this reduces the number of choices the user will have to take.
The swipable card feature in my app simplifies decision-making by presenting one option at a time, allowing users to quickly swipe through choices without feeling overwhelmed.