Also known as Von Restorff effect. It predicts that when multiple similar objects are present, the one that differs from the rest is most likely to be remembered. 

This is the main reason why all call-to-actions (CTAs) look different from the rest of the action buttons on a site or application. We want users to be able to differentiate between a simple action button and a CTA, in order for them to have a clear understanding what the CTA does, whilst also remembering it throughout their use of the application or site.

Isolation Effect

This theory suggests that a user to best remember the first and last items in a series. 

This is why most applications nowadays ditch the hamburger menu and go for a bottom or top bar navigation, placing the most important user actions to the right or left. In the image below, you can see some examples from popular iOS applications. Each put the “Home” and “Profile” items all the way to the left and right.

Latency and Regency Effect

Cognitive load refers to the total amount of mental effort being used in a person’s working memory.

Cognitive load theory can be differentiated into three types:
- Intrinsic cognitive load
- Extraneous cognitive load
- Germane cognitive load

Congitive Load

Hick’s Law describes that the time it takes for a person to make a decision depends on the choices available to him or her. So if the number of choices increases, the time to make a decision increases logarithmically.

A very nice example of Hick’s Law that applies to user experience design are lists:

Hick's Law

Psychology plays a big part in a user's experience with an application. Understanding how our designs are perceived, we can make adjustments so that the apps we create are more effective in achieving the goals of the user.

- Isolation effect
- Latency and Regency Effect
- Cognitive Load
- Hick’s Law
- Gestalt Laws of Proximity

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

In user-centered design, the user knows best and acts as the guide to the designer; the designer's role is to translate the users' needs and goals into an effective design solution.

User-Centered Design

The Psychology Principles Every UI/UX Designer Needs to Know (https://uxplanet.org/the-psychology-principles-every-ui-ux-designer-needs-to-know-24116fd65778)

Psychology Priniciple for UI Design

The Gestalt Principles of Design are guidelines that assist in creating user-centered design. They were first proposed after studying human perception and behavior. These principles can apply to all elements of design, including interaction and interface design. 

Gestalt Principles of Design

Often called UI, user interface design is the design of screens that connect a user to machines and software and allow the user to manipulate them. UI focuses on maximizing usability and developing a user experience that is intuitive for humans. The goal of user interface design is to keep interactions between the interface and the user as simple and efficient as possible while still supporting enough capability for users to accomplish their goals. Graphic design plays a key role in creating an interface that affords its uses and functions. Because of this, the interface design process requires a balance between technical functionality and visual elements so the system not only operate properly, but also makes sense to the user.

User Interface Design

User-centered design is an iterative process that focuses on an understanding of the users and their context in all stages of design and development.

User centered design process

The aim of the process is to capture and address the whole user experience. Therefore, your design team should include professionals from across multiple disciplines (e.g., ethnographers, psychologists, software and hardware engineers), as well as domain experts, stakeholders and the users themselves. Experts may carry out evaluations of the produced designs, using design guidelines and criteria.

Teams for User-Centered Design

"User experience design (UXD, UED, or XD) is the process of supporting user behavior[1] through usability, usefulness, and desirability provided in the interaction with a product. User experience design encompasses traditional human–computer interaction (HCI) design and extends it by addressing all aspects of a product or service as perceived by users. Experience design (XD) is the practice of designing products, processes, services, events, omnichannel journeys, and environments with a focus placed on the quality of the user experience and culturally relevant solutions. Experience design is not driven by a single design discipline. Instead, it requires a cross-discipline perspective that considers multiple aspects of the brand/ business/ environment/ experience from product, packaging, and retail environment to the clothing and attitude of employees."

Elements of "user experience design" include:
- Research
- Visual Design
- Information Architecture
- Interaction Design
- Usability
- Accessibility
- Human-computer Interaction

Learn Before

Related

Learn After