All articles (page 2)

Page 2 of 7. Articles 13 to 24 of 81, newest first. Pick a topic in the bar above to narrow down.

A small app screen with a pale neutral background and white cards, a deep blue top bar and sidebar, and orange on only the active menu item, a progress bar and the Save button. Beside it a bar split 60, 30 and 10 in the same three colors.

Design Fundamentals

The 60-30-10 Rule in UI Design: How to Split Your Colors

The 60-30-10 rule splits a design into 60% base color, 30% secondary and 10% accent. See how it works on a screen, why the accent matters most, and its limits.

7 min read

User Experience

Goal-Gradient Effect in UX: Why People Speed Up Near the Finish

The goal-gradient effect: people try harder the closer they get to a goal. See the loyalty card studies behind it and how to use progress honestly in a product.

7 min read

Two lines of decision time against the number of options, from 1 to 32. The black line, for options people know, rises slowly and flattens. The coral line, for a list people have to read, rises steeply and straight.

User Experience

Hick's Law in UX: Why More Choices Take Longer

Hick's law says the time to choose grows with the number of options, but only by a little. See where it holds, where it breaks, and how to design menus with it.

7 min read

A pointer on the left and three targets 400 pixels away, 12, 40 and 120 pixels wide, with predicted times of 865, 619 and 417 milliseconds from Fitts's law.

User Experience

Fitts's Law in UX: Why Big, Close Targets Are Faster to Hit

Fitts's law says the time to hit a target depends on its distance and its size. See the formula live, why screen edges are fast, and how to size buttons.

7 min read

Two overlapping circle outlines on the left, labelled what you see: two circles. On the right the same lines pulled apart into the three shapes they enclose, two crescents and a green lens, labelled what is drawn: three shapes.

Design Fundamentals

Law of Prägnanz: Why the Eye Takes the Simplest Reading

The law of Prägnanz says we see the simplest shape that fits what is in front of us. See it in rings, cubes and cards, and how to use it to simplify a design.

6 min read

A golden rectangle divided into a shrinking series of squares, the first shaded green, with a coral spiral of quarter circles running through them. Beside it the ratio 1 to 1.618, and the note that each Fibonacci step gets closer to it.

Design Fundamentals

The Golden Ratio in Design: What It Is, and Where It Actually Helps

The golden ratio is about 1.618 to 1. See how it splits a layout, which famous examples hold up, and when a type scale or grid on 1.618 helps your design.

7 min read

Two rows of four columns: Price, Fee, Form and Speed. On the left, before the research, five dots are spread across the columns and only 1 of 5 sits under Fee. On the right, after the research, all five dots sit under Fee, labelled 5 of 5 say they knew it.

User Experience

Hindsight Bias in UX: Why Research Findings Feel Obvious Afterwards

Hindsight bias makes a result feel obvious once you know it. See how it hides what research taught you, with the classic studies and a way to stop it.

6 min read

A line chart of frustration across eight moments of a journey. The line stays low, spikes sharply at the fourth moment, labelled the peak, then falls and rises a little to the last moment, labelled the end. Beside it, the text says remembered is about the peak plus the end, divided by two, while the average is much lower.

User Experience

Peak-End Rule in UX Design: Why People Remember the Worst Moment and the Ending

The peak-end rule says people judge an experience by its worst moment and its end, not its average. See the studies, examples and how to design the last step.

7 min read

Two shelves of jam jars. The left shelf has 24 jars and the text 3 percent bought. The right shelf has 6 jars and the text 30 percent bought. The note says this is the share of shoppers who stopped and then bought, from the 2000 jam study, and that a 2010 review of 50 experiments found an average effect near zero.

User Experience

Choice Overload in UX Design: When More Options Make Choosing Harder

Choice overload is when too many options make a choice harder. See what research says, when it happens in UX, and how to ease the load without removing choice.

7 min read

Two bars from a shared baseline. A short green bar going up is labelled gain of 40 dollars, felt as 40. A long coral bar going down is labelled loss of 40 dollars, felt as 90 at the classic estimate of 2.25 to 1.

User Experience

Loss Aversion in UX Design: Why Losing Feels Worse Than Winning

Loss aversion is feeling a loss more than an equal gain. See how it shapes trials and warnings in UX, what the research really says, and how to use it fairly.

7 min read

Two plane outlines side by side. On the left, planes that came back, with grey holes on the wings, tail and body and none on the engines. On the right, every plane that was hit, with the same grey holes plus coral holes on the engines and cockpit.

User Experience

Survivorship Bias in UX Research: Why You Only Hear From the People Who Stayed

Survivorship bias is studying only the people who made it through. See how it skews UX surveys and reviews, with a famous WWII example and a way to catch it.

6 min read

Two rows of bars. The tapper hears a melody, drawn as bars of different heights. The listener hears only taps, drawn as bars of equal height. Tappers expected listeners to guess the song 50 percent of the time. Listeners guessed 2.5 percent of the time.

User Experience

Curse of Knowledge in UX Design: Why Experts Build Things Beginners Cannot Use

The curse of knowledge is forgetting what it is like not to know something. See how it hides in labels and steps, with a classic study and a way to fix it.

6 min read