Psychological principles as they relate to user interface and user experience design.
1
vote
0answers
105 views
Do men interact with some UX designs differently from women? [closed]
Do males and femals see and use some designs differently from one another?
2
votes
1answer
127 views
CLI and Recall Memory [closed]
Is there any evidence that using a command line interface will improve a user's recall memory?
or...
Do users with better predispositions to recall abilities do better with command line interfaces?
...
2
votes
1answer
163 views
Advantages of big forms (especially in ecommerce)
What are the advantages or disadvantages using big forms? (especially in ecommerce)
I notice sites like Stack Exchange are using big form input fields with big bold labels inside of them ...
27
votes
10answers
793 views
How do you make users vote objectively and not from emotions?
I've seen on Youtube many informative videos on massacres and natural disasters where users don't vote objectively. Rather, they vote based on their emotions, which is why these videos always have a ...
41
votes
13answers
12k views
Why don't users want to see adverts relating to products/services they might be interested in?
As we all know, Google's content display network, as well as many other successful setups rely on delivering targeted adverts to users to increase the chances of adverts falling in front of the ...
0
votes
1answer
64 views
At what option count should I add a search filter to a drop down element?
I have a booking tool that offers a list of services to choose from. The option list is variable per client. Some clients offer one service, some have twenty or more. One client requested a search ...
4
votes
3answers
389 views
How to Find the Best Icon to Represent a Concept?
I am developing a visual programming language, and after reading this paper it looks as if icons are a very good solution to improve the language and increase understanding. But since I am a ...
5
votes
2answers
296 views
Why are modern ads so fast-paced and flashy compared to older ones?
I once took a class in television production at my local cable studio, and one of our assignments was to go and watch TV with the sound off and pay attention to the ads. The lesson was to look at how ...
0
votes
0answers
175 views
How do color themes affect user perception? [closed]
I have been planning a website for a recycling initiative in my home town and have the structure of the site laid out and I am now moving on to the color theme selection process.
Before I started ...
13
votes
3answers
1k views
How many visually distinct colors can accurately be associated with a separated legend in a figure?
For charts and graphs it's a relatively common question by programmers to want to procedurally generate an arbitrary number of colors that are visually distinct.
Various research (or educated ...
12
votes
4answers
305 views
How to leverage team effects in HCI?
Humans and Computers can act as if they were a team.
Clifford Nass shows in his experiments that even though we would deny it, we treat computers as little humans ("social actors"). In his chapter ...
1
vote
1answer
175 views
Patterns in thinking driving UX design? [closed]
Ok, this question will be tricky.
We were having a discussion among some colleagues, and I came up with the hypothesis that most of the current-accepted UX design patterns are mostly based on our ...
1
vote
1answer
114 views
Is an unread count in RSS and newsfeeds a good design decision? Is there a suitable alternative?
I use Google Reader for my RSS feeds. As seen in the image, along the left column there are counts for unread items.
My question is this: is showing an unread count a good design decision in terms ...
19
votes
2answers
628 views
Why do some apps feel “heavy” while others feel “light”?
I have come up with a new concept and that is that every application or interface has a 'heavyness factor'.
Let me give you an example:
Google chrome feels 'light', it loads fast, doesn't take long ...
2
votes
3answers
210 views
corporate websites, stock photos, and intangible products
When I see a corporate website making use of stock photos, especially stock photos of supposed customers grinning their faces off or employees deep in thought, the site's credibility goes down a notch ...
5
votes
3answers
506 views
What examples are there of Operant Conditioning in UI? [closed]
Like many cars, my car makes an annoying beep when you start the car with your seatbelt unbuckled; plugging in the seatbelt immediately ends the noise. I used to find this annoying, but I eventually ...
11
votes
3answers
629 views
How do you calculate the cognitive memory load requirements of an interface?
If you break an interface down into elements and possible actions, how do you calculate the memory load requirements of an interface? Further, how do you relate the existing familiarity of an element ...
17
votes
8answers
3k views
Which Cognitive Psychology books would you recommend? [closed]
I'd like to start reading about Cognitive Psychology, but don't know where to start really. I'd rather read a book that teaches me something that I could use when working on the web/mobile ...
4
votes
4answers
278 views
How to prevent grey/black lines after effect?
I have made some new design for my private blog (a black design).
However, If I now read a blog piece and then look around I see around me all kinds of black/grey horizontals bars as after effect, ...
14
votes
6answers
364 views
Correct terminology for “please the interviewer” bias?
I'm pushing usability testing within my workplace by performing some Steve Krug style usability tests, which have gone down so well that the product owner now wants me to add some marketing questions.
...
14
votes
4answers
399 views
Discovering new features
I work with a web-based platform with lots of data and various tools to view the data, perform analysis. Users are often impressed by one or two features and stick with them. The platform adds new ...
25
votes
6answers
364 views
What are your favorite counter-intuitive principles or ideas within UX? [closed]
A quick example:
"Paradox of Choice" - Giving a user more control via options, configuration, and settings is counter-intuitive from a UX standpoint. We expect users will relish their total ...
4
votes
3answers
315 views
How does a “visitor counter” on a web site affect user experience?
Many amateur sites have a "You are visitor number X" counters on them. What effect does this button have on visitors to the site? Does it increase their trust in the site?
3
votes
3answers
254 views
How much time is lost by waiting for GUI?
After asking the question Will faster GUI always make one more efficient?, I understood that there is a lower limit to the amount of time lost due to the GUI not responding. My interpretation of the ...
17
votes
2answers
294 views
Social media sharing: Does simply showing icons stimulate action?
This is tangentially related to the question "Social Media Icons - show all visible, or group under 'share'?".
In my organization, we've generally found that displaying the individual icons for ...
8
votes
3answers
257 views
Should we call our achievement system something else?
The company I work for has two public sites; one is just our main WWW site and the other is a site dedicated to our members. I'm a developer there and I'm working on an achievement system for our ...
6
votes
2answers
210 views
How can I encourage users to authenticate?
I am working on a post-sale customer support project for a US high street retailer (for the rest of this post I will refer to them as 'Jon's Cellphones'). The program will enable customers who ...
2
votes
1answer
120 views
How important it is to consider the background of audience while designing a web GUI?
While we have to develop web applications for general public, sometimes it happens that we have to target a specific type of audience. I'll use a theoretical use case to elaborate my question:
A ...
6
votes
3answers
177 views
What kinds of personality archetypes are taken into account when designing an application?
If somebody were to look out on the landscape of applications available, the amount of options is staggering. However, it's pretty easy to see that two applications that have the same basic functions ...
10
votes
3answers
2k views
Mental model vs Conceptual model — what's the difference?
I'm reading Apple's Human Interface Guidelines about Mental models and I can't understand what is the difference between Mental and Conceptual models.
I prefer a short answer if possible :)
20
votes
5answers
581 views
Will faster GUI always make one more efficient?
Are there any studies on whether one will actually get more done during a days work if delays went down i. e. from 10 ms to 5 ms for each update. My point is that if we are already working at the ...
18
votes
8answers
550 views
How valuable is studying cognitive psychology for UX?
I am starting my second year in grad school and thinking about what to study. One thing that I know is good to have a grasp of is cognitive psychology. But I would like to get someones perspective.
...
11
votes
3answers
548 views
UX and design for Gamification of Collaborative Learning
What are proven gamification techniques that promote collaboration? I don't mind whether the specific techniques come from educational sites, or pure game sites or some other source. I want to ...
9
votes
6answers
352 views
Which is more motivating to continue a process until completion: a percentage, or the number of steps?
I'm working on a set of guides to help users learn how to use our app. We want to show which guides are available and some data with each guide indicating how far you've gotten. The idea is that if we ...
24
votes
2answers
1k views
What objective qualities make a user interface intuitive?
How is intuitive defined in terms of UI? Are there any studies about what objective and measurable qualities make a user interface intuitive? What design principles, patterns, or approaches are most ...
8
votes
4answers
409 views
Resources for learning Gestalt principles
I've seen the Gestalt principles or laws referenced often when it comes to graphic design and even UI and UX.
Is there some definitive guide, book or original research about this subject that I can ...
10
votes
5answers
634 views
How do you observe body language and facial expressions in user testing?
When user testing how do you record positive or negative body language? Do you use observed shifts in body language or facial expressions to consciously probe further about what the user thinks or ...
6
votes
8answers
300 views
What's the difference between what's best for the user and that what the user is used to?
See title, this needs to be at least 15 characters
