Psychological principles as they relate to user interface and user experience design.
7
votes
3answers
206 views
Using stock imagery with sensitive subjects
Something I've always wondered about is what effect would bad stock photography have on the user for sensitive subjects. I'm talking cheap, literal and cliche. I personally find this type of thing ...
6
votes
4answers
817 views
Deliberate Barriers to Entry in Web Design
ACHICA.com has taken the "members only club" concept to a level I've never seen online; you can hardly view anything on the site without registering. This is the first time I've seen barriers to entry ...
6
votes
4answers
1k views
What are some examples of famous/effective skeuomorph UIs? [closed]
A skeuomorph user interface draws upon real world objects in its visual design in order to increase familiarity and the association between the product and its real world counterpart. Apple has been ...
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
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 ...
6
votes
2answers
235 views
Is there a theory on white spaces alone, or is it a consequence of other psychological aspects?
I'm doing a presentation on User Experience to my fellow colleagues (IT consultants) and have a section on white spaces / white spacing. Seems like searching for relevant content is not possible when ...
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 ...
6
votes
1answer
154 views
How do users use spatial memory?
I have some questions about how spatial memory works and the effects on user interfaces:
Do users seek items by spatial memory? What do they actually "link" to a position - a particular object ...
5
votes
2answers
297 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 ...
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 ...
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?
4
votes
4answers
281 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, ...
4
votes
3answers
138 views
Should I display a “not available” option in my key, even when I know it will never be used
I've got a site which sells lots of different products. Due to the nature of the industry, it is necessary that multiple products can be displayed on screen at the same time.
To save space, the ...
4
votes
3answers
391 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 ...
3
votes
8answers
342 views
What motivates people to keep on sharing ideas, develop new concepts and innovate on online innovation communities? [closed]
I'm very interested in crowd-sourcing and online innovation communities. Currently, I'm conducting research on what motivates users to continue sharing ideas, developing concepts, funding projects and ...
3
votes
2answers
217 views
Simulate Eye-tracking by Photoshop filters?
I've read some articles about visual perception and that it mostly differs in High-frequency, Mid-frequency and Low-frequency recognition. Whereas Low-freq is fastest and seems to be responsible for ...
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 ...
3
votes
3answers
164 views
Spacing of items inside a panel (WrapPanel)
Many sites and applications using WrapPanel to display your items.
Items are queued from left to right and when there is no more space tend to skip to the next line.
For Example:
What is the ...
2
votes
3answers
408 views
Labels inside or outside text inputs? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
On forms, is inline placeholder text better than a label outside each field?
Are there any advantages / disadvantages in placing ones labels outside ones text inputs ...
2
votes
2answers
49 views
Upon the launch of a new site - add big slide-down / lightbox explanation?
Upon the launch of say a new social media site - is it appropriate to do a big slide-down / lightbox to explain what the site is about - or to let users figure things out for themselves?
Former:
...
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 ...
2
votes
4answers
214 views
How to deal with different screen sizes when your theme is all about design
We know that not all people have the same screen resolution in their computer monitor. Some people prefer widescreen display in 15'', when other uses 17'' and more for their computer experience.
I am ...
2
votes
1answer
842 views
Why is SunBurst background so popular and are there any other ones?
I keep seeing SunBurst Background Pattern for years, literally! and it is still trendy. Why is it still so? Do we lack creativity for similar generic (or focus drawing) background patterns or human ...
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 ...
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
59 views
Best practices or resources about online assessment
I have a project to deliver an online assessment of a large number of users. The assessment is for a psychological research project, so the content is mostly self-description asked in a variety of ...
2
votes
3answers
211 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 ...
1
vote
3answers
89 views
Is it useful keeping “foveal vision” in mind when arranging content?
I came across this video explaining how you can reduce the congnitive load by arranging your content in small chunks fitting into your "foveal area":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzgRfE5B1Yc
Of ...
1
vote
1answer
163 views
Correlation between number of colors used and brain processing?
A professor once told a class I was in that there is a fixed amount of bits one can process at one time. I've always thought of it as our brains processor speed. This was in a HCI class.
He also ...
1
vote
1answer
115 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 ...
1
vote
1answer
97 views
Currently designing a “Help” page, what would be considered too-much help to see on one page?
The page for "help" within the site is designed well. The site totals about 40 questions, which has been reduced down from 86. My objective is to simplify the user experience for viewing/navigating ...
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?
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 ...
0
votes
4answers
155 views
Prefer buttons over text links when designing for mobile?
When designing for mobile, should one prefer buttons over text links whenever possible?
I'm guessing buttons are better at encouraging tapping, whereas text links are increasingly becoming associated ...
0
votes
1answer
65 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 ...
0
votes
1answer
88 views
Usage for Widgets
Can we consider a widget as a good re-presenter of latest activities, e.g: Latest News, Latest Announcements, Latest Offers..and so on ?
And Does it make sense to put a widget among the content? I ...
0
votes
0answers
176 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 ...
-1
votes
4answers
242 views
Should we risk using colors other than blue in Web apps?
Trends: New Colors (we’re looking at you, #00A0D1)
If there’s one thing that’s been stagnant in the design community, it’s the originality with colors. Sixty percent of the applications on my ...
