Psychological principles as they relate to user interface and user experience design.
9
votes
4answers
361 views
UX Research: Can I improve conversion rates with the use of lifestyle over still life product photography
I work for a large UK-based clothing retailer. After some initial customer testing with our product details page there has been some debate on the following question:
Do customers generally react ...
19
votes
1answer
455 views
Model photo choice for better conversion rate : is same sex more appealing than opposite sex?
I am creating a landing page targeted to men of age 18 to 45 years.
It's supposed to promote a nationwide recruitment effort of temporary workers needed in production plants.
The photo of a smiling ...
50
votes
10answers
2k views
How does Gamification change User Behavior?
On Location Based Applications the use of Gamification is essential. As you move along and check in you earn badges and points. Users also find themselves in a leader board, which most certainly ...
6
votes
1answer
157 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 ...
6
votes
4answers
820 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 ...
19
votes
5answers
440 views
What makes people vote?
What drives people to upvote or downvote content? I'm looking for the je-ne-sais-quoi quality on successful voting systems and I just can't put my finger on. Let's look at three examples:
...
8
votes
4answers
217 views
Is it still effective and appropriate to use psychological pricing for IT people?
I need to build pricing plan for service that will be used mainly by developers and designers. I can't decide what price to use, e.g. $20 or $19.
I'm afraid that well-educated and smart people ...
7
votes
3answers
205 views
When offering options, at which position in a sentence should be the desirable one?
When I ask the user a question with two options of which I want the user to choose a specific one, should I formulate the sentence so that the desired option it the latter or the other way around?
...
25
votes
10answers
1k views
When you hate your design and you're almost finished with it, what do you do?
I started out with a web design template that I loved. I spent a few days finding, cropping, and touching up the perfect images. I tweaked the CSS to better fit my page's style. In short-- I was in ...
1
vote
3answers
97 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 ...
10
votes
4answers
190 views
Name or data on this error alert phenomenon?
This is just a curiosity on my part, but I'm wondering if there's a name or studies for what I'm going to describe.
I've noticed in many UX scenarios, not just computer related, that when there's an ...
10
votes
4answers
610 views
Should I use user-generated Badges to reward users?
I am thinking about using badges in a system to reward users. In the scenario I'm thinking of, users would be rewarded for posting content that is appreciated/ranked high by other users.
I am ...
16
votes
7answers
2k views
The psychology of everyday shapes
We know a lot about colours and how they affect people, but what do we know about shapes? When choosing icons or logos, how do the shapes in them affect their perception?
Does anyone know of any ...
13
votes
6answers
476 views
Why are nested elements scrolled to the opposite direction?
My question is about scrolling conventions, and spatial scroll conventions in general (even here it's only horizontal, but same applies for vertical scrolling).
Looking at the below mockup, why is it ...
11
votes
3answers
214 views
How do you nudge users to download your native app?
I was reading an ACM research paper recently that considered users' revisitation patterns. The authors found that users tend to revisit native apps far more often than they revisit pages in browsers.
...
14
votes
5answers
582 views
Monitors display more colors than human eye can distinguish
The human eye can differentiate about 10 million colors. A 24-bit display mode can produce about 16 million. Why, then, do operating systems have 32-bit and higher display modes if the apparent ...
9
votes
5answers
586 views
Do touch screens have a harmful psychological effect on people?
The touch screen is a radical change in the control of machines. For centuries, machines were operated by physical buttons. Perhaps the most important aspect of user experience for a physical device ...
261
votes
22answers
12k views
Why do people clear the screen multiple times when using a calculator?
I've noticed that most people when using a real or a virtual calculator, they hit the Clear button multiple times when clearing the screen (even though hitting it once is enough), so I started ...
11
votes
4answers
907 views
Is user centered design only about hygiene factors?
There is one thing that bothers me about UX-design. One of the shortcomings of a user centered design approach, is that it only focuses on existing needs and not on new revolutionary ideas. For ...
7
votes
4answers
253 views
Where can I read more about how the brain utilizes patterns?
I've been reading some cognitive psychology books and they all talk about the fact that our brains recognize and store things using patterns. Unfortunately, all these books talk only briefly about ...
28
votes
11answers
1k views
Implement gamification on Time reporting to minimize late reports?
A company is having trouble getting its employees to report time of their working hours. The time reporting is the source for invoicing the company's customers and it has to be done in time. To deal ...
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 ...
33
votes
5answers
1k views
What research is there suggesting modal dialogs are disruptive?
It seems "Everyone" knows they're highly disruptive for many situations but often times clients don't. Particularly in desktop applications this form of dialog is often misused, often disrupting a ...
0
votes
4answers
160 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
-1
votes
4answers
249 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 ...
2
votes
2answers
52 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
846 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 ...
8
votes
1answer
301 views
What is wrong with putting price timeline in e-commerce sites?
Why don't e-commerce sites, e.g. amazon, include price timeline charts for their products so that users will be persuaded on the discounts?
Does it incur any culprits for usability or even for sales? ...
7
votes
4answers
650 views
How many objects/things can the average person compare at once?
I recall reading that the average person can only effectively compare 7 things at once. Has anyone heard of this and can reference any studies/research done on object comparison?
To give you some ...
0
votes
1answer
89 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 ...
3
votes
3answers
489 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 ...
8
votes
6answers
399 views
Should I style my buttons?
Are there any major advantages / disadvantages in styling ones buttons like Facebook, Twitter and StackExchange - vs. not styling them like Craigslist and 4chan?
3
votes
3answers
175 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 ...
3
votes
8answers
353 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 ...
8
votes
3answers
194 views
To lower user's cognitive memory load or not?
Naturally, it sounds like it is only best for our users if our design could reduce user's cognitive workload when performing a task.
However, there are also theories that explain the need for a ...
2
votes
1answer
60 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 ...
33
votes
7answers
2k views
Do users trust shortened URLs?
I've got some problems with shortened URLs personally; they're really easy to create and not descriptive, so it's fairly easy to make them link to malware. I'm talking about links like ...
8
votes
2answers
485 views
How do drunk users act?
What effect does alcohol have on user behaviour? Alcohol is a part of many Western cultures and it's entirely possible that some of our applications will be used by people who have had a drink or two. ...
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 ...
3
votes
2answers
222 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 ...
1
vote
1answer
108 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 ...
10
votes
9answers
484 views
Do users like choice? How much should I give them?
I built a photo slideshow web page as an exercise for myself.
One thing I found myself doing was adding a Settings button. Clicking this reveals a little settings pane that lets a user choose between ...
30
votes
9answers
2k views
Ratings: 3 stars vs 5 stars. Why 5?
It's the most common interface used to display votes is the “star rating system,” in which a particular number of points (often expressed as stars) is assigned to an item by each reviewer. We find ...
55
votes
10answers
3k views
Why are progress bars horizontal?
Question sparked by this discussion.
Why are progress bars almost always presented as horizontal lines that increase from left to right? Is this the best method of indicating progress (and why)? And ...
6
votes
2answers
242 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 ...
16
votes
5answers
833 views
Why this timed-hover “like button”?
I recently caught "Where Good Ideas Come From" by Stephen Johnson on Alex Hillman's blog, and was intrigued by Alex's unique implementation of a 'like button'.
Behaviour
The element's initial state:
...
31
votes
13answers
8k views
Is it true that “the only 'intuitive' interface is the nipple”?
Everyone knows the famous quote (by Bruce Ediger or Steve Jobs, I'm not sure):
The only "intuitive" interface is the nipple. After that it's all learned.
It's an amusing gem, but is it really ...
1
vote
1answer
168 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 ...
