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While looking for a definition of badges, I stumbled upon these guidelines: https://design.mindsphere.io/patterns/badge.html and I am confused about this in particular: "In case a badge is used as a notification avoid using 3 digits. Instead use "99+" to avoid cognitive overload."

enter image description here

Is there any proof out there that "99+" style of displaying quantities puts less cognitive strain than giving the whole number?

I have always though that this style of display was meant to save space, not reduce cognitive load. In the case of three digit numbers, there's no issue with space anyway. I personally find the "99+" approach more straining than seeing the whole number - it is unusual for me and makes me wonder what it should mean on the first place and what is the actual number. In case I happen to need to know that number, it adds anxiety and requires me to click to find out (never knowing whether I would see that count number on the next step and whether it is provided at all.) No rationale is provided in those guidelines.

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    I don't have any background to write a good answer, but as someone who currently has 107486 unread emails in my inbox, I do sometimes rely on seeing that number change. If it was just 99+, I obviously would not have that "feature".
    – Coxy
    Commented Aug 5 at 23:13
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    @Coxy And not only that, but the reward of checking the notification is removed. My school's education platform uses the 99+ system, and if I let it build up to there, I lose feedback for my actions. If I'm marking a pile of student work, it's much more encouraging for me to go from 70 to 50 than from 99+ to 99+.
    – Luke Sawczak
    Commented Aug 7 at 15:25

2 Answers 2

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Some points to consider

1 - A guideline is just a guide, not a dogma. This means that based on that guide, one can choose the path that best suits their project.

2 - The toolkit is for Insights Hub and Industrial IoT, which shows that the precepts stated are not universal.

3 - In case this guideline does not meet the concepts needed for the project, there are many others with different or less objectionable considerations.

Indigo Design badges

Image source Indigo Design

4 - Personally, I don't usually follow graphic style guides, but if I did, I would choose the least dogmatic ones possible, in other words, I would be careful with those that proclaim a "don't" in favor of those that only show warnings ("Caution" in the example in the image below):

permissive guideline

Image source element-np.bayer.com

By the way, this last image offers a valid answer:

When using the Notification Badge in places that could result in an unknown or high count utilize the max prop to control the maximum number shown.

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I would say that the best option depends very much on the project and the use cases.

I would show "99+" when:

  • the actual number doesn't really matter to users
  • the actual number is considered an edge case
  • there is not enough UI space to show the full number

I would show the exact number when:

  • the actual number is quite significant to users
  • you don't know what users prefer and you have enough UI space

Examples:

  • for notifications, I would choose "99+" since it doesn't matter
  • for gamification, I would have multiple tiers like "99+", "1k+", "10k+" etc.
  • for dashboards, I would show full number to allow users to make informed decisions
  • for accounting or finance apps, I would go with full numbers

Note: Never truncate to just "9+", because it loses too much information and it's very annoying.

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    Well, you need to ask your users whether it matters or not :)
    – Morco
    Commented Aug 5 at 15:52
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    @ Morco - hover state is not possible on mobile devices
    – drabsv
    Commented Aug 5 at 15:58
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    If there is enough UI Space and no technical limitation, the cutoff should usually be at a number where the user does not care about the number anymore. Example Notifications - the User will usually care if they have 1 or 3 notifications - and even recognize the value changing. But over 100 notifications are usually too much to handle anyway, so the user will not care about the exact number anyway - so the UI should not grab too much of his attention by a constantly changing value.
    – Falco
    Commented Aug 6 at 8:25
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    @Falco - the user won't care about the exact number, but they may care, that is, feel confusion about not seeing a complete number, on the first place. My question is whether the very incompleteness of what you are seeing causes any (unconscious) anxiety, no matter if you are about the actual number or not.
    – drabsv
    Commented Aug 6 at 10:48
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    @Falco: If an exact number is displayed, users might be interested in periodically observing it to see if it has changed, regardless of its magnitude. If there were 119,391 messages in my inbox before someone told me they would send something, and there are still 119,391 messages there, I could conclude I had not received any message they sent after the previous conversation. If the indicator simply said 119,000+, I could not draw such a conclusion.
    – supercat
    Commented Aug 6 at 17:19

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