With any technology rollout, one needs to always pay attention to the human side of the equation. User resistance, organizational inertia, and confusion are often orders of the day. The challenge becomes making the user experience compatible with human nature, which often runs at odds with the best-laid technical plans.
That's why this year's "Project of the Year"[1] announced by the UX Collective is so eye-catching. That honor went to Jon Yablonski[2], a product designer who compiled an incredible online resource of the immutable laws governing user experience (UX)[3], Some effects are well known to managers and professionals who have spent time in the trenches, others are truly a-ha worthy.
Here are some of the UX laws identified in Yablonski's compilation:
Aesthetic Usability Effect[4]: It may seem like a no-brainer that a pretty interface makes users happier, but it needs to be applied more. "Users often perceive aesthetically pleasing design as design that's more usable," Yablonski points out. "Aesthetically pleasing design can make users more tolerant of minor usability issues." The only drawback, of course, is that the pretty interface can hide underlying design issues.
Serial Position Effect.[5] "Users have a propensity to best remember the first and last items in a series."
Doherty Threshold[6]: "Productivity soars when a computer and its users interact at a pace that ensures that neither has to wait on the other." Systems should take no longer than 400 milliseconds to respond, the law states. (Named for Walter J. Doherty, co-author of a 1982 article in the IBM Systems Journal that set the 400 millisecond response-time requirement for computers.)
Hick's Law[7]: "The time it takes