Quiz: How Well Do You Know UX Principles?

Often named for the researcher who identified a particular truth or pattern, these laws are the product of hundreds, and sometimes thousands of hours of lab and field-based research.

How well do you know these UX laws? We’ll start you off with an easy one…

(Scroll down for the answers.)

1. In Any Process, Leave the Toughest Tasks Until Last

1. True
2. False

2. How Attractive a Site is Makes a Difference to the Number of Conversions

1. True
2. False

3. By The End of a List, Users Will Forget the First Items In the Series

1. True
2. False

4. First Impressions Count When Judging a User Experience

1. True
2. False

5. You Can Launch a Product Before All the Complexity Has Been Eliminated

1. True
2. False

6. UI Elements With Related Functions Must Be Grouped

1. True
2. False

7. Menus Must Have 7 Items or Fewer

1. True
2. False

8. The Fewer Options a User Has, The Better Choice They’ll Make

1. True
2. False

9. Users Are Most Likely to Remember a UX That’s Interrupted

1. True
2. False

Answers

1. True

According to the Goal Gradient Effect a user’s motivation to complete a process increases as the distance to their goal decreases. If you ask the user to undertake small, simple tasks to begin with — such as entering their name — then they are more likely to complete subsequent steps, even if they are tougher.

2. True

According to the Aesthetic Usability Effect users tend to consider designs that they find visually appealing as more usable, even if that is not objectively true. So making sure your site is attractive increases a user’s confidence in their ability to complete processes and directly leads to higher conversions for you.

3. False

The Serial Position Effect says that users remember both the first items and the last items from a series. If the user is likely to forget anything, it will be the items in the middle of the series.

4. False

Unlike human interaction, users are most likely to judge interaction with a UI based on how they feel at its peak (its most intensive) and its conclusion. This is known as the Peak End Rule.

5. True

If you wait to launch until all complexity has been eliminated from a design, you’ll never go live! According to Tesler’s Law there is a certain amount of complexity that can never be reduced. The key is to eliminate needless complexity and manage the rest.

6. False

It’s never a bad idea to group related items, but according to the Law of Similarity, provided UI elements are designed consistently, the human eye will perceive them as being related, even if they are not physically adjacent, helping users understand them as a set.

7. False

Miller’s Law states that the average user can only keep 7 (plus or minus 2) items in their memory. But this does not apply to elements like menus! When a list of options is presented to the user, they don’t need to be held in memory, and you can happily add more than 9 menu items (space-permitting).

8. True

According to Hick’s Law the user’s ability to make a decision decreases in proportion to the number, and the complexity of choices. The fewer options you present, the more likely the user is to make a choice they are happy with and the less likely they are to abandon your site altogether.

9. True

According to the Zeigarnik Effect users are most likely to remember tasks that were interrupted. Tasks that were completed seamlessly will be easily forgotten. So, if you were interrupted by a phone call halfway through this quiz, you’re much more likely to remember it!

Featured Image via Pexels.