Issue 1

Psychology in UX

UX & Psychology go hand in hand— How Gestalt theory appears in UX design?

In the age of AI and “Human-Centered Machine Learning”, it’s essential that we understand the needs and behavior of our users. This is doubly true as a UX designer. In order to create work that better serves the needs of our users, it’s important to understand some basic psychological principles. Which is why I want to share with you Gestalt theory. With this toolkit under our belt, we can consciously design user experiences that truly fit the users.

The Psychology Principles Every UI/UX Designer Needs to Know

Psychology plays a big part in a user’s experience with an application. By understanding how our designs are perceived, we can make adjustments so that the apps we create are more effective in achieving the goals of the user.

The Psychologist’s View of UX Design | UX Magazine

Psychologist and cognitive scientist Dr. Susan Weinschenk explains how her science informs UX design.

Human Cognition

Designing For Human Attention

I have always been fascinated by the way the human mind works. I am also convinced that being familiar with cognitive sciences is one of the key skills of any designer. To better myself professionally and perhaps to help other people learn something new, I decided to write about the cognitive topics I am interested in.

Cognitive Psychology for UX: The Principle of Limited Attention

It’s physically impossible for us to pay attention to everything in our environment. We have access to hundreds of TV channels, thousands of movies and shows on streaming sites, and 300 hours of new video is uploaded to YouTube every minute. We see about one million marketing messages each year (around 3,000 a day), and spend, on average, 13 hours each week on email.

There’s simply not enough time in the day for it all.

Cognitive bias cheat sheet

I’ve spent many years referencing Wikipedia’s list of cognitive biases whenever I have a hunch that a certain type of thinking is an official bias but I can’t recall the name or details. It’s been an invaluable reference for helping me identify the hidden flaws in my own thinking. Nothing else I’ve come across seems to be both as comprehensive and as succinct.

Books and Resources 📖

A Cognitive Sciences Reading List for Designers – freeCodeCamp

If you’ve ever done any contextual inquiry or usability testing, you’ve probably observed first hand the difference between what people say they will do and what they actually end up doing. Overlooked calls to action, bizarre navigation paths, mind-bogglingly irrational decisions — even the most sensible seeming users occasionally (or often) do things that “rationally” make little sense.