Editor's pick
🔥The Properties of Human Memory and Their Importance for Information Visualization 🔥
It is important to know that while neuroscience has progressed dramatically over the last decades; there is no complete understanding of how human memory works. We know, for example, that data in the brain is stored in clusters of neurons but we don’t know how, precisely, it is stored or even how it is encoded. Thus when it comes to understanding memory from a design perspective we will examine certain properties of human memory that are commonly understood to be correct.
Human memory doesn’t exist in isolation; the brain isn’t just responsible for memorizing things but also for processing the data and acting on that data. Much of our memory and much of the information we receive is visual and it is with visual memories that the designer is mainly concerned.
interaction-design.org
Psychology in UX
Design Thinking: Getting Started with Empathy
Empathy is an important element in Design Thinking and Human-Centred Design. What is empathy exactly? Why is empathy so important to designing solutions that actually work for people? Here, we’ll not only look at what empathy means, but will also look at how it helps design thinkers create solutions that work and, conversely, how a lack of empathy can result in product failure. We’ll also come to understand the empowering notion that everyone can master empathy and design truly human-centred solutions.
interaction-design.org
The Science Behind Fonts (And How They Make You Feel)
I’ve noticed how seemingly small things like font and the spacing between letters can impact how I feel when reading online. The right font choice along with the absence of sidebars and popups makes everything feel easier and better to read. Websites like Medium, Signal vs. Noise, and Zen Habits are like yoga studios for content. Their presentation of content puts me at peace while reading, allowing me to fully focus on the stories without distraction. Just look at the difference between Medium and Cracked:
thenextweb.com
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I've just launched @cognitive_uxd's Patreon page. 🚀By helping me, I can cover my costs more easily and keep my publication sponsors free. Thank you so much in advance.
patreon.com
User Research & Psychology
How to Do Effective User Research
Setting yourself up to design a delightful product or experience means starting with strong user research. To leverage behavioral psychology, you must put on your observational and analytical hats to ask HOW and WHY, not just what and when. You can learn how to identify motivated users and gain insights into ways to design meaningful solutions that people will use.
productpsychology.com
Ethics & Power: Understanding the Role of Shame in UX Research
I can’t help but feel the subtle onset of nausea and an uncontrollable eye twitch whenever I hear the tech community mention the E-Word — yes, empathy. I fear that empathy has become a cheap cliche that we sprinkle in our resumes, conversations, portfolios and job descriptions. Yet, there is one particular field that I suspect is infected with the greatest sense of pride about understanding and practicing empathy: UX Research.
uxdesign.cc
Human Cognition
Banner Blindness Revisited: Users Dodge Ads on Mobile and Desktop
Banner blindness is a long-known web user behavior: it describes people’s tendency to ignore page elements that they perceive (correctly or incorrectly) to be ads. And, while webpage patterns and types of advertisements have evolved, banner blindness is still prevalent, our recent research shows. Banner blindness is an instance of selective attention: people direct their attention only to a subset of the stimuli in the environment — usually those related to their goals. This behavior is a consequence of our limited attention capacities. If we were to attend to the enormous inflow of sounds and patterns that surround us, we would be overwhelmed and behave inefficiently.
nngroup.com
Human Decision Making
Decision Making – Strategies For UX & Product Designers
Every day we as UX and Interaction Designers ask users of our products to make many decisions and advance through sophisticated designs to unlock their hidden features, rewards, paid goods or free services. Designing interfaces to support users in making the right choices and to elevate them onto the next step in a multi-step journey is not always an easy task. The following article will help you understand how our brain makes choices, estimates probabilities, combines probabilities, and values and assesses risk dimensions.
medium.com