The Blurred Line Between UX and Psychology
You, Me, and Technology!
Hey guys, bringing this after a long time.
This time we are going to see and understand how human perception, emotions, and psychology play a huge role in determining the best user experience for your web/mobile app!
As software developers and engineers, we often as a community tend to overlook and neglect the intricacies of design and discussion that happen prior to the project hitting the ground. We are often more focused and involved in the solution of the problem, and sticking to the requirements as specified by our customers. A product is only good enough if it is to be put to good use.
It is very important to study and observe the user behavior and feedback to make your customers happy and increase your app’s reliability and build that trust. Some of the biggest apps are successful and widely used because of their ability to grasp their user’s wants and intuitions.
Keeping these pointers in mind, and having had the privilege to be surrounded by people that promote such healthy discussions about a good UI and UX, I thought of putting some points on paper.
Here we go,
1. The Principle of Least Effort
Everyone wants to use the least amount of effort and thought into say logging into an application, right?
If your application allows the user to input the credentials and enter into their accounts to view their respective screens stitched together to address their likes and dislikes, it makes it a SEAMLESS experience.
Make sure that the users understand well what they can or cannot click. Buttons and in-text links should look like buttons and in-text links. If the images are clickable, show that they are clickable with the help of the hover effect.
Easy accessibility to the frequently used actions and adding a personal touch for each user, boosts your UX points to green! :)
2. The Principle of Perpetual Habit
All of us have habits, both good and bad that affect how we interact with our surroundings. Habits play a key role in understanding your user’s comfort zone, if you play on it as a designer you automatically play to the strength of your user.
For this as a developer and designer, it becomes very important to, at the planning and discussion stage of the SDLC process to understand the target consumer base of the product, if you don’t do this simple activity and have a survey and statistics of the say, age range in which your customer base lies, the most active users or participants, the choices they make, the lifestyle they live, the content they consume, the profession they are in, you will only create problems and bug nightmares for your product, which will result in a decrease of the UX, turning the UX points down into red zone!
Keep the website navigation and layout simple so that the user can easily get around your site in just one or two sessions. All the essential pages should be on the home page. This is not only good for user experience but also for SEO.
3. The Principle of Identity
In order to get a sense of identity, belonging, and understanding of who they are, people search for apps and websites with wallpapers — people customize their devices to feel unique. The same is true for people who collect awards and medals — to feel appreciated.
It is because of this reciprocity that people make friends — to feel associated with someone. This also happens in the world of brands — people identify themselves with brands because they feel associated with them.
“I only use Google products, so only Google Pixel and Google Home for me”.
“I prefer coffee from Starbucks, so no Dunkin Donuts”. “I wear only Puma”.
As a UI/UX designer, I can look to provide each of the users with a set of customized themes for example, and allow them to play around with the tools, make things user-adjustable, or allow the users to kind of dominate on the dom objects, this provides a sense of control as well as a sense of familiarity to the user boosting your UX experience up a notch and into green!
Keep the user updated and informed with personalized messages that assert on the activities performed such as, “Order Received”, or “Your request is processed, expect a response in under 10 mins”, or “Thank You For Your Patience”.
4. The Principle of Beauty
Beautiful products/objects are perceived as easier to use and more valuable than ugly ones. The better-looking product will win over the users swiftly. Aesthetically pleasing designs are bringing up a positive attitude in the users. It makes them care more about the product.
Aesthetics is a core design principle that defines a design’s pleasing qualities. In visual terms, aesthetics includes factors such as balance, color, movement, pattern, scale, shape, and visual weight. Designers use aesthetics to complement their designs’ usability, and so enhance functionality with attractive layouts.
You have to allow for a neat UI, don’t add flashy texts, or different fonts, make sure the styling is consistent with the product, and the fonts, design, and theme are standardized across the application. Don’t mix and match too much, and follow the color palette.
There is the appropriate spacing between different elements, scrolls are implemented, there is not too much text and no graphics, etc.
5. Focus, Attention, and Concentration
Normally, the attention span of an adult is from ten to twenty minutes. After this short time, people tend to lose focus and concentration and get distracted by their own thoughts or the things around them. The job of a UI/UX designer is to grab users’ attention and retain it for as long as needed. To do so, you have to reduce distractions and break the monotonous routine.
Food For Thought
Humans are complex creatures. But the good news is, we tend to follow certain patterns and our behavior is often predictable. Understanding users and the psychology behind their actions lead you to effectively design an enjoyable user experience.
When it comes to implementing psychology laws in UX design, there is no common strategy. The principles that we discussed in this article will help you recognize a user’s behavior, thought pattern, and expectation from a product or service. Understanding this will lead you to create user-centric designs that will engage, convert and retain users.
So guys, leaving you here with all of this and some of the resources below in case you get interested. Let’s play step-by-step and contribute to the developer community in bringing out the best experience for our customers and users, to gain valuable feedback and fulfilling rewards.
See you soon and till then, Happy Learning! 😊
Further Reading and Inspiration From:
