📖100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People

authors
Weinschenk, Susan
year
2011
tags
§ Design
  • people identify object be reorganizing patterns

  • The visual cortex is more active when we’re imagining thing than when we actually perceive it. (p.7)

  • favor 2d elements over 3d ones
  • people recognize object faster from canonical perspective §5
  • people tend to not look at edges, so don’t put important information there

  • many people are color-blind (mostly red-green) §11

  • Colours in Cultures (see Color meaning)

  • all uppercase is not inherently harder to read

    • we also do not recognize words by shapes
  • if people have trouble reading the font, they will think the task is harder to do.
  • use font with a large x-height for online viewing, so it appears larger
  • longer line length are faster to read, but we prefer shorter line length

  • good number of items to remember is 4 (not 7±2)

    • chunk and group information so it is easier to remember

  • progressing disclosure

    • show minimum information initially, but show more and more with each step
    • “if you have eto make a trade-off on clicks versus thinking, use more clicks and less thinking.” p.64

  • load hierarchy

    1. cognitive load (hard)
    2. visual
    3. motor (easy)
  • mental model: what’s in user’s mind
  • conceptual model: what product communicates
  • use stories
  • The Time Paradox: The New Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life: Philip Zimbardo, John Boyd
  • if you must hold attention longer than 7 to 10 minutes, introduce novel information or a break
  • Neuro Web Design: What Makes Them Click?: Susan Weinschenk
  • Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us: Daniel H. Pink
  • delayed gratification is important to success
  • Fundamental Attribution Error (personality vs. situation) does not apply to bad situations only. Check for it every time you try to describe any people behavior (good or bad).

    • Backlinks