6 Psychology Principles for Better UX

Looking at a screen does not mean noticing everything on it.

Selective attention: People focus on information relevant to their current goal and filter out the rest.
- Account for banner blindness, where useful guidance is overlooked because it resembles an advertisement, and change blindness, where screen changes go unnoticed.
The Von Restorff effect: Elements that stand apart from their surroundings are more likely to attract attention and be remembered.
- Reserve emphasis for key actions and important state changes. When everything is emphasized, priorities become difficult to distinguish.
- Communicate differences through text and icons as well as color.

Adjust difficulty, feedback, and information complexity so users can focus on their task.

Flow: People are more likely to stay engaged when task difficulty matches their skill and they can track their progress.
- Make the next action clear and provide immediate feedback for actions such as saving or submitting.
Cognitive load: Distinguish the effort inherent in the task from the effort added by the interface.
- Start by reducing extraneous cognitive load caused by complex layouts, ambiguous guidance, and unnecessary choices.
- Use familiar patterns and organize choices to reduce time spent figuring out how to operate the interface.

Keeping necessary information visible and revealing its structure reduces the burden on memory.

Working memory: The ability to briefly hold and process information is limited.
- Let users check codes or conditions when needed instead of asking them to memorize information from a previous screen.
Chunking: Grouping related information into meaningful units makes it easier to scan and understand.
- Headings, cards, spacing, and sections are tools for structuring information that show what belongs together.

Good UX reflects the limits of human attention and memory in a screen's priorities, feedback, and information structure.

When to read

When reviewing a screen where users miss important guidance or the next action despite having enough information
When investigating why users stall in complex forms or multistep flows

Takeaways

Alongside “What stands out?”, ask “What must the user remember or guess?” when reviewing a screen
Before adding elements, reduce competing emphasis, ambiguous feedback, and unnecessary demands on memory

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