100 things every designer need to know about people
‘It depends partially on what they’re doing and expecting. If they
read in a language that moves from left to right, then they tend to look at the
screen from left to right. If they read from right to left, it is the
opposite.’ (Weinschenk, S. 2011, P 13)
‘Because people have gotten used to the idea that there are things
on computer screens that are less relevant to the task at hand, such as logos,
blank space, and navigation bars’ (Weinschenk, S. 2011,
P 13)
‘People have a mental model of where things tend to be on computer
screens, and a mental model for particular applications or Web sites that they
use.’ (Weinschenk, S. 2011, P 14)
‘If people shop at Amazon a lot and use the search field, they’ll
look right at the search field when the screen loads’ (Weinschenk,
S. 2011, P 14)
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‘The new brain is the
conscious, reasoning, logical brain that you think you know best; the mid brain is the part that processes
emotions, and the old brain is the
part that is most interested in your survival.’ (Weinschenk,
S. 2011, P 108)
‘Without food you will die, without sex the species won’t survive
and if you’re killed the other two questions don’t matter.’ (Weinschenk, S. 2011, P 108/9)
‘Over eons of evolution, humans have learned that they will survive
longer and better if they conserve their energy. You want to spend enough
energy to have enough resources (food, water, sex, shelter), but beyond that
you are wasting your energy if you spend too much time running around getting
or doing more stuff… most of the time, humans work on a principle called satisficing.’ (Weinschenk,
S. 2011, P 132)
‘The idea of satisficing is that the cost of making a complete
analysis of all the options is not only worth it, but may be impossible… If
people satisfice rather than optimize, there are implications for the design of
Web sites, software, and other products.’ (Weinschenk,
S. 2011, P 132)
‘You have to imagine people are taking a quick glance.’ (Weinschenk, S. 2011, P 132)
‘If you want people to take action on an object, whether in real
life or on a computer screen, you need to make sure that they can easily
perceive, figure out, and interpret what the object is and what they can and
should do with it. (Weinschenk, S. 2011, P 15)
‘Eye-tracking is a technology that allows you to see and record
what a person is looking at, in what order, and for how long. It is often used
to study Web sites to see where people are looking, including where they look
first, second, and so on.’ (Weinschenk, S. 2011, P 20)
‘Early eye-tracking research by Alfred Yarbus (1967) showed that
what people look at depends on what questions they are asked while they are
looking. It’s therefore easy to accidently skew the eye-tracking data depending
on what instructions you give them before and during the eye-tracking study.’ (Weinschenk, S. 2011, P 20)
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‘If two items are near each other (a photo and text for example),
then people assume they go together. The connection is strongest for items that
are together left to right.’ (Weinschenk, S. 2011, P
21)
How people remember:
‘Recognition is easier than recall. Recognition makes use of
context. And context can help you remember.’ (Weinschenk,
S. 2011, P 53)
How people think:
‘The brain can only process small amount(s) of information at a
time’ (Weinschenk, S. 2011, P 62)
PROGRESSIVE DISCLOSURE
‘Progressive disclosure means providing only the information people
need at the moment’ (Weinschenk, S. 2011, P 62)
‘By giving them a little information at a time, you avoid over
whelming them, and also addresses the needs of different people – some may want
a high-level overview, whereas others are looking for all the detail.’ (Weinschenk, S. 2011, P 62)
‘Progressive disclosure requires multiple clicks. You may have
heard it said that Web sites should minimize the number of times people have to
click to get to detailed information. The number of clicks is not important.
People are very willing to click multiple times. In fact, they won’t even
notice they’re clicking if they’re getting the right amount of information at
each click…’ (Weinschenk, S. 2011, P 63/4)
MOTIVATION
People become
more motivated the closer they get to their end goal. ‘Kivetz (Ran, 2006) found that people would go
to a Web site more frequently and rate more songs during each visit as they got
closer to a reward goal at the site’ (Weinschenk, S. 2011, P 116)
‘People will look for ways to do something faster and with fewer
steps. This is especially true if it’s a task they’re doing over and over.
(SHOPPING) But if the shortcut is too hard to find, or if habit is ingrained,
then people will keep doing it the old way.’ (Weinschenk,
S. 2011, P 136)
‘people actually like to be independent, to feel that they’re doing
things on their own, with minimal help from others… Rather than hire an expert,
people often want to do things on their own.’ (Weinschenk,
S. 2011, P 42)
‘The unconscious part of the brain likes to feel that it’s in
control. If you’re in control, then there is less likelihood that you’ll be in
danger. The “old brain” is all about keeping you motivated by being
autonomous.’ (Weinschenk, S. 2011, P 142)
‘When you go to a Web site or use an online application, you have
assumptions about how the site will respond to you and what the interaction
will be like. And many of these expectations mirror the expectations that you
have for person-to-person interactions.’ (Weinschenk,
S. 2011, P 151/2)
‘Whether it’s a retail store or a Web site, if you ask people if
they’d prefer to choose from a few alternatives or have lots of choices, most
people will say they want lots of choices’ (Weinschenk,
S. 2011, P 206)
‘It’s only when people are confident in their decisions that they
stop seeking more information.’ (Weinschenk, S. 2011, P
207)
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