100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People – Susan M. Weinschenk

How People See

1. What you see isn’t what your brain gets

What you think people are going to see on your Web page may not be what they do see. It might depend on their background, knowledge, familiarity with what they are looking at, and expectations.

You might be able to persuade people to see things in a certain way, depending on how they are presented.

2. Peripheral vision is used more than central vision to get the gist of what you see

People use peripheral vision when they look at a computer screen, and usually decide what a page is about based on a quick glimpse of what is in their peripheral vision.

Although the middle of the screen is important for central vision, don’t ignore what is in the viewers’ peripheral vision. Make sure the information in the periphery communicates clearly the purpose of the page and the site.

If you want users to concentrate on a certain part of the screen, don’t put animation or blinking elements in their peripheral vision.

3. People identify objects by recognizing patterns

Use patterns as much as possible, since people will automatically be looking for them. Use grouping and white space to create patterns.

If you want people to recognize an object (for example, an icon), use a simple geometric drawing of the object. This will make it easier to recognize the underlying geons, and thus make the object easier and faster to recognize.

Favor 2D elements over 3D ones. The eyes communicate what they see to the brain as a 2D object. 3D representations on the screen may actually slow down recognition and comprehension.

4. There’s a special part of the brain for just recognizing faces

People recognize and react to faces on Web pages faster than anything else on the page (at least by those who are not autistic).

Faces looking right at people will have the greatest emotional impact on a Web page, probably because the eyes are the most important part of the face.

If a face on a Web page looks at another spot or product on the page, people will also tend to look at that product. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they paid attention to it, just that they physically looked at it.

5. People imagine objects tilted and at a slight angle above

People recognize a drawing or object faster and remember it better if it’s shown in the canonical perspective.

If you have icons at your Web site or in your Web or software application, draw them from a canonical perspective.

6. People scan screens based on past experience and expectations

Put the most important information (or things you want people to focus on) in the top third of the screen or in the middle.

Avoid putting anything important at the edges, since people tend not to look there.

Design the screen or page so that people can move in their normal reading pattern. Avoid a pattern where people have to bounce back and forth to many parts of the screen to accomplish a task.

7. People see cues that tell them what to do with an object

Think about affordance cues when you design. By giving people cues about what they can do with a particular object, you make it more likely that they will take that action.

Use shading to show when an object is chosen or active. Avoid providing incorrect affordance cues.

Rethink hover cues if you’re designing for a device that uses touch rather than a pointing device.

8. People can miss changes in their visual fields

Don’t assume that people will see something on a computer screen just because it’s there. This is especially true when you refresh a screen and make one change on it. Users may not even realize they are even looking at a different screen.

If you want to be sure that people notice a change in their visual fields, add additional visual cues (such as blinking) or auditory cues (such as a beep).

Be cautious about how you interpret eyetracking data. Don’t ascribe too much importance to it or use it as the main basis for design decisions.

9. People believe that things are close together belong together

If you want items (pictures, photos, headings, or text) to be seen as belonging together, then put them in close proximity.

Before you use lines or boxes to separate items or group them together, try experimenting with the amount of space between them first. Sometimes changing the spacing is sufficient, and you’ll be reducing the visual noise of the page.

Put more space between items that don’t go together and less space between items that do. This sounds like common sense, but many Web page layouts ignore this idea.

10. Red and blue together are hard on the eyes

Avoid putting blue and red or green and red near each other on a page or screen.

Avoid blue or green text on a red background, and red or green text on a blue background.

11. 9% of men and 0.5% of women are color-blind

Check your images and websites with http://www.vischeck.com or colorfilter.wickline.org to see how they will look to someone who is color-blind.

If you use color to imply a certain meaning (for example, items in green need immediate attention), use a redundant coding scheme (items in green and with a box around them need immediate attention).

When designing color coding, consider colors that work for everyone, for example, varying shades of brown and yellow. Avoid red, green, and blue.

12. The meanings of colors vary by culture

Choose your colors carefully, taking into account the meaning that the colors may invoke.

Pick a few major cultures or countries that you will be reaching with your design and check them on the cultural color chart from InformationIsBeautiful.net to be sure you’re avoiding unintended color associations for that culture.

How People Read

13. It’s a myth that capital letters are inherently hard to read

People perceive all capitals as shouting, and they’re unused to reading them, so use all uppercase sparingly.

Save all capital letters for headlines, and when you need to get someone’s attention, for example, before deleting an important file.

14. Reading and comprehending are two different things

People are active readers. What they understand and remember from what they read depends on their previous experience, their point of view while reading, and the instructions they are given beforehand.

Don’t assume that people will remember specific information in what they read. Provide a meaningful title or headline. It’s one of the most important things you can do.

Tailor the reading level of your text to your audience. Use simple words and fewer syllables to make your material accessible to a wider audience.

15. Pattern recognition helps people identify letters in different fonts

Serif and sans serif fonts are equal in terms of readability.

Unusual or overly decorative fonts can interfere with pattern recognition and slow down reading.

If people have trouble reading the font, they will transfer that feeling of difficulty to the meaning of the text itself and decide that the subject of the text is hard to do or understand.

16. Font size matters

Choose a point size that is large enough for people of various ages to read comfortably.

Use a font with a large x-height for online viewing so that the type will appear to be larger.

17. Reading a computer screen is harder than reading paper

Use a large point size for text that will be read on a computer screen. This will help to minimize eye strain.

Break text up into chunks. Use bullets, short paragraphs, and pictures.

Provide ample contrast between foreground and background. Black text on a white background is the most readable.

Make sure your content is worth reading. In the end, it all boils down to whether or not the text on the page is of interest to your audience.

18. People read faster with a longer line length, but they prefer a shorter line length

Line length presents a quandary: Do you give people the short line length and multiple columns that they prefer, or go against their own preference and intuition, knowing that they will read faster if you use a longer line length and a single column?

Use a longer line length (100 characters per line) if reading speed is an issue.

Use a shorter line length (45 to 72 characters per line) if reading speed is less critical.

For a multipage article, consider using multiple columns and a short line length (45 characters per line).

How People Remember

19. Short-term memory is limited

Don’t ask people to remember information from one place to another, such as reading letters or numbers on one page and then entering them on another page; if you do, they’ll probably forget the information and get frustrated.

If you ask people to remember things in working memory, don’t ask them to do anything else until they’ve completed that task. Working memory is sensitive to interference—too much sensory input will prevent them from focusing attention.

20. People remember only four items at once

If you could limit the information you give people to four items, that would actually be a great idea, but you don’t have to be that drastic. You can use more pieces of information as long as you group and chunk.

Include no more than four items in each chunk.

Be aware that people tend to use external aids (notes, lists, calendars, appointment books) so they don’t have to rely on memory.

21. People have to use information to make it stick

If you want people to remember something, then you have to go over it again and again. Practice really does make perfect.

One of the major reasons to do user or customer research is so that you can identify and understand the schemata that your particular target audience has.

If people already have a schema that relates to information that you are providing, make sure you point out what that schema is. It will be easier for them to learn and remember the information if they can plug it into an existing schema.

22. It’s easier to recognize information rather than recall it

Eliminate memory load whenever possible. Many user interface design guidelines and interface features have evolved over the years to mitigate issues with human memory.

Try not to require people to recall information. It’s much easier for them to recognize information than recall it from memory.

23. Memory takes a lot of mental resources

Use concrete terms and icons. They will be easier to remember.

Let people rest (and even sleep) if you want them to remember information.

Try not to interrupt people if they are learning or encoding information.

Information in the middle of a presentation will be the least likely to be remembered.

24. People reconstruct memories each time they remember them

If you’re testing or interviewing customers about a product, the words you use can affect greatly what people “remember.”

Don’t rely on self-reports of past behavior. People will not remember accurately what they or others did or said.

Take what people say after the fact—when they are remembering using your product, for instance, or remembering the experience of calling your customer service line— with a grain of salt.

25. It’s a good thing that people forget

People are always going to forget.

What people forget is not a conscious decision.

Design with forgetting in mind. If some information is really important, don’t rely on people to remember it. Provide it for them in your design, or have a way for them to easily look it up.

26. The most vivid memories are wrong

If you know that someone had a dramatic or traumatic experience, you need to understand two things: 1. They’ll be convinced that what they remember is true and 2. It isn’t exactly true!

How People Think

27. People process information better in bite-sized chunks

Use progressive disclosure. Show people what they need when they need it. Build in links for them to get more information.

If you have to make a trade-off on clicks versus thinking, use more clicks and less thinking.

Before you use progressive disclosure, make sure you’ve done your research and know what most people want and when they want it.

28. Some types of mental processing are more challenging than others

Evaluate the loads of an existing product to see if you should reduce one or more of the loads to make it easier to use.

When you design a product, remember that making people think or remember (cognitive load) requires the most mental resources.

Look for trade-offs, for example, where you can reduce a cognitive load by increasing a visual or motor load.

Make sure your targets are large enough to be easily reached.

29. Minds wander 30% of the time

People will only focus on a task for a limited time. Assume that their minds are wandering often.

If possible, use hyperlinks to grab onto this idea of quickly switching from topic to topic. People like Web surfing because it enables this type of wandering.

Make sure you build in feedback about where people are so that if they wander, it’s easier for them to get back to the original location or go to the next.

30. The more uncertain people are, the more they defend their ideas

Don’t spend a lot of time trying to change someone’s ingrained beliefs.

The best way to change a belief is to get someone to commit to something very small.

Don’t just give people evidence that their belief is not logical, or tenable, or a good choice. This may backfire and make them dig in even harder.

31. People create mental models

People always have a mental model.

People get their mental models from past experience. Not everyone has the same mental model.

An important reason for doing user or customer research is so you can understand the mental models of your target audience.

32. People interact with conceptual models

Design the conceptual model purposefully. Don’t let it “bubble up” from the technology.

The secret to designing an intuitive user experience is making sure that the conceptual model of your product matches, as much as possible, the mental models of your audience. If you get that right, you will have created a positive and useful experience.

If you have a brand new product that you know will not match anyone’s mental model, you’ll need to provide training to prepare people to create a new mental model.

33. People process information best in story form

Stories are the natural way people process information. Use a story if you want people to make a causal leap.

Stories aren’t just for fun. No matter how dry you think your information is, using stories will make it understandable, interesting, and memorable.

34. People learn best from examples

People learn best by example. Don’t just tell people what to do. Show them.

Use pictures and screen shots to show by example.

Better yet, use short videos as examples.

35. People are driven to create categories

If there is a lot of information and it is not in categories, people will feel overwhelmed and try to organize the information on their own.

It’s always a good idea to organize information for your audience as much as possible. Keep in mind the four-item rule from the “How People Remember” chapter.

It’s useful to get input from people on what organization schemes make the most sense to them, but the critical thing is that you organize the material. What you call things is often more important than how you have it organized.

If you’re designing sites for children under age seven, any organization into categories you are doing is probably more for the adults in that child’s world, not for the child.

36. Time is relative

Always provide progress indicators so people know how much time something is going to take.

If possible, make the amount of time it takes to do a task or bring up information consistent, so people can adjust their expectations accordingly.

To make a process seem shorter, break it up into steps and have people think less. It’s mental processing that makes something seem to take a long time.

37. There are four ways to be creative (deliberate vs. spontaneous / cognitive vs. emotional)

There are different ways to be creative. If you’re designing an experience that is supposed to foster creativity, decide first which type of creativity you are talking about and design for that.

Deliberate and cognitive creativity requires a high degree of knowledge and lots of time. If you want people to show this type of creativity, you have to make sure you are providing enough prerequisite information. You need to give resources of where people can go to get the information they need to be creative. You also need to give them enough time to work on the problem.

Deliberate and emotional creativity requires quiet time. You can provide questions or things for people to ponder, but don’t expect that they will be able to come up with answers quickly and just by interacting with others at a Web site. For example, creating an online support site for people with a particular problem might ultimately result in deliberate and emotional creativity, but the person will probably have to go offline and have quiet time to have the insights. Suggest that they do that and then come back online to share their insights with others.

Spontaneous and cognitive creativity requires stopping work on the problem and getting away. If you are designing a Web application or site where you expect people to solve a problem with this kind of creativity, you will need to set up the problem in one stage and then have them come back a few days later with their solution.

Spontaneous and emotional creativity probably can’t be designed for.

Remember that your own creative process for design follows these same rules. Allow yourself time to work on a creative design solution, and when you are stuck, sleep on it.

38. People can be in a flow state

Give people control over their actions during the activity.

Break up the difficulty into stages. People need to feel that the current goal is challenging, yet achievable.

Give constant feedback.

Minimize distractions.

39. Culture affects how people think

People from different geographical regions and cultures respond differently to photos and Web site designs. In East Asia people notice and remember the background and context more than people in the West do.

If you are designing products for multiple cultures and geographical regions, then you had better conduct audience research in multiple locations.

When reading psychology research, you might want to avoid generalizing the results if you know that the study participants were all from one geographical region. Be careful of overgeneralizing.

How People Focus Their Attention

40. Attention is selective

People will pay attention to only one thing and ignore everything else as long as you give them specific instructions to do so, and the task doesn’t take too long.

A person’s unconscious constantly scans the environment for certain things. These include their own name as well as messages about food, sex, and danger.

41. People filter information

Don’t expect that people will necessarily pay attention to information you provide.

Don’t make assumptions. What is obvious to you as the designer may not be obvious to the people using what you’ve designed.

If you think people might be filtering information, use color, size, animation, video, and sound to draw attention to what’s important.

If it’s critical that people pay attention to certain information, make that information stand out 10 times more than you think is necessary.

42. Well-practiced skills don’t require conscious attention

If people perform a series of steps over and over again, the action will become automatic.

If you require people to perform a sequence repeatedly, make it easy to do, but realize that the trade-off is that people may make errors because they no longer are paying attention.

Make it easy for people to undo not only their last action, but also an entire sequence.

Rather than requiring people to perform a task over and over, consider a design where they can choose all the items they want to take action on and then perform the action on all the items at once.

43. Expectations of frequency affect attention

People will build an unconscious mental model of how often an event occurs.

If you’re designing a product or application where people need to notice an event that rarely occurs, use a strong signal to get their attention when it does.

44. Sustained attention lasts about ten minutes

Assume that you have at most 7 to 10 minutes of a person’s attention.

If you must hold attention longer than 7 to 10 minutes, introduce novel information or a break.

Keep online demos or tutorials under 7 minutes in length.

45. People pay attention only to salient clues

Decide what the salient cues are for your audience.

Design so that the salient cues are obvious.

Realize that people will probably only pay attention to salient cues.

46. People can’t actually multitask

People will tell you they can multitask but they actually can’t.

Those who describe themselves as great multitaskers are probably the worst at it.

Young people do not multitask better than older people.

Avoid forcing people to multitask. It is difficult for them to do two things at once, for example, have a conversation with a customer while filling out a form on a computer or tablet device. If people must multitask, pay particular attention to the usability of the form.

If you require people to multitask, expect them to make lots of errors and build in ways for them to fix errors afterwards.

Driving while having a cell phone conversation is like driving under the influence of alcohol.

47. Danger, food, sex, movement, faces, and stories get the most attention

It may not always be appropriate to use food, sex, or danger in your Web page or software application, but if you do they’ll get a lot of attention.

Use images of up-close faces.

Use stories as much as you can, even for what you think is factual information.

48. Loud noises startle and get attention

If you’re designing an application, you may have control over the sounds that occur when a people take certain actions, for example, making a mistake, reaching a goal, or donating money.

Pick a sound that is appropriate to the amount of attention you need. Save the high-attention sounds for when it’s really important, for example, if people are about to format their hard drives, or take an action that can’t be undone.

If you use sounds to get attention, then consider changing them so that people will not habituate and the sounds will continue to be attention-getting.

49. For people to pay attention to something, they must first perceive it

If you’re designing for a particular task, think about the four quadrants of the signal detection chart. Is it more damaging for people to have a false alarm or a miss?

Think about what you may need to do with your design based on the four quadrants of the signal detection chart. If a false alarm is worse, then tone down the signal. If a miss is worse, then make the signal stronger.

What Motivates People

50. People are more motivated as they get closer to a goal

The shorter the distance to the goal, the more motivated people are to reach it. People are even more motivated when the end is in sight.

You can get this extra motivation even with the illusion of progress, as in the coffee card B example in this section. There really isn’t any progress (you still have to buy 10 coffees), but it seems like there has been some progress so it has the same effect.

People enjoy being part of a reward program. When compared to customers who were not part of the program, Kivetz found that the customers with reward cards smiled more, chatted longer with café employees, said “thank you” more often, and left a tip more often.

Motivation and purchases plummet right after the goal is reached. This is called a post-reward resetting phenomenon. If you have a second reward level people won’t initially be very motivated to reach that second reward.

You’re most at risk of losing your customer right after a reward is reached.

51. Variable rewards are powerful

For operant conditioning to work, the reinforcement (reward) must be something that particular audience wants. Hungry rats want food pellets. What does your particular audience really want?

Think about the pattern of behavior you’re looking for, and then adjust the schedule of rewards to fit that schedule. Use a variable ratio schedule for the maximum behavior repetition.

52. Dopamine makes people addicted to seeking information

People are motivated to keep seeking information.

The easier you make it for people to find information, the more information-seeking behavior they will engage in.

53. Unpredictability keeps people searching

Pairing cues such as sounds with the arrival of information motivates people to seek more.

Giving small bits of information and then providing a way for people to get more information results in more information-seeking behavior.

The more unpredictable the arrival of information is, the more people will be addicted to seeking it.

54. People are more motivated by intrinsic rewards than extrinsic rewards

Don’t assume that money or any other extrinsic reward is the best way to reward people. Look for intrinsic rewards rather than extrinsic rewards.

If you’re going to give an extrinsic reward, it will be more motivating if it is unexpected.

If the product you’re designing allows people to connect with other, people then they will be motivated to use it.

55. People are motivated by progress, mastery, and control

If you want to build loyalty and have repeat customers (for example, repeat visitors to your Web site), you’ll need to have activities that people inherently want to do (such as connecting with their friends, or mastering something new), rather than just activities for which people are getting paid.

If people have to do a task that’s boring, you can help motivate them by acknowledging that it’s boring and then letting them do it their own way.

Look for ways to help people set goals and track them. Show people how they’re progressing toward goals.

56. People’s ability to delay gratification (or not) starts young

Some people are good at delaying gratification and others are not.

People who are not good at delaying gratification will be more suggestible to images and messages of scarcity (for example, “only three left in stock” or “only available till the end of the month”).

57. People are inherently lazy

Assume that people will get things done with the least amount of work possible. That may not always be the case, but it’s true more often than not.

People will satisfice, that is, look for the good-enough solution rather than the optimal solution.

58. People will look for shortcuts only if the shortcuts are easy

Provide shortcuts as long as they are easy to learn, find, and use, but don’t assume that people will always use them.

Provide defaults if you know what most people will want to do most of the time, and if the result of choosing a default by mistake does not cause costly errors.

59. People assume it’s you, not the situation

If you’re interviewing people about how they would use the product you’re designing, be careful of how you interpret or analyze the interviews. You’ll have a tendency to think about “what people are going to do” based on personality and miss the situational factors.

If you’re interviewing a subject matter expert or domain expert who’s telling you what people do or will do, think carefully about what you’re hearing. The expert may miss situational factors and put too much value on people’s personalities.

Try to build in ways to cross-check your own biases. If your work requires you to make a lot of decisions about why people do what they do, you might want to stop before acting on your decisions and ask yourself, “Am I making a fundamental attribution error?”

60. Forming a habit takes a long time and requires small steps

Give people a small, easy task to do, rather than a complex one.

Give people a reason to come back and do the task every day or almost every day.

Be patient. Creating a habit may take a long time.

61. People are more motivated to compete when there are fewer competitors

Competition can be motivating, but don’t overdo it.

Showing more than 10 competitors can dampen the motivation to compete.

62. People are motivated by autonomy

People like to do things themselves, and are motivated to do so.

If you want to increase self-service, make sure your messaging is about having control and being able to do it yourself.

People Are Social Animals

63. The “strong tie” group size limit is 150 people

There is a limit of approximately 150 people for your “survival” community in close proximity. If you don’t feel you have that “tribe” around you, you may feel alienated, isolated, and stressed.

Your relationships with larger numbers of people through social media are likely weak ties.

When you are designing a product that has social connections built in or implied, think about whether those interactions are for strong or weak ties.

If you are designing for strong ties, you need to build in some amount of physical proximity, and make it possible for people to interact and know each other in the network.

If you are designing for weak ties, don’t rely on direct communication among all people in a person’s network or physical proximity.

64. People are hard-wired for imitation and empathy

Don’t underestimate the power of watching someone else do something. If you want to influence someone’s behavior, then show someone else doing the same task.

Research shows that stories create images in the mind that may also trigger mirror neurons. Use stories if you want to get people to take an action.

Video at a Web site is especially compelling. Want people to get a flu shot? Then show a video of other people in line at a clinic getting a flu shot. Want kids to eat vegetables? Then show a video of other kids eating vegetables. Mirror neurons at work.

65. Doing things together bonds people together

Many of our online interactions are asynchronous, including most social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn). Although asynchronous social activity fulfills other social needs, it does not fulfill our desire and pleasure from synchronous activity.

Because most online interactions don’t take place with others in physical proximity, there are limited opportunities for designers to build in synchronous activity.

Look for opportunities to build synchronous activity into your product, using live video streaming, or a live video or audio connection.

66. People expect online interactions to follow social rules

When you’re designing a product think, about the interactions that the person will have with it. Do the interactions follow the rules of a person-to-person interaction?

Many usability design guidelines for products are actually guidelines that connect to social expectations for interactions. Follow basic usability guidelines and you’ll be more assured of meeting interactive expectations.

67. People lie to differing degrees depending on the media

People lie most on the phone, and least with pen and paper.

People are more negative toward others via e-mail than with pen and paper.

If you’re designing surveys via e-mail, realize that people are likely to be more negative than they would be using pen and paper.

If you are conducting a survey or getting audience feedback, be aware that telephone surveys will not get you as accurate a response as email or pen and paper surveys will.

Getting customer or audience feedback is most accurate when done in person, one-on-one.

68. Speakers’ brains and listeners’ brains sync up during communication

Listening to someone talk creates a special brain syncing that helps people understand what is being said.

Presenting information through audio and/or video where people can hear someone talking is an especially powerful way to help people understand the message.

Don’t just rely on reading if you want people to understand information clearly.

69. The brain responds uniquely to people you know personally

All social media are not alike. It may be important to distinguish between social media for friends and relatives versus social media for people you’re not already connected to.

People are “programmed” to pay special attention to friends and relatives. Social media around friends and relatives will be more motivating and garner more loyalty. You’re more likely to check your Facebook page five times a day than your LinkedIn page, because the former is about friends and relatives.

70. Laughter bonds people together

Most online interactions are asynchronous and therefore don’t afford a lot of opportunity for social bonding through laughing.

Synchronous communication online should lead to more bonding if it allows for laughter.

You don’t necessarily need humor or jokes to get people to laugh. Normal conversation and interactions will produce more laughter than intentional use of humor or jokes.

If you want people to laugh, then laugh yourself. Laughter is contagious.

71. People can tell when a smile is real or fake more accurately with video

Pay attention to smiles in videos. People will be able to determine a fake smile versus a real one better in a video than in a photo. If they don’t think the smile is real, they’re less likely to trust you.

It is possible to fake a smile and to fake a crinkly-eye smile, but it is easier to fake a smile in a static picture than on a video.

People can tell whether a smile is real or not by looking for conflicting emotions. They are looking at many parts of the face, not just the eyes.

If a smile looks real, it will engage the viewer and build trust.

How People Feel

72. Seven basic emotions are universal

The seven basic emotions of joy, sadness, contempt, fear, disgust, surprise, and anger are universal and are shown by facial expression and physical gestures.

If you’re using pictures to communicate (for example, pictures of people at a Web site), use one of the seven basic emotions in the picture to communicate them most clearly.

People read the seven basic emotions fairly well from photos. Try to use photos where the expressions look real, as people can often detect fake emotions.

Decide which emotions drive your target audience. In addition to basic demographic information, identify and document psychographics; for example, what emotions are motivating or will motivate different parts of your target audience?

73. Emotions are tied to muscle movement and vice versa

You may need to consider the emotions you’re generating as people interact with your product. For example, if someone reads a sad story and is frowning, this may put them in a sad mood that might affect the next action they take.

Watch out for unintended facial expressions that may change how people feel about your product. For example, if the font at your Web site is very small, and people are squinting and frowning to read it, that may actually prevent them from feeling happy or friendly, and that may affect an action you want them to take.

This is another instance of the power of video. Because people mimic others’ expressions (see #64 on mirror neurons), showing a video of someone who is happy and smiling will tend to make the person watching smile, which will then make them feel happy, and that in turn may change the next action they take.

74. Anecdotes persuade more than data

Information is processed more deeply and remembered longer if it has an emotional hook.

Look for ways to provide a message that will invoke emotions and empathy. Use anecdotes in addition to, or in place of, factual data.

75. Smells evoke emotions and memories

Scents are used in retail stores, hotels, malls, and other places to evoke particular memories, emotions, and associations.

Scents have been experimented with in movie theaters, and there is some research on using scents while people are learning information online with a computer.

In the future, designing scents for emotional influence with be part of some user experience designers’ skill sets.

76. People are programmed to enjoy surprises

Things that are new and novel capture attention.

Providing something unexpected not only gets attention, but also can be actually pleasurable.

Although a certain amount of consistency (at a Web site, for example) is a good thing if people are trying to complete a task, providing novel and unexpected content and interactions is good if you want people to try something new, or if you want them to come back to see what’s new.

77. People are happier when they’re busy

People don’t like to be idle.

People will do a task rather than be idle, but the task has to be seen as worthwhile. If people perceive it to be busywork, then they prefer to stay idle.

If you have a task that requires people to wait, you’d better have something interesting for them to do while waiting.

78. Pastoral scenes make people happy

People like pastoral scenes. If you’re looking for a nature scene to use at a Web site, try to pick one with the pastoral elements.

People will be drawn to, like, and feel happier looking at a pastoral scene online, but it won’t have the same positive health effects as seeing the actual scene out a window or being able to walk through the pastoral setting.

79. People use look-and-feel as their first indicator of trust

People make quick decisions about what is not trustworthy. So they reject a Web site first, and then decide after that whether or not to actually trust it.

Design factors, such as color, font, layout, and navigation, are critical in making it through the first “trust rejection” phase.

If a Web site makes it through the first rejection cut, then content and credibility become the determining factors as to whether the person trusts the site.

80. Listening to music releases dopamine in the brain

Music can be intensely pleasurable. People have favorite music that induces euphoria.

Music is very individualized. What induces euphoria in one person may have no effect for someone else.

Anticipating the pleasurable parts of music activates different areas of the brain and neurotransmitters than actually listening to and experiencing the music.

Allowing people to use or add their own music to whatever Web site, product, design, or activity they’re engaging in is a powerful way to engage them in a positive and potentially addictive experience.

81. The more difficult something is to achieve, the more people like it

I’m not suggesting that you make your Web site, product, or software application hard to use so that people will feel pain and therefore like it more, although that is probably accurate.

If you want people to join your online community, you might find that people use it more and value it more if there are steps that have to be taken to join. Filling out an application, meeting certain criteria, being invited by others—all of these can be seen as barriers to entry, but they may also mean that the people who do join care more about the group.

82. People overestimate reactions to future events

Be careful of believing customers who tell you that making a particular change to a product or a design will make them much happier with it, or cause them to never use it again.

People may prefer one thing over another or think that they will, but their reaction, be it positive or negative, will probably not be as strong as they imagine it.

83. People feel more positive before and after an event than during it

If you’re designing an interface where people are planning something in the future (winning the lottery, going on a trip, arranging a business event, building a house), they’ll have more positive feelings about the experience the longer you can draw out the planning phase.

If you measure satisfaction or other feelings, realize that you’ll get more positive ratings if you ask people a few days after the interaction, than if you ask them while they’re interacting with the product or Web site.

84. People want what is familiar when they’re sad or scared

Brands are a shortcut. If someone has had a positive experience with a brand in the past, then that brand is a signal of safety to the old brain.

Brands are just as important, or even more important, online. In the absence of being able to see and touch the actual product, the brand becomes the surrogate for the experience. This means that brands have a lot of power when people are making an online purchase.

Messages of fear or loss may be more persuasive if your brand is an established one.

Messages of fun and happiness may be more persuasive if your brand is a new one.

People Make Mistakes

85. People will always make mistakes; there is no fail-safe product

Think ahead to what the likely mistakes will be. Figure out as much as you can about the kinds of mistakes people are going to make when they use what you’ve designed. And then change your design before it goes out so that those mistakes won’t be made.

Create a prototype of your design and get people to use it so you can see what the errors are likely to be. When you do this, make sure the people who are testing the prototype are the same people who will be using it. For example, if the product is designed for nurses in a hospital, don’t use your designers down the hall to test for errors. You need to have nurses at a hospital test for errors.

Write error messages in plain language and follow the guidelines above for clear error messages.

86. People make errors when they are under stress

If people are performing a boring task, then you need to raise the level of arousal with sound, colors, or movement.

If people are doing a difficult task, then you need to lower the level of arousal by eliminating any distracting elements such as color, sounds, or movement, unless they are directly related to the task at hand.

If people are under stress, they won’t see things on the screen, and they’ll tend to do the same actions over and over, even if they don’t work.

Do research to find out which situations might be stressful. Make site visits, observe and interview the people who are using your product, determine the level of stress, and then redesign if stress is present.

If someone is an expert at a well-learned task, then performance stress may cause errors.

87. Not all mistakes are bad

Although you don’t want people to make lots of errors when using your product, errors will occur.

Since you know there will be errors, look for and document them during user testing. Note whether each error consequence is positive, negative, or neutral.

After user testing (and even before it), concentrate on redesigning to minimize or avoid errors with negative consequences first.

88. People make predictable types of errors

People will make different types of errors in learning about and using your product. Before you conduct user testing or user observation, decide on the possible errors you are most concerned about.

During user testing and observation, collect data on which category of errors people are making. This will help focus your redesign efforts after testing.

If you’re in a field where errors are not just annoying or inefficient, but actually may result in accidents or loss of human lives, then you should use a system like HFACS to analyze and prevent errors.

89. People use different error strategies

People use different types of strategies in correcting errors. During user testing and observation, collect data on which strategies your particular audience uses. This information will be helpful in predicting future issues and in redesign.

Don’t assume that a population will be unable to finish a task just because they’re older. They may do it differently, and it may take more time, but they may be able to complete as many tasks as younger people.

In addition to thinking about younger versus older people, think about novices versus experts. All older people are not the same. Just because someone is 60 years old doesn’t mean they lack experience with computers. It’s possible for a 60-year-old to be a computer geek who has used computers for a long time and has lots of knowledge. It’s also possible for a 20-year-old to have less experience with a particular product, device, or software.

How People Decide

90. People make most decisions unconsciously

To design a product or Web site that persuades people to take a certain action, you need to know the unconscious motivations of your target audience.

When people tell you their reasons for deciding to take a certain action, you have to be skeptical about what they say. Because decision making is unconscious, they may be unaware of the true reasons for their decisions.

Even though people make decisions based on unconscious factors, they want a rational, logical reason for the decisions they make. So you still need to provide the rational, logical reasons, even though they’re unlikely to be the actual reasons that people decided to take action.

91. The unconscious knows first

People respond and react to unconscious signals of danger.

The unconscious acts more quickly than the conscious mind. This means that people often take actions or have preferences, but cannot explain why they prefer what they do.

92. People want more choices and information than they can process

Resist the impulse to provide your customers with a large number of choices.

If you ask people how many options they want, they will almost always say “a lot” or “give me all the options.” So if you ask, be prepared to deviate from what they ask for.

If possible, limit the number of choices to three or four. If you have to offer more options, try to do so in a progressive way. For example, have people choose first from three or four options, and then choose again from a subset.

93. People think choice equals control

People need to feel that they’re in control and that they have choices.

People won’t always choose the fastest way to complete a task. When you’re deciding how your audience will accomplish a task with your Web site or product, you may want to offer more than one way, even if the alternative methods are less efficient, just so that people will have a choice.

Once you’ve given people choices, they’ll be unhappy if you take those choices away. If a new version of your product includes improved methods for accomplishing tasks, you may want to leave some of the older methods in the product so that people feel they have options.

94. People may care about time more than they care about money

The best thing to do, of course, is to know your market or audience. If they’re influenced by prestige and possessions, then by all means mention money.

Be aware that most people, most of the time, are more influenced by time and experiences that produce a personal connection than money or possessions.

If you don’t have the time or budget to know your audience well, and if you’re selling nonprestige items or services, then err on the side of time and experiences, and delay the mention of money as long as possible.

95. Mood influences the decision-making process

Some people tend to make decisions intuitively, and others tend to make them in a deliberate way.

People will estimate a product to be of higher value if they can make the decision in their “natural” style.

If you can find out someone’s style, you can suggest to them how to make a decision and that will result in a higher estimation of the value of a product.

You can influence someone’s mood easily, for example, with a short video clip.

People in a good mood will rate a product as being more valuable if they are asked to make the decision quickly based on their first feelings.

People in a sad mood will rate a product as being more valuable if they are asked to make the decision in a more deliberate way.

If you influence people’s mood, then you can suggest to them how to think about their decision-making process. This will result in a higher estimation of the value of a product or service.

96. Group decision-making can be faulty

If one person is less competent than the others, and that person doesn’t realize that he or she is, though the rest of the team does realize it, then the team tends to make poor decisions because they should ignore the less competent member’s opinions, but they don’t.

Give people a way and time to consider all relevant information on their own before they see what other people think.

Ask people to rate how confident they are in their decision before they show that decision to others.

Once opinion sharing starts, make sure people have enough time to discuss their disagreements.

It’s easy for people to share information now, and for that information to be widely disseminated. This free flow of information and opinions may mean that people are collectively making poorer decisions

97. People are swayed by a dominant personality

If you design as a group, be careful of following the first solution just because it’s first.

If you have group meetings (for example, group sessions to make design decisions, or group audience feedback sessions), have each member of the group write down ideas ahead of time and circulate those ideas before the meeting.

98. When people are uncertain, they let others decide what to do

People are very influenced by others’ opinions and behaviors, especially when they are uncertain.

Use testimonials, ratings, and reviews if you want to influence behavior.

The more information you provide in the rating and review about the person who left it, the more influential the rating or review will be.

99. People think others are more easily influenced than they are themselves

Everyone is affected by unconscious processes.

If you’re doing customer research and people say, “Ratings and reviews don’t influence my decision,” don’t believe what they’re saying. Remember that these are unconscious processes, and people are largely unaware of what is affecting them.

100. People value a product more highly when it’s physically in front of them

Brick-and-mortar stores may retain an edge if they have products on hand, especially when it comes to price.

Having a product behind glass or any other kind of barrier may lower the price that the customer is willing to pay.