How Our Cognitive Load Influences UX Design!
- Maytar Ben-Biniamin
- Nov 5, 2021
- 3 min read
Tips & tricks on how to create a user-friendly website while keeping it light on the user's cognitive load.
Understanding the Cognitive Load
The amount of information our working memory can retain at once is the definition of our cognitive load.
It is important for UX Designers to understand the importance of creating a design which does not ask too much from the user's working memory. With a design that contains too much information, too many options, inconsistent designs, and complex features, the user will have a difficult time processing and understanding the page. The goal is to keep the web page as simple and clean as possible.
A key point to keep in mind is that people of different ages do not have the same cognitive load. An older person is most likely not able to retain as much information at once compared to a child.
Tip: consider all ages (and their cognitive loads) when designing a website!!
Cognitive Load Difficulties & Solutions
Difficulty #1: Too Much Information
When there is too much content and information on a page it makes it hard to
find what you are looking for. Many people do not have long attention spans, so
having an excess amount of content will likely push people away from the site.
Solution: remove any unnecessary information to assist the user's attention span.
Difficulty #2: Too Many Options
Giving the user too many options creates confusion and can cause them to choose
an option that they did not want to go to.
Solution: as a designer, you can either reduce the amount of options or you can organize the options in a structure that logically makes sense. Guide the user from one option to the next, rather than throwing everything onto them at once.
Difficulty #3: Inconsistent Designs
When a website has a variety of random designs, it gives the user a difficult time
to understand the site and to get comfortable navigating effortlessly from one
item to another.
Solution: create a design system to allow the website to flow from one area to the next.
Difficulty #4: Complex Features
Just like giving the user too much information or too many options at once,
including complex features creates confusion as well. Complex features will take
up the user's time and cognitive load, as they will need to focus on
remembering each feature.
Solution: make sure to keep the features simple, self-explanatory, and easy to understand.
Takeaways
As a UX Designer, or just as a person who enjoys designing websites, always remember to create a simple and direct design to reduce the amount the user has to use their cognitive load. By doing this, it will create a higher productivity rate and it will allow the user to enjoy their time on the site, rather than spending their time trying to figure out where to go and what information to take in.
There have been many websites in the past with a bad UX design, such as, Yahoo!, eBay, Craigslist, etc. Some of these websites still have not been redesigned/they have been redesigned since but can use more improvements. These examples represent what you should not do in your designs, as they have a poor usability - too much content, too many options, etc.
Remember: sometimes simple is better!!
Reference:
Gupta, A. (2020). Impact of cognitive load in UX Design. Retrieved from
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