Imagine you’re using the Government website for the first time to file your tax return. You have to remember important information, take care to not make any errors, make sure you pay the correct amount and submit everything correctly. As you do this, there are things you’re thinking about (cognitive), things you’re looking at on the website (visual) and things you’re physically doing like typing on the keyboard and using the mouse (motor).
These are what we call loads.
Loads
There are three loads in total (cognitive, visual and motor) and you might assume they’re equally weighted, but they’re not. Each one uses a different amount of mental resources, in this order:
1 Cognitive
People use the most mental resources if they’re asked to remember something or perform a mental calculation.
2 Visual
Looking at something on a screen uses more mental resources than motor but isn’t as demanding as needing to think about the task.
3 Motor
Motor is the least demanding load as most movements are performed instinctively, without us needing to think about what we’re doing.
Do everything in 3 clicks?
If you work in UX or as a designer, someone at some stage has no doubt advised you that everything should be possible to do in 3 clicks. I’ve no idea which genius came up with this theory but I do know that it’s a load of rubbish. When designing a digital user experience, there are always trade-offs. If you have to add extra clicks but the trade-off is that the user doesn’t have to think as much and the user journey feels more logical, then those extra clicks are worth it. Adding clicks is less of a load than thinking. I’ve personally seen this time and time again in the UX research and user testing that i’ve conducted over the years. As long as the experience is well thought out, logical and the pages are well structured, the number of clicks doesn’t matter.
When motor loads are too much
Despite motor loads being the least effortful of loads, there are things that designers do that increase their effort. Many years ago I worked for one of the leading mobile brands and there were many times when I had to go back to the designers after user testing to tell them their hit areas and visual buttons were too small for people to press easily. The UI buttons would require multiple presses or a very accurate tip of the finger press to work, and people with long finger nails had absolutely no chance. What looks good on a large monitor often didn’t work well when it was shrunk down onto a small screen.
Sometimes you want to increase loads
Most of the time you’ll be looking to decrease loads to make your product easier to use, but there are times you may want to increase the load. For example you might add a video to a web page to deliberately draw the user’s attention to the product (visual load increased). The best example of purposefully increasing loads is in the gaming sector. In a game, there are quests that the user should find challenging to accomplish. Some games have high cognitive loads as the user has to work out what they need to do to make it to the next level. Some games have high visual loads, where users need to find things on the screen. Some have high motor loads, where users have to use a physical device to move around the game and interact with the characters onscreen.
Key takeaways
- Evaluate your existing website/app/product. Can you identify any opportunities to reduce any of the loads to make the experience easier?
- Don’t make people think too much. When designing your product, try to reduce the cognitive load as much as you can. Don’t make people remember information that’s going to be too difficult for them to recall. Think how you can get around this, such as leaving the field optional or allowing them to complete this information later.
- Where you can, look to reduce cognitive loads by increasing visual and motor loads. For example, rather than the user needing to read a full web page of information, a large clearly written call to action that draws them to the right place would be more effective.
- Make sure that physical targets are large enough to be easily reached and easily pressed.
Interested in UX Psychology? Sign up to 24 FREE lessons in UX Psychology in my countdown to Christmas!
Lisa Duddington MSc, UX Consultant
Need UX research? PrestigeUX.com
Need users? INeedUsers.com