UX design: Exploring user behaviors for design success

Whether you’re a rookie UX designer or an experienced product marketer, you need to be familiar with the foundational UX laws. These UX principles shed light on the psychology behind users’ expectations, therefore, following them is a must for anyone aiming to create winning designs.

We will highlight some of the principles and theories behind the design decisions we can make backed by psychology. By understanding how different psychological principles influence human behavior, we can design our products to elicit specific responses and actions from our target users.

A designer who doesn’t understand human psychologies is going to be no more successful than an architect who doesn’t understand physics.
— Joe Leech

Von Restorff effect

Also known as The Isolation Effect, the Von Restorff Effect predicts that when multiple similar objects are present, the one that differs from the rest is most likely to be remembered. This effect may seem simple at first but it creates great impact especially in the E-commerce space and pricing pages of the products.

Aesthetic-usability effect

This effect describes a paradox that people perceive aesthetic designs as much more intuitive than those considered to be less aesthetically pleasing.

People tend to believe that things that look better will work better — even if they aren’t actually more effective or efficient.

This effect is a major reason why a good user experience can’t just be a functional UI — designing an interface that’s attractive as well as functional is worth the resources.

Peak-end rule

When designing interfaces and experiences, remember that people judge an experience based on its peak moments and its end, rather than the overall average. This holds true whether the experience is positive or negative.

Focus on enhancing the most intense points (the “peaks”) and the final moments (the “end”) of a user’s journey. Identify when your product is most valuable, helpful, or entertaining, and design to amplify those moments.

Take care to address any obstacles that hinder users from achieving their goals, such as finicky menus, illegible text, or intrusive advertising. Overcoming these difficulties is crucial, as they create a strong emotional impression that is just as memorable as the positive peaks.

Other laws and principles

These laws and principles, alongside many others, are what UX designers must evaluate and take into account in order to craft products with good user experiences, which convert into quality products for brands.
You can have a detailed read about these human behavior – related laws in this article UX laws: 21 principles for creating winning designs.