Cognitive Load In UX

🧠 How To Reduce Cognitive Load In UX. How people make choice, how to make products less demanding — and dismantling some UX myths ↓ 🤔 People go through a huge number of choices every day. ✅ We’re very efficient in scanning, skimming and skipping. ✅ Users often rely on small “islands” of sections to use daily. ✅ Experts often prefer to see all options or features at once. ✅ People are happier by choosing from a small set of choices. 🤔 The biggest challenge isn’t managing too many options. ✅ The problem is how poorly organized these options are. ✅ It’s also having too many *similar* options to choose from. 🤔 Similar options → users get confused, frustrated, paralyzed. 🚫 Number of clicks/taps are poor indicators of good/bad UX. 🚫 Don’t enforce users to keep information in working memory. ✅ Avoid sliding panels/overlays: show content in split screens. ✅ Run card sorting on features, filters, attributes, menu items. ✅ Break down complex decisions in a set of smaller decisions. ✅ Flows with more pages might work better than 1 single page. UX is filled with confusing misconceptions and myths. Beware of the “3-clicks-rule” as users typically don’t mind an extra click if it’s clear and predictable — and as long as it’s not repetitive or slows down their daily workflow. Also, don’t rely on “7±2 rule” for navigation: it’s not about the number of navigation items, but how many of those we have to keep in our working memory. People don’t always use your product the way you imagined they would. In fact, it's common to see people using only small portions of a complex product frequently — almost identifying small islands of clarity that help them in their daily work, while avoiding obscure or daunting parts of the product because they haven’t managed to learn how to use them yet. But once they do learn how to use them, their efficiency grows, and so do their expectations of how customizable, flexible and sophisticated the feature should be. There, it's not about the number of features or clicks or taps or how many items they can keep in their working memory. It's about a highly accurate mapping of how people think and how the interface works. And: expert software must be complex as it must match the complexity of the real world. It requires a vast number of attributes, settings, views, panels, data points. However, complex products don’t have to be complicated in use if they make sense to end users, and they can be proficient with them. There, the worst thing we can do as designers is to oversimplify. We shouldn’t assume that people always struggle with complexity. They struggle with products they don’t understand. They also learn products and navigational paths over time, making tremendous progress in just a few days. Help users avoid confusion and make fewer mistakes, and they will use even complex products effortlessly over time. [Sources and resources in the comments below ↓]

Clinicians don’t want more data. They want fewer decisions. HealthTech keeps confusing complexity with sophistication. We assume that because clinicians are smart, they want more dashboards. More alerts. More choices. In truth, they want something no algorithm can measure: Cognitive relief. Imagine you’re a pilot. Mid-flight, you’re shown 17 new dials. Flashing red. Each says something important. Now make a life-or-death decision. Fast. Would you say thank you? That’s what most clinical decision support looks like in HealthTech today. And it’s killing trust faster than bad data ever could. Why? Because information isn’t value. Clarity is. The problem, IMO, isn’t the number of alerts. It’s the hidden cost of each micro-decision. Every time we ask a clinician to interpret another data stream, we’re not helping them, we’re taxing them. It’s not death by data. It’s death by 1,000 cognitive cuts. We’ve forgotten the difference between data and decision. Between information and insight. Between noise and relevance. And worst of all? We often design for what looks impressive - not what actually works on a ward round. The best HealthTech doesn’t make clinicians feel smarter. It makes them feel safer. Not “empowered.” Not “augmented.” Just calm. Just clear. That’s the gold standard now isn’t it? Tools that remove thinking, not add to it. If you’re building in HealthTech, Don’t ask: “What more can we show?” Ask: “What decisions can we take away?” That’s where trust is built. That’s where burnout is reduced. Build for fewer decisions. What would you add? P.S. Tools that reduce decisions are finally being valued. VCs are rewarding clarity, not complexity. If your AI product calms the chaos - you're building in the right direction - https://lnkd.in/euA2-8a2

12 tips to better retain what you learn. Use these to improve your memory: Whether you're: ↳Studying for tests ↳Trying to memorize a work presentation ↳Learning a new language ↳Or just wanting to remember someone's name or your grocery list It pays to have a great memory. Often, however, people see their memory as fixed. "I'm so forgetful!" they'll say. Or, "I'm bad with names." But the reality is: You can improve your memory with practice. Use these tactics to strengthen yours. 1) Teach It ↳To remember, you must first understand - and to truly understand, try explaining ↳Ex: Learning physics? Describe Newton's Laws in simple terms - if you can't, you've found a gap 2) Space Repetition ↳Review at increasing intervals, adding more space as you improve ↳Ex: Learning Spanish? Review the new words you learn after 1 day, then 3 days, then a week 3) Create Mnemonics ↳Turn less ordinary or more complex info into shortcuts - odder is often better ↳Ex: Memorize the planets with "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos" 4) Make It Ordinary ↳Connecting new ideas with ones you're already familiar with helps retention ↳Ex: Learning supply and demand? Think of Uber's surge pricing - when demand is up, cost goes up 5) Write It Down ↳Writing things down (by hand) boosts our ability to remember them ↳Ex: Forget names easily? Write them down three times after meeting someone 6) Say It Out Loud ↳Speaking information also reinforces recall ↳Ex: Using names again - Say, "Nice to meet you, Sarah!" to remember her name 7) Chunk Information ↳Break long info into smaller, digestible parts that are self-contained ↳Ex: Want to memorize a speech? Divide it into short, distinct sections 8) Use Memory Palace ↳Tie information to images for recall, placing things in familiar locations ↳Ex: Remembering a grocery list? Picture milk at your front door, eggs on the couch, and bread on the TV 9) Engage Senses ↳You know how sounds or smells sometimes trigger long-ago memories? Use it ↳Ex: Learning a language? Read, write, listen, and speak it in one session 10) Use Active Recall ↳Test yourself - or have someone else test you - instead of just re-reading ↳Ex: Studying from a book? Cover key parts and recall them before checking to see if you were right 11) Don't Multitask ↳Our inability to remember is often tied to a lack of real focus ↳Ex: Studying? Put your phone in another room to avoid distractions and let your brain prioritize one task 12) Sleep Well ↳Memory consolidates during sleep, and good rest improves our retention ability ↳Ex: Study briefly before bed to let your brain reinforce it overnight Have you used any of these before? --- ♻️ Repost to help others improve their ability to retain information. And follow me George Stern for more content on growth.

AI agents without proper memory are just expensive chatbots repeating the same mistakes. After building 20+ production agents, I discovered most developers only implement 1 out of 5 critical memory types. Here's the complete memory architecture powering agents at Google, Microsoft, and top AI startups: 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁-𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝗠𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘆 (𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗠𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘆) → Maintains conversation context (last 5-10 turns) → Enables coherent multi-turn dialogues → Clears after session ends → Implementation: Rolling buffer/context window 𝗟𝗼𝗻𝗴-𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝗠𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘆 (𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲) Unlike short-term memory, long-term memory persists across sessions and contains three specialized subsystems: 𝟭. 𝗦𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗠𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘆 (𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗲) → Domain expertise and factual knowledge → Company policies, product catalogs → Doesn't change per user interaction → Implementation: Vector DB (Pinecone/Qdrant) + RAG 𝟮. 𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗰 𝗠𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘆 (𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝗴𝘀) → Specific past interactions and outcomes → "Last time user tried X, Y happened" → Enables learning from past actions → Implementation: Few-shot prompting + event logs 𝟯. 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘆 (𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗦𝗲𝘁𝘀) → How to execute specific workflows → Learned task sequences and patterns → Improves with repetition → Implementation: Function definitions + prompt templates When processing user input, intelligent agents don't query memories in isolation: 1️⃣ Short-term provides immediate context 2️⃣ Semantic supplies relevant domain knowledge 3️⃣ Episodic recalls similar past scenarios 4️⃣ Procedural suggests proven action sequences This orchestrated approach enables agents to: - Handle complex multi-step tasks autonomously - Learn from failures without retraining - Provide contextually aware responses - Build relationships over time LangChain, LangGraph, and AutoGen all provide memory abstractions, but most developers only scratch the surface. The difference between a demo and production? Memory that actually remembers. Over to you: Which memory type is your agent missing?

When someone lands on your site, every extra word, button, or menu is a cognitive tax. Take this landing page comparison: Attio - keeps the load light • One navigation bar • 12 words in total for the header + sub-header • 9 clickable exits above the fold • Lots of whitespace • Sneak peak at product imagery The result = focus 🧘♀️ HubSpot - seems to have many cooks in the kitchen • Two navigation bars at the top • 50% more words (24 words in the header + subheader) • 13 clickable exits above the fold • Bigger chat widgets • Lifestyle imagery instead of whitespace The result = distraction 🐿️ With busier pages comes higher cognitive load, the paradox of choice, and decision paralysis 🧠 In real terms: if someone pauses even a split second more and doesn’t act, they’re more likely to bounce. And this isn’t just true for landing pages - it applies to pricing pages, homepages, dashboards… anywhere with competing priorities 👩🍳 👩🍳 👩🍳 It’s easy to add, hard to cut. ✂️ Good design isn’t what you add, it’s what you remove (or don't add in the first place). So ask yourself: What's the 30% you can remove from your page? 🗑️

Did you know 75% of smartphone interactions come down to just scrolling your thumb on a touch screen? This means people don’t want to need both hands to navigate a mobile site. They want everything to be a thumb tap away. If your site is a hassle to use on mobile, people just won’t use it. As you think about designing your site, consider what thumb-only navigation, or "Thumb Zones," might look like. “Thumb Zones” are where users are most comfortable and likely to take action on a mobile device. You can see this in the diagram below (courtesy of Branding Brand), and includes the following: → Primary CTAs (like "shop now") in the primary zone. → Essential information and secondary CTAs (like “learn more” instead of “shop now”) in the secondary zone. → Controls to change the mode or initiate different tasks (including search, privacy policies, and navigation menus) in the tertiary zone. This reduces friction by establishing a hierarchy, keeping the subconscious engaged and it maximizes the “tappability” of your content. Now think about your current post-click landing pages and checkouts, would you change anything?

“𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻.” You sure? Because every major study on usability, adoption, and information design says otherwise. Poor design slows decision-making, hides critical insights, and erodes trust. Good design reduces time to value - and makes the difference between used and ignored reports. Let’s talk specifics. These aren’t opinions - they’re proven UX principles, backed by decades of research: 𝗝𝗮𝗸𝗼𝗯’𝘀 𝗟𝗮𝘄 – 𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀. 𝘚𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘗𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘉𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘣 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯. 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Use clear navigation, clickable affordances, and common interaction patterns. 𝗘𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲: Place slicers where users expect filters - top-left or directly above visuals. 𝗟𝗮𝘄 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗼𝗻 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻 – 𝗘𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳. 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Use whitespace or cards to visually group KPIs, charts, and filters. 𝗘𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲: Group related metrics like Revenue, Margin, and YoY% into a single visual region. 𝗔𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗰-𝗨𝘀𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 – 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘀 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝘀𝗲. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘹, 𝘢 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘜𝘐 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Typography, spacing, and alignment aren’t fluff - they’re functional. 𝗘𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲: A well-spaced, readable KPI section increases scan speed and comprehension. 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿’𝘀 𝗟𝗮𝘄 – 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱 7 ± 2 𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘆. 𝘠𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘮 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 20+ 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘨𝘦. 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Prioritize. Show what matters first. Use drill-through or navigation to reveal detail. 𝗘𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲: Use a landing page with 3–5 high-value metrics and actions. Design is not just decoration. It’s how users understand your data. It’s what makes insights actionable. And it’s the difference between adoption and abandonment. If users don’t care about report design, it’s probably because they’ve never seen what good design can do. #PowerBI #DataViz #UIUX

🚀 Why Great UI Design Should Be Self-Explanatory "A user interface is like a joke—if you have to explain it, it's not that good." This quote humorously captures a crucial aspect of UI design, but its implications run deep. As designers, our primary goal is to craft interfaces that are not just visually appealing but also intuitive and effortless for users to navigate. Why This Matters: First Impressions Are Everything: The average user spends only a few seconds deciding whether they will engage with an interface or abandon it. A well-designed UI communicates functionality at a glance, reducing cognitive load and increasing user engagement. Intuitive Design Builds Trust: When users can interact with your design seamlessly without confusion or second-guessing, it builds trust. They feel confident in the experience, which translates to higher satisfaction and loyalty. Simplicity is Powerful: In UI design, less is often more. Overloading users with too many options or complex navigation can overwhelm them. Instead, focus on simplicity—prioritize the essential actions, and remove any elements that don't serve a clear purpose. The Role of Consistency: Consistency in design elements (like buttons, fonts, and icons) helps users form a mental model of how the interface works. This predictability allows users to navigate and interact with ease, reducing friction in their experience. Practical Tips for Creating Self-Explanatory UI: Conduct Usability Testing: Regularly test your designs with real users. Observing where they struggle can provide invaluable insights that help you refine the interface to be more intuitive. Leverage Familiar Patterns: Don’t reinvent the wheel unnecessarily. Users are accustomed to certain design patterns and conventions. Leveraging these can make your interface more intuitive. Provide Feedback: Ensure that the UI gives clear feedback after every user interaction. Whether it’s a button click or a form submission, users should instantly know the result of their actions. Empathize with the User: Always put yourself in the user's shoes. Consider their needs, goals, and potential frustrations. This empathy will guide you in designing interfaces that feel natural and easy to use. Remember, a great UI design isn't just about avoiding mistakes—it's about creating an experience so smooth and intuitive that users don’t even notice the design. It’s invisible in its efficiency. For aspiring designers: Mastering this balance between creativity and usability is key to creating interfaces that not only meet user needs but also delight them. Created By: Mumin Wani Follow me for more information: Ali Ahmed JavaScript Mastery W3Schools.com #UXDesign #UIDesign #UserExperience #DesignThinking #MadDots #DesignTips #Usability #InterfaceDesign #CreativeProcess #DesignInsights

"Why cognitive load (not clean code) is what really matters in coding" What truly matters in software development isn't following trendy practices - it's minimizing mental effort for other developers. I've witnessed numerous projects where brilliant developers created sophisticated architectures using cutting-edge patterns and microservices. Yet when new team members attempted modifications, they struggled for weeks just to grasp how components interconnected. This cognitive burden drastically reduced productivity and increased defects. Ironically, many of these complexity-inducing patterns were implemented pursuing "clean code." The essential goal should be reducing unnecessary mental strain. This might mean: - Fewer, deeper modules instead of many shallow ones - Keeping related logic together rather than fragmenting it - Choosing straightforward solutions over clever ones The best code isn't the most elegant - it's what future developers (including yourself) can quickly comprehend. When making architectural decisions or reviewing code, ask: "How much mental effort will others need to understand this?" Focus on minimizing cognitive load to create truly maintainable systems, not just theoretically clean ones. Remember, code is read far more often than written. #programming #softwareengineering #tech

Ever made a regrettable decision simply because you were mentally drained? You’re not alone! Mental #fatigue doesn’t just make us feel drained—it reshapes the way we think, prioritize, and choose. What happens in the brain when we’re mentally worn out? Most of us assume the #brain just runs out of energy, but recent research suggests something different. It found that mental fatigue increases the cost of exerting #CognitiveControl—a brain function that helps us focus, resist distractions, and make thoughtful decisions. In this experiment, participants were asked to perform either challenging or simple mental tasks throughout the day. After each round, they made decisions between easy, low-reward options or harder, high-reward ones. This cycle repeated five times over a 6.25 hour period!! They found: 👉 Initially, both groups made similar choices. But over time, participants doing tougher tasks shifted their preferences to easier, low-reward options. This suggests that cognitive fatigue does not just reduce overall performance but increases the perceived cost of cognitive effort, leading to a shift in preferences towards choices that are less demanding. 👉 At the end of the day, a region of the brain associated with cognitive control called the “lateral prefrontal cortex” showed higher concentrations of the chemical glutamate for the participants doing the mentally demanding task, similar to that seen in chronic stress. This increase makes cognitive control harder to perform and may explain why the participants favoured low-cost, low-reward options later in the day. 👉 The change in glutamate levels was not found in the visual cortex, a brain region involved in the task but not typically associated with cognitive control. This finding suggests that the brain changes are localised to the regions needed for cognitive control rather than a result of overall fatigue or loss of energy. Interestingly, when asked about their fatigue at the end of the day, both groups reported the same levels even though only one group was making poorer decisions. In other words, people’s conscious perception of their mental fatigue was not a good indicator of their ability to make good economic decisions. What does this mean? 👉 Take Breaks. Your brain uses rest to clear waste products including glutamate, so taking breaks can help manage the mental fatigue that impairs cognitive control. 👉 Reduce Cognitive Load. Constant task switching, intense problem solving and even learning new skills can all be cognitively demanding. Try to reduce the demand on your cognitive control system by interspersing less demanding tasks. 👉 Avoid time pressure. If you’ve had a mentally demanding time, give yourself additional time before making important decisions. This research raises big questions: How can workplaces design environments to reduce cognitive fatigue? What could this mean for productivity? What strategies do you use to stay mentally sharp during demanding days?