36 • Hick’s Law - Hitchhikers Guide to Design Hick’s Law describes how the time it takes a user to decide increases with the number (and complexity) of choices presented. In UX, it’s a reminder that clut...

Hicks Law: cluttered interfaces and excessive options slow users down.
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/hicks-l...
#UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #DontPanic #UXFails #DesignHumor

35 • Recency Bias - Hitchhikers Guide to Design Recency bias is the tendency for people to weigh the most recent information or experience more heavily than earlier ones, sometimes even disproportionately....

Recency Bias: End strong, that’s what users remember.
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/recency...
#UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #DontPanic #UXFails #DesignHumor

34 • Primacy Bias - Hitchhikers Guide to Design Primacy bias describes how people tend to remember and be influenced more by the first items in a sequence than by those that come later. In UX, it shows up ...

Primacy Bias: First impressions count, design them well.
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/primacy...
#UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #DontPanic #UXFails #DesignHumor

33 • Anchoring Bias - Hitchhikers Guide to Design Anchoring bias happens when people rely too heavily on the first piece of information they see, the “anchor”, when making decisions. In UX, it shows up when ...

Don't rely on the first piece of information you see #AnchoringBias
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/anchori...
#UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #DontPanic #UXFails #DesignHumor

32 • Confirmation Bias - Hitchhikers Guide to Design Confirmation bias is the tendency to favor information that confirms what we already believe, while ignoring or discounting evidence that challenges our assu...

Confirmation Bias: Seek disproof, not just validation
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/confirm...
#bias #UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #DontPanic #UXFails #DesignHumor

31 • Sunk Cost Fallacy - Hitchhikers Guide to Design Sunk cost fallacy is the tendency to keep investing time, effort, or money into something, just because you’ve already invested so much, even when it’s clear...

Sunk cost fallacy: Realize when something just isn't working.
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/sunk-co...
#UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #DontPanic #UXFails #DesignHumor

30 • Broken Windows UX - Hitchhikers Guide to Design Broken Windows UX happens when small, visible flaws in an interface, like typos, misaligned elements, or inconsistent colors, create a perception that the en...

Fix the cracks, users notice the small stuff. #BrokenWindowsUX
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/broken-... #UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #DontPanic #UXFails #DesignHumor

29 • HiPPO - Hitchhikers Guide to Design HiPPO stands for Highest Paid Person’s Opinion. It describes the all-too-common situation where decisions about design, product, or strategy are driven not b...

Are you ruled by the Highest Paid Person’s Opinion? Learn strategies on how to avoid the #HiPPO
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/hippo/
#UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #DontPanic #UXFails #DesignHumor

28 • Canary Release - Hitchhikers Guide to Design A canary release is a deployment strategy where you roll out a new feature or version to a small subset of users first, like sending a canary into a coal min...

Test before you launch, send in the cavalry (eh, canary). #CanaryRelease
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/canary-...
#UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #DontPanic #UXFails #DesignHumor

27 • UX Theater - Hitchhikers Guide to Design UX Theater is when a team goes through the motions of doing user experience work, but without improving the experience. It’s the performance of design thinki...

UX Theater = Design Thinking without impact.
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/ux-thea...
#UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #books #DontPanic #UXFails #DesignHumor #DesignThinking

26 • Design by Committee - Hitchhikers Guide to Design “Design by committee” happens when too many voices get equal weight in the design process, and instead of a clear vision, you end up with a safe, bland compr...

#Design isn't a #UX potluck, avoid #DesignByCommittee
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/design-... #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #ebook #DontPanic #UXFails #DesignHumor

25 • False Consensus Effect - Hitchhikers Guide to Design The false consensus effect is the tendency to assume that others share your opinions, beliefs, and preferences more than they do. In UX research, it shows up...

Remember that not everyone thinks like you. #FalseConsensusEffect
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/false-c...
#UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #ebook #DontPanic #UXFails #DesignHumor

24 • Sad Path - Hitchhikers Guide to Design A sad path is the scenario where something goes wrong in a user’s journey, whether it’s an error, invalid input, unexpected behavior, or a dead end. In UX, d...

Errors happen, design for them #SadPath
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/sad-path/
#UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #ebook #DontPanic #UXFails #DesignHumor

23 • Happy Path - Hitchhikers Guide to Design The happy path refers to the ideal, friction-free journey a user takes through your product when everything works perfectly, no errors, no edge cases, no une...

Design for joy. But don’t ignore the detours along the #HappyPath
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/happy-p...
#UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #ebook #DontPanic #UXFails #DesignHumor

22 • Dogfooding - Hitchhikers Guide to Design Dogfooding is the practice of a company using its own product in real-world conditions, just like its customers would. It’s a way for teams to experience the...

Are you #DogFooding? Get a taste of what your users experience
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/dogfood...
#UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #ebook #DontPanic #UXFails #DesignHumor

21 • Executive Seagull Effect - Hitchhikers Guide to Design The executive seagull effect describes a situation where a senior leader swoops into a design discussion at the last minute, makes loud, disruptive critiques...

Senior leaders fly into your meetings, swooping and pooping over your designs - sound familiar? Learn how to minimize the #ExecutiveSeagullEffect
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/executi... #UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #ebook #DontPanic #UXFails #DesignHumor

20 • A/B Cemetery - Hitchhikers Guide to Design The A/B Cemetery is where all those countless tests go to die, forgotten, undocumented, and often unreconciled with product strategy. It’s what happens when ...

Don’t let your #ABtests rest in peace.
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/ab-ceme...
#UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #ebook #DontPanic #UXFails #DesignHumor

19 • Wizard of Oz Testing - Hitchhikers Guide to Design Wizard of Oz testing is a research method where users interact with what they believe is a fully functioning product or system, but behind the scenes, a huma...

#WizardOfOzTesting is a clever way to test ideas quickly without having to build full functionality yet.
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/wizard-...
#UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #DontPanic #UXFails #DesignHumor

18 • Pogo Sticking - Hitchhikers Guide to Design Pogo sticking describes the frustrating user behavior of repeatedly jumping back and forth between a main page and individual items in a list, like bouncing ...

Don't force users to unnecessarily bounce back and forth to complete a task. Learn more about #PogoSticking here:
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/18-pogo...
#DesignHumor #UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #DontPanic #UXFails

17 • Whack-a-Mole - Hitchhikers Guide to Design Whack-a-Mole describes a frustrating pattern where fixing one usability problem seems to create another, often in a different part of the system. It’s what h...

Are you a #Whack-A-Mole designer? Fixing one #usability problem seems to create another elsewhere?
#DesignHumor #UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #DontPanic #UXFails
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/whack-a...

16 • Design Debt - Hitchhikers Guide to Design Design debt is the accumulation of shortcuts, inconsistencies, and outdated patterns in a product’s user experience over time. Like financial debt, it lets y...

Learn how to manage and pay down your Design Debt.
#DesignDebt #DesignHumor #UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #DontPanic #UXFails
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/design-...

15 • Paving the Cow Path - Hitchhikers Guide to Design Paving the cow path happens when you formalize and reinforce an existing user behavior or process, rather than designing a completely new one. In UX, it mean...

What's the origin of #PavingTheCowPath and how can it help you become a better UX Designer? Read on..
#DesignHumor #UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #DontPanic #UXFails
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/paving-...

14 • Sandbagging - Hitchhikers Guide to Design Sandbagging describes the practice of deliberately lowering expectations or under-promising on what a design, feature, or team can deliver, only to exceed th...

#Sandbagging: the art of promising less, delivering more… and pretending it was hard.
#DesignHumor #UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #DontPanic #UXFails
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/sandbag...

13 • Rubber Ducking - Hitchhikers Guide to Design Rubber ducking is the practice of explaining a problem aloud, often to someone (or something) else, to clarify your own thinking and arrive at a solution. In...

We all love our rubber ducky, but why actually? Read about the origins of #RubberDucking
#UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #humor #DontPanic #UXFails
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/rubber-...

12 • Bike Shedding - Hitchhikers Guide to Design Bike shedding refers to the tendency of teams to spend disproportionate more time and energy debating trivial or easy-to-understand aspects of a project, whi...

Maximum energy on minimum impact, are you #BikeShedding again?
#UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #humor #DontPanic #UXFails
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/bike-sh...

11 • Yak Shaving - Hitchhikers Guide to Design Yak shaving describes the endless, sometimes absurd chain of small, unexpected tasks that you end up doing when trying to complete a bigger goal. In UX work,...

When you just wanted to fix a button but ended up creating new design system... classic #YakShaving
#UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #humor #DontPanic #UXFails
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/yak-sha...

10 • Uncanny Valley - Hitchhikers Guide to Design The “uncanny valley” is that unsettling gap between almost human and human. In UX and product design, it’s the moment when something looks realistic enough t...

Uncanny Valley: because nothing says ‘trust me’ like a button that blinks back at you.
#UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #humor #DontPanic #UXFails #UncannyValley
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/uncanny...

09 • Dark Forest UX - Hitchhikers Guide to Design Dark Forest UX describes a user experience that feels inscrutable, unpredictable, or even threatening, much like wandering through a dark forest. For users, ...

Dark Forest UX = users don’t complain… because they’ve already left.
#DarkForestUX #UX #Design #UI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignThinking #books #humor #DontPanic #UXFails
hitchhikersguidetodesign.com/book/dark-fo...

UX should be easy by now. So why isn’t it? Tales of Design & User Experience (ToDUX) #17

🤬 UX should be easy by now. So why isn’t it?

Read about three bad UX stories from just one week that brought me close to a complete meltdown, & what I think the reasons might be.

And, as always, some UX gems & new tools for our UX toolbox.

open.substack.com/pub/todux/p/...

#UX #UXfails

When the client spots a bug 10 mins before launch and you’re already emotionally checked out: “That’s not a bug. It’s an undocumented feature.”

#WebDesign #AgencyLife #ClientWork #UXFails #WebDevHumour #feckingcreative