UX Laws & Principles
UX laws and principles are research-backed guidelines derived from psychology, cognitive science, and decades of user research. Heurilens evaluates your website against these fundamental laws to ensure your design aligns with how users naturally think and behave.
Core UX Laws Analyzed by Heurilens
Fitts's Law
The time required to move to a target area is a function of the distance to the target divided by the size of the target. In simpler terms: larger, closer buttons are faster and easier to click.
How Heurilens Evaluates: We analyze button sizes, touch target dimensions (especially for mobile), spacing between interactive elements, and placement of primary actions. We ensure your most important buttons are appropriately sized and positioned for easy access.
Hick's Law
The time it takes to make a decision increases with the number and complexity of choices. More options = longer decision time and potential decision paralysis.
How Heurilens Evaluates: We examine your navigation menus, forms, product listings, and filter options. We identify where you might be overwhelming users with too many choices and suggest ways to simplify decision-making through categorization, progressive disclosure, or recommended defaults.
Miller's Law
The average person can hold only 7 (±2) items in their working memory. This principle guides information chunking and organization.
How Heurilens Evaluates: We check if your navigation has too many top-level items, if forms are broken into manageable steps, and if content is chunked appropriately. We recommend grouping related items and using progressive disclosure to prevent cognitive overload.
Jakob's Law
Users spend most of their time on other sites, so they prefer your site to work the same way as all the other sites they already know.
How Heurilens Evaluates: We assess whether your site follows web conventions: logo in top-left linking to homepage, search in top-right, hamburger menu for mobile, shopping cart icon for e-commerce, etc. Deviating from these patterns creates friction.
Law of Proximity
Objects that are near or proximate to each other tend to be grouped together. This Gestalt principle helps users understand relationships between elements.
How Heurilens Evaluates: We analyze spacing and grouping in your layout. Are related items visually connected? Is there enough white space between unrelated sections? Proper use of proximity improves scanability and comprehension.
Law of Common Region
Elements within a common boundary or region are perceived as belonging together.
How Heurilens Evaluates: We check if you're using containers, cards, or background colors effectively to group related content. Visual boundaries help users quickly understand what information belongs together.
Serial Position Effect
Users best remember the first and last items in a series. This includes the Primacy Effect (first items) and Recency Effect (last items).
How Heurilens Evaluates: We analyze the placement of key actions and information. Are your most important features or calls-to-action positioned at the beginning or end of lists and pages where they'll be most memorable?
Von Restorff Effect (Isolation Effect)
When multiple similar objects are present, the one that differs from the rest is most likely to be remembered.
How Heurilens Evaluates: We check if your primary calls-to-action stand out visually through color, size, or placement. Important elements should break the pattern to grab attention.
Zeigarnik Effect
People remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks. Progress indicators leverage this effect.
How Heurilens Evaluates: We look for progress indicators in multi-step processes (checkout, onboarding, forms). Showing progress motivates completion and reduces abandonment.
Aesthetic-Usability Effect
Users often perceive aesthetically pleasing design as more usable, even if it isn't objectively more functional.
How Heurilens Evaluates: We assess visual polish, typography quality, color harmony, and overall design sophistication. Good aesthetics build trust and perceived ease-of-use.
Why UX Laws Matter
These laws aren't arbitrary rules—they're based on how human cognition, perception, and behavior work. Designing with these principles:
- Reduces cognitive load: Users don't have to think as hard
- Increases efficiency: Tasks are completed faster with fewer errors
- Improves satisfaction: Interfaces feel intuitive and natural
- Boosts conversions: Easier paths to action mean more completions
- Builds trust: Familiar patterns create confidence
Analyze Your Site Against UX Laws
See how well your website aligns with these fundamental UX principles. Heurilens provides specific scores for each law with actionable recommendations.
Get Started: www.heurilens.com
Contact: info@heurilens.com