Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Course
Date
COGNITIVE PHYSIOLOGY FOR USER EXPERIENCE (UX)
Website chosen: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/
- The principle of consistency in User Experience (UX) design
In web designs, consistency is a principle concerned with the integration of the websites’ visual elements and their corresponding function. Consistency in UX experience enhances the coherence of the website’s elements like headers and navigation bars. Consistency in UX design enhances the user interface to match the user’s experiences and expectations. It also helps meet the user’s assumptions on the website, which helps create a sense of control, familiarity and makes the website seem more reliable for the user and gives users a more positive and professional experience on the website.
United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (2020).
The above screenshot above depicts consistency in the United Nation’s website. The principle of consistency is well applied, with headers and footers well highlighted, and in a consistent manner. Besides, under every visual element, there are explanations to provide extra information, as the users expect, prior to their experiences. The consistency depicted in the website enhances its orientation and increases users’ experience. Besides, the consistency depicted in the alignment of visual elements in the website helps the user to access information much easier, as expected. For instance, by clicking onto the visual aids, more information is provided, which increases user satisfaction, and makes the website user feel more familiar with the website, which increases their satisfaction. In addition, in the above screenshot, consistency is applied in the design and layout. The layout allows more convenient interaction between the user and the website, directing the user where to find which information in the website. The choice of visual elements in the website depicts consistency, as expected by the user. Being a United Nation’s website, the user expects humanitarian visual aids, which are consistent in the entire website.
- The principle of stimulus Vs. Noise
In UX design, the principle of stimulus Vs. Noise entails the correlation between the visual aids used in the website and their effectiveness in conveying the intended message. In UX design, the stimulus is the graphic or the particular websites’ element used to catch the user’s attention to the website. Once attentive, the website user can then see the intended message conveyed in the website. On the other hand, Noise refers to the background elements in the website meant to help the element convey message. It is usually every other thing in the website, apart from the message being conveyed. In UX design, increased Noise enhances the websites’ appeal, increases user familiarity with the website, and helps essential elements stand out on the website. However, Noise should not suppress the intended message to be communicated.
United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (2020).
In the above screenshot, the bare land in the background is the Noise on the website. It helps bring out the central message on a website. Besides, it should match the user’s experience and expectations, and it should not be too powerful than the intended message. Through Noise, website users gain an in-depth understanding of the message conveyed and can distinguish important information from less-important information on the website. On the website, Noise Vs. Stimulus principle is well applied. There is minimal Noise to distract information conveyance. Besides, the color correlation helps reduce the Noise and keep the website predictable for the users. The grey-noise is used to bring out the aspect of drought and poverty, which effectively corresponds with the main message on the website.
- The principle of Avoid miss $ false alarm.
UX design entails designing websites prior to the user’s experience. Miss and false alarm in website design occur when a user visits a website that seems appealing and user-friendly but then identifies many missing links on the website, like confusing navigation bar, lack of search option, and confusing tones on the website. Therefore, a miss and false alarm occurs when a website user identifies a website, which seems legit, but turns out to be disappointing, where the user does not get/identify the intended message in the website. False alarm in web designs means that whatever the user is looking for is missing from the website.
United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (2020).
In the above screenshot, the principle of miss and false alarm has been applied inappropriately because the image contradicts the underlying message on the website. To avoid the “miss $ false alarm” in website designs, the visual aids should align with the website’s intended message. For instance, in the above screenshot, the intended message is water conservation, highlighting that 40% of the world’s population faces water scarcity. Yet, the visual element shows a picture of a person carrying water and walking along a water-logged stream, which does not indicate water scarcity. The principle would have been well applied if the image illustrated people fighting for scarce water, or adverse implications of drought and water scarcity. In the above scenario, the stimuli are there, but the alarm is false and does not meet the user’s expectations and past experiences.
- The principle of visual system
In UX web design, the principle of visual system is concerned with the alignment of visual elements in the website, and how they impact the user’s experience. Effective visual systemization in UX design entails an effective integration of the website’s visual elements through color, transition, and other specifications to meet the users’ expectations and past experiences. For instance, a faster and irrevocable image transition in the website may not give the user ample time to review all the information on the website, as more content keeps popping up. Besides, an effective visual system in a web design determines the user’s attention and effectiveness of the message communicated. In designing visual systems for UX designs, designers should focus on the central message being more conspicuous, and the first place the user’s eyes lands upon visiting the website.
United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (2020).
`The principle of visual systems on the website is appropriately applied. Upon clicking on a particular visual element from the website, it flips, showing more information about the image and the website. Furthermore, the visual aids are not too clogged, neither too distant from each other. The slow transition helps the user view one visual element at a time, and does not provide too many transitions at a time, which can be confusing to the user. The appropriate alignment of the visual aids helps the user of the website locate the specific information they are looking for from the website. In addition, colors are well used to bring out the desired user experience prior to their expectations. For instance, green color is used to indicate climate, while blue is used to illustrate aquatic life on the website. These visual aids help web users easily locate the information they’re looking for.
- The principle of the availability heuristic
Availability heuristic has been appropriately applied to the website. The heuristic availability happens whereby, when a user visits a website, and views its content, immediate mental pictures are created in the user’s mind, based on their expectations and prior experiences. The aspect if heuristic availability is well utilized in UX design if the user can relate the visual aids with real-life experiences, and make real-life examples from the latter. In UX design, heuristic availability can be achieved by using visual aids familiar to the users. Upon seeing these, users can draw conclusions quickly, like where to find particular information on the website.
United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (2020).
From the above website screenshot, when the user sees the visual aids, they can quickly make the corresponding conclusions based on the information they wanted from the website. For instance, by seeing “DONATE WHAT YOU DON’T USE” on the website, the user is certain where to visit if they want to donate or find out about partners involved in the website. The use of availability heuristic increases a positive user experience if the user can conclude and find familiarity in the website. The presence of availability heuristic helps users find out more information from the website, as the familiar visual aids used helps them remember other information they might be interested in, but is not displayed on the website.
- The principle of framing effect
In UX web design, framing effect entails creating web content in a manner that influences the website users on how to interpret the message conveyed. Hereby, web developers create website content to make users make decisions based on how the matter is presented, and not how it should be. Hereby, designers aim at creating a user-defined website, where the elements are understandable to the web user, and make more sense to the user in the way they are made to appear on the website, rather than how they should look like. The principle helps web users feel more comfortable using user-defined websites, with elements that increase their gain on visiting the website. In framing, the content on the website should be made to meet the user’s expectations, and the message should be designed in a user-oriented way
United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (2020).
In the above screenshot, the principle of framing has not been well applied to the website. The principle of framing effect should be made to influence website users’ to feel that the content in the website is based on positive motives, and adds to their advantage. In the website, the visual element “FUND PROJECTS THAT PROVIDE BASIC INFRACTRUCTURE” the image does not seem to add any gain to the users of the website. The image should depict a poor-infrastructure being funded, and not a good infrastructure projects, which seems to raise questions of credibility of the website among the users. To increase the framing effect in websites, use the normal and ordinary visuals, which users expect, and can easily correlate. Furthermore, in wording effect, the words used should complement the visual aids, and should aim at increasing users’ positive experience in their interaction with the website.
- The principle of balanced choices
In web designs, website users visit the website for particular specific information, and if they miss out on the desired information, then the website is faulty or of no significance to them. To increase positive user experience, UX designs adopt choices when designing websites. Users can find alternative information with choices if they miss out on whatever information they were looking at from the website. To increase user positive experience and satisfaction, websites should offer choices for alternatives. Besides, the choices should be different to increase user satisfaction and bring out the framing effect on the website, which is meant to add gain to the website’s user. However, too many choices confuse the user and make them feel like the website is not authentic. Balancing choices in UX designs are made by arranging visual elements on the website in a manner that creates harmony with the other elements of the website.
United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (2020).
The screenshot above shows unbalanced choices on a website. In websites, elements should be balanced to aid in giving users a better understanding of the website, and offer an increased positive interaction experience. With unbalanced visual aids in terms of color correlation, and color texture and resolution, the user will be attracted to different parts of the website and will encounter challenges in directing their attention on one central aspect of the website. From the above website, balance can be achieved by grouping visual elements with a similar message together. For instance, the images with environmental-based information can be grouped together, signified by green color. This way, if the user wants environmental information from the website, they know where to find the website’s information, without deviating their attention.
- The principle of sensory memory
In UX design, the principle of sensory memory entails designing graphic elements in a website to create along-lasting visual memory, and which is easy to synthesize, only by looking at few elements on the website. Under this principle, website users do not need to read everything on the website to understand what is presented in the latter. In UX design, the principle of sensory memory is used to trigger website users into seeing other elements they did not expect on the website. Such attributes like form, color, movement, and special positioning of elements in a website are used to trigger website visitors into seeing other elements on the website.
United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (2020).
Sensory memory should also include using graphics with a long-lasting mental image of the conveyed message. If the image used a picture of starved and malnutrition people, it would have a long-lasting sensory memory in the user’s mind. To achieve sensory memory in UX design, websites should contain strong visual aids to convey strong messages. Images of starved people in the United Nation’s website would send a strong message to the website users and will have long-term implications among the website users. Through chunking, UX designs create websites with long-term sensory memories. For instance, in the above website, images of starved people and others being fed in refugee camps would help the website users easily coordinate the information conveyed, and have a long-term memory of the latter. In UX design, chunking refers to the grouping of similar website elements together to improve the retention of short-term memory, so that users can remember one element, by looking at another element in the website.
- The principle of pseudoneglect
In XU design, the principle of pseudoneglect purports that many website users tend to focus more on what is on the left side of the website, and may ignore the content on other parts of the website, like footers and headers. Due to ineffective spacing, balancing, and placing of visual elements within a website, many web users focus on what is visible and less confusing, which is mostly placed on the left side of the website. Website creators use the pseudoneglect approach to include the missing elements in the website, and the essential aspects, which the user might want to view, but will be neglected if placed inside the website, where other conspicuous visual elements will suppress it. For instance, on a website with many faster transitions, positioning the contact information at the center of the website may not be appropriate for the user, but if placed on the left, users will easily trace them.
United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (2020).
In the above screenshot, from the United Nations website, the pseudoneglect principle has not been appropriately applied. Instead of including vital information on the website’s left-hand side, where the users will see it, the website repeats the visual images of the discussed message on the entire website. Website users are more likely to see elements on the left-hand side, more than on the right-hand side of the website. The principle was not well applied because the website did not include more information on the latter. This could be improved by including the websites’ reviews on the topic on the left-hand side of the website. This will not only increase user experience, but also offers an extra level of interaction among the website users, and prompts users to see other aspects of the website they did not expect.
- The policy of the endowment effect
In UX design, the endowment policy entails the idea of increasing the user’s level of interaction and attention on the website by increasing their interest on the website by creating user-defined website content. Web designers use this principle to capture users’ attention and improve their positive experience on the website by offering such services like free trials or guaranteeing them money. This approach is used to make users find value in a website, more than they find value in other websites, by increasing user satisfaction and enhancing their positive experience. Mostly, the endowment effect is used in websites to stress on the significant elements highlighted on the website.
United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (2020).
The above screenshot shows the United Nation’s website endowment policy. The principle was not well applied because the call of action is quite formal and not attention-seeking. The websites’ endowment policy can be improved by including a more captivating and user-engaging activities. In addition, the endowment plan should be designed to increase users’ interaction time with the website, to create a long-lasting sensory memory, and help them discover other elements of the website they did not expect or see at first.
Works Cited
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/