The time it takes to make a decision increases with the number and complexity of choices.
Hick’s Law describes the relationship between the number of stimuli (or choices) presented and an individual’s reaction time to any given stimulus. As the number of choices increases, the decision time also increases, often logarithmically.
Background
Proposed by British psychologists William Edmund Hick and Ray Hyman in the 1950s, this law is crucial in understanding decision-making processes, especially in user interface design where too many choices can lead to decision paralysis.
Hicks Law Design Example
Consider a navigation menu on a website. If a menu has too many options, users might feel overwhelmed and take longer to make a selection. This is why many effective websites use dropdown menus or group related items to simplify choices.
Design takeaways
- Simplify Choices: Reduce the number of options or group related ones together.
- Prioritise Important Actions: Highlight or emphasise primary actions to guide users.
- Use Progressive Disclosure: Reveal information progressively rather than overwhelming users with too much at once.
- Test with Real Users: Understand how users make decisions on your platform and optimise accordingly.
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