UX Laws & Principles
Research-backed UX laws, principles, and methods connected to real insights
Aesthetic-Usability Effect
Users often perceive aesthetically pleasing design as design that’s more usable. ### Aesthetics An aesthetically pleasing design creates a positive response in people’s brains and leads them to believe the design actually works better than other, equally usable, (but less visually appealing) designs. ### Tolerance People are more tolerant of minor usability issues when the design of a product or service is aesthetically pleasing. ### Usability problems Visually pleasing design can mask usability problems and prevent issues from being discovered during usability testing.
Law of Closure
People tend to perceive incomplete shapes or forms as complete by filling in the gaps with their mind.
Law of Common Region
Elements tend to be perceived into groups if they are sharing an area with a clearly defined boundary. ### Structure and relationship Common region creates a clear structure and helps users quickly and effectively understand the relationship between elements and sections. ### Borders Adding a border around an element or group of elements is an easy way to create common region. ### Backgrounds Common region can also be created by defining a background behind an element or group of elements.
Law of Continuity
Elements arranged in a line or curve are perceived as more related than elements not on the line or curve. The eye tends to follow smooth, continuous paths.
Law of Proximity
Objects that are near to, or proximate to each other, tend to be grouped together. ## Relationship Proximity helps to establish a relationship with nearby objects. ## Perception Elements in close proximity are perceived to share similar functionality or traits. ## Organizing information Proximity helps users understand and organize information faster and more efficiently.
Law of Prägnanz
People will perceive and interpret ambiguous or complex images as the simplest form possible, because it is the interpretation that requires the least cognitive effort. ### Simplicity and order The human eye likes to find simplicity and order in complex shapes because it prevents us from becoming overwhelmed with information. ### Visual processing Research confirms that people are better able to visually process and remember simple figures than complex figures. ### Unified shape The human eye simplifies complex shapes by transforming them into a single, unified shape.
Law of Similarity
Elements that share similar visual characteristics (color, shape, size, etc.) are perceived as related and grouped together.
Law of Uniform Connectedness
Elements that are visually connected (through lines, colors, shapes, or other visual links) are perceived as more related than elements that are not connected.
Von Restorff Effect
Items that stand out from their surroundings are more likely to be remembered than items that blend in. Also known as the Isolation Effect.
About UX Laws
UX Laws connect theoretical principles with real research insights. Each law is linked to supporting research findings from usability studies, helping you make evidence-based design decisions.