Laws & Patterns
UX Law

Cognitive Load

Minimize mental effort to enhance user engagement and comprehension.

Definition

Cognitive Load refers to the total amount of mental effort being used in the working memory. In the context of user interface design, cognitive load is the amount of brain power required to use the product. The less cognitive load, the easier the product is to use.

Do

  • Make interfaces simple and intuitive
  • Group related items together to benefit from chunking
  • Use progressive disclosure to hide complexity

Avoid

  • Overload the user with too much information at once
  • Make the user remember information from one part of the interface to another
  • Use inconsistent UI elements which require learning new interactions

When to apply

  • Designing complex systems or tools
  • When a lot of information needs to be processed
  • When the user needs to learn a new system

Related topics

cognitive-loadusabilitymemoryinformation-processinguser-interface

Similar principles

Cognitive Bias

Chunking

Divide and conquer information overload by grouping related data into smaller, digestible chunks.

Cognitive Bias

Method of Loci

Improve user recall and learning retention by associating information with specific locations.

UX Law

Miller's Rule

People can only hold 7±2 items in working memory

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