how to design interfaces for choice
DESCRIPTION
Guidelines to improve the choice in menus, catalogs and interfaces in general. Talk at UDC Seminar 2013, Classification & Visualization. + Audio: http://www.udcds.com/seminar/2013/media/audio/lrosati_udcseminar2013.mp3 + Paper: http://pervasiveia.com/blog/how-to-design-for-choiceTRANSCRIPT
How to design interfaces for choice Hick-Hyman law and classificationLuca Rosati ⋅ @lucarosati
I want a pair of jeans,
32-28.Do you want them
slim fit, easy fit, relaxed fit, baggy, or extra baggy?
Stonewashed, acid-washed, or distressed? Bottom-fly or
zipper-fly? Faded or regular?
Hick-Hyman law
N. of options
Tim
e T = a + b log2 (n + 1)
linear
sub-linear
“La fuga” by Donnafugata!
A great red for a green pepper
fillet.
I choose 1 time from a 8 items menu:
a + b log2 8 = a + 3b
I choose 2 times from a 4 items menu:
2(a + b log2 4) = 2a + 4b
a + 3b < 2a + 4b
In other words...information overload & paradox of choice
are more a quality issue (how options
are presented) than a quantity issue (n. of information)
Hick-Hyman law and classification
The sequence of the classes in an array should be helpful to the purpose of those for whom it is intended– Ranganathan
Strategies to reduce the paradox of choice
1. Split
2. Customize
3. Info scent
Let’s recap
the paradox of choice is linked to the
consistency issue of a classification
wide structures work better than deep ones – but if and only if consistency is on
otherwise split, customize or provide information scent
This work is the prosecution of a research conducted with Andrea Resmini, published in some papers and merged in the book Pervasive Information Architecture.
Credits
How to design interfaces for choice Hick-Hyman law and classificationLuca Rosati ⋅ @lucarosati