Cognitive Design Process

Have been Researching a lot about the same!

In my understanding to make the Design Approach based on Brain Mapping shall involve following steps :

The Basic Product Approach : Understanding Objectives/Problem Statement -> Basic Primary & Secondary Research -> Identification of User Persona -> Possible Solutions & Recommendations of Features + Design Suggestions (Pls note, this is not final closed roadmap but a prospective list)

Now before the Design Process (Wireframing + UI) Starts, the Brain Mapping Process with what we are looking at stimulants keeping an ideal User Journey in mind needs to be finalised. This will act as TRAINING module.

The same stimuli & mapping process shall be put to TESTING during the initial Rollout/CUG Processes and ultimately into Final Launch + Optimization. To perfect this Design Process & remove the uncertainty + subjectivity, one can make use of this Scientific Cognitive Design Process!

In my experience starting from Cryptography, Multimedia Processing, Psychology, Machine Learning Data Science, Neural Science, Statistics, Design/Creativity, will play an equivalent role in perfecting it. This is the beauty of today's & future technology - expertise of one will not help but an equivalent balance of different sciences with rightful weightage will help.

It is also important to note that these stimuli will not remain the same during the Product Rollouts - as the objective, market scenario, regulations change there will be change in the Brain Mapping Process for the same.

One can use the Cognitive Behavioural Scientific Approach for :

1. Color Selection
2. Positioning of feature icons
3. Information Architecture
4. Font, Topography, Theme, Language
5. No. of Information asked
6. Page Loading Time
7. Time/Steps taken to complete the journey
8. Scanning Method
9. Problem Solving + Decision Making
10. Memory Processing

Some of the Laws/Principles which are repeatedly used :

• Hick's Law : The law states that the more options users are exposed to, the longer it takes them to make a decision
• Gestalt Psychology : This psychological theory is almost 100-year-old but it hasn’t lost its actuality. The word “gestalt” means “unified whole” so the theory explores users’ visual perception of elements in relation to each other. In other words, it shows how people tend to unify the visual elements into groups using Similarity, Continuation, Closeness/ Proximity, Closure/Completeness.
• Fitt's Law : “It is easier and faster to hit larger target closer to you than smaller target further from you” for Prioritisation. So make your CTA Obvious to click :)
• Cognitive Load Theory: Cognitive load is the amount of energy used by brain while performing any task or the amount of mental resources that is required to operate the system. How to reduce Load : https://medium.com/dsgnrs/cognitive-psychology-in-ux-scarcity-of-getting-attention-cc0465ebc54d
• Miller’s Law : “An average person can hold 7 (+/- 2) numbers of items in their working memory”. So follow your information architecture accordingly.
• Cognitive Processing Theory : Visceral (Impulsive), Behavioural (reaction based knowing, understanding on daily basis), Reflective
• Pop Out/ Contrast Effect : It is always noticed more so use it cleverly.
• Focal Point Effect : Use Sharpness & Blurring to focus on what you want.
• Principle of Common Region : Objects close to each other are considered as a group. When we add borders, we create a visible barrier between groups.
• Principle of Figure and Ground : Human eyes usually separate objects from their background — it seems so obvious, that we didn’t think about it very often. However, with this principle in mind, we can guide users and suggest them which part of the design should they focus on.
• Jacob's Law : users spend most of their time on other sites, and they prefer your site to work the same way as all the other sites they already know
• Doherty Threshold : Productivity soars when a computer and its users interact at a pace (<400ms) that ensures that neither has to wait on the other.
• Aesthetic Usability Effect : Users often perceive aesthetically pleasing design as design that’s more usable.
• Law of Pragnanz : 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 of us.
• Occam's Razor : Among competing hypotheses that predict equally well, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected.
• Pareto Principle : The Pareto principle states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.
• Parkinson's Law : Any task will inflate until all of the available time is spent.
• Postel's Law : Be liberal in what you accept, and conservative in what you send.
• Serial Position Effect : Users have a propensity to best remember the first and last items in a series.
• Tesler's Law : Tesler's Law, also known as The Law of Conservation of Complexity, states that for any system there is a certain amount of complexity which cannot be reduced.
• The Von Restorff effect : also known as The Isolation Effect, predicts that when multiple similar objects are present, the one that differs from the rest is most likely to be remembered.
• Zeigarnik Effect : People remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks.

To do the same, companies need to invest in :

• A Fully Functioning Design Lab where processes, data are appreciated as much as creativity
• To back all creative calls & gut instinct, intuitive calls by proper historical data & AB Testing Results
• To have clearly defined + agreed objectives/metrics to be driven by your product

As a mature Design approach, below are few relevant articles I have found - will try and collate the key points in due time :

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases
• https://betterhumans.coach.me/cognitive-bias-cheat-sheet-55a472476b18
• https://medium.muz.li/human-cognition-and-its-effect-on-design-ed23cfff7f18
• https://tubikstudio.com/psychology-in-design-principles-helping-to-understand-users/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_interface
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_architecture
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayesian_inference
• https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/are-brains-bayesian/
• http://www.rh.gatech.edu/news/600029/wwii-code-breaking-techniques-inspire-interpretation-brain-data

A few books are :

1. The Design of Everyday Things
2. Psychology of Design
3. Influence
4. Hooked
5. Power of Habit

Happy Exploring & Building Measurable Models for your specific Problem Statement.