From [[Book - Laws of UX - Using Psychology to Design Better Products and Service]] My Summary: 1. People have preexisting mental models, and human nature to want to stick to the same. 2. Start with a common design, then deviate when there is a specific need and reason. 3. If introduce new designs, users have to spend energy learning the new method, and that distracts them from achieving what they want to do. 4. Not about conforming and no innovation, but about don't anyhow design. --- **Use what has been adopted in the market. People expect similarity** 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. Key Takeaways - Users will transfer expectations they have built around one familiar product to another that appears similar. - By leveraging existing mental models, we can create superior user experiences in which the users can focus on their tasks rather than on learning new models. - When making changes, minimize discord by empowering users to continue using a familiar version for a limited time. # Overview. - Familiarity is important. Reduce cognitive load—no need to re-learn new ways to interact with the system. Reduce friction. - Common design patterns and conventions. # Origins - Jakob Nielsen, 2000 - "described the tendency for users to develop an expectation of design conventions based on their cumulative experience from other websites." - Psychological concept - Mental Models. - What we think we know about a system. - Good design is aligning design as close to users' mental model as possible: through user interviews, personas, journey maps, empathy maps, and more. - Mental Model Discordance - When it doesn't match - Allow user empowerment to switch to new designs if they want. # Technique ### User Personas The frame needs to be based on real users, targeted audience. A common understanding of who this users is - Info - photos, memorable tagline, occupation. Realistic representation - Details - built empathy. - narrative, behavioural habits. goals. - Insights - # Key Consideration ## Sameness - Some are based on design trends and good reasons. - Creating new is appropriate, but certainly need time, and good consideration according to needs and context.