Jakobs Law for UX design
Here’s a quick overview of one important law of UX
Summary
People spend more time on other websites than yours, so they expect your website to work similarly to the rest of the web
Jakob’s Law states that users spend most of their time on other sites. This means that users prefer your site to work the same way as all the other sites they already know.
Example
Despite the fact that we haven’t seen a floppy disk in years, we probably still associate the icon with saving. Floppy disks are out of date, as you might imagine, since some younger people do not even know what they are!
Originally, the floppy disk icon was used as a metaphor for the physical item, but now it’s being used because it’s being used. Although it no longer has the same strong association with a physical floppy disk, the pattern has become familiar to most of us.
It is likely that you have noticed how similar many websites and apps look. When you think of an eCommerce website, you will probably envision something like Amazon. Usually, eCommerce sites use a common design, as users are used to standardised designs, so they will intuitively know how to use your site based on their experiences with other sites.
Patterns are fundamental to Jacob’s Law and the understanding of what your users are already familiar with. It’s not always necessary to reinvent the wheel when designing. Research is always worthwhile because many of the solutions to our problems already exist.
Background
Jakob’s Law was coined by Jakob Nielsen, a User Advocate and principal of the Nielsen Norman Group which he co-founded with Dr. Donald A. Norman (former VP of research at Apple Computer). Dr. Nielsen established the ‘discount usability engineering’ movement for fast and cheap improvements of user interfaces and has invented several usability methods, including heuristic evaluation.
Points to remember
- As users build expectations around familiar products, they will carry them over to another that appears similar.
- We can create superior experiences for our users by leveraging existing mental models, so they can focus on their tasks instead of learning new ones.
- Make sure to minimize discord by giving users the option of continuing to use a familiar version for a limited time after changes.
- Learn about design patterns as they exist for a reason.
- Make sure you research what products your customers might already be using.
Learn more about UX copywriting, Wireframing, Color Theory, Color Terminologies, Typography, UX Research Techniques, Dark Mode UI, Hick’s Law, Fitt’s Law , Type vs font, Teslers law and Usability Principles.
