UX laws

[Hereuare]

Our design team keeps arguing about "UX laws"—some swear by Hick's Law for menus, others insist Fitts' Law makes buttons foolproof. But when we applied Miller's Law to our dashboard, users got more confused. Are these "laws" actually backed by data, or just fancy buzzwords? How do you balance them in real projects without over-engineering?

[oneforest]

UX laws are more like physics principles than rigid rules—they describe human behavior, but context dictates how to apply them. Take Hick's Law: While it's true that more choices increase decision time, this UX law guide shows how exceptions exist. Amazon's mega-menu works because users expect complexity in e-commerce.
Your dashboard likely failed Miller's Law (7±2 items in working memory) because it wasn't paired with progressive disclosure. We redesigned a financial app using:

• Fitts' Law for critical actions (massive "Approve" button 32px from "Reject")

• Jakob's Law for familiarity (used standard bank icons users recognize)

• Tesler's Law to keep complexity (advanced analytics) but tuck it behind clear gates

The key is instrumentation. Tools like Hotjar let you test if "laws" hold true for your users. We, for example, thought the Von Restorff Effect (isolated items stand out) would prioritize our CTA—but heatmaps showed users ignored it because the color clashed with their mental model.