It’s no secret that the world has welcomed the digital revolution and the wonders it has ushered in for business. But simply creating technology that powers operations isn’t sufficient—software needs to be designed to innovate and push boundaries from all ends. The question is: How can companies create more unique journeys and products in an age where machinery is overshadowing human meaning?
To captivate audiences, many user experience (UX) designers are merging the worlds of design and neuroscience to titillate and touch on the intricacies of the human brain. By taking a closer look at how cognitive functions influence buying journeys, designers can confidently incorporate visual stimuli that prompt users to act. Teams are also able to inject a more personal connection that truly reaches audiences in a more meaningful way—both internally and externally.
This approach plays on the innate humanistic qualities of expression, clarity, focus, attention, and innovation and how businesses can tap into these pillars to unlock exceptional user experiences. Let’s dive in.
The Intersection of Neuroscience and Design
UX design is more than merely creating visually pleasing user interfaces. It’s about deeply knowing how interacting with them can catalyze specific human behaviors on a subconscious level. By drawing on the principles of neuroscience, UX designers can unleash their creative potential in a way that resonates with how users’ brains work—resulting in highly engaging and intuitive experiences.
Understanding Design Responses Through Visual Perception
Visual perception plays a critical role in how users interpret and make sense of visual information around them. From color variations to pattern sequences, the human brain is wired to respond to visual stimuli that evoke emotional reactions and organizational influences. This process also enables people to form a deeper understanding of their environment by recognizing, organizing, and interpreting visual cues and attributes—and informs users’ decision-making, usability, and satisfaction. This particular correlation can be linked to graphical user interfaces (GUIs) because these are exclusively perceived through sight.
To ease interface exploration, designers should also take note of the importance of aesthetics—both visually and functionally. These factors include balance, composition, color, and visual weight. Humans are hardwired for visual input, so first impressions are crucial. Not only does this key consideration enable designers to evoke feelings influenced by brand elements, but also punctuates content that emphasizes messaging in a way users can appreciate.
Evoking Action Through Emotional Design
Emotional design involves intentionally triggering specific emotions, such as joy or fear, by incorporating visual and interactive elements. When it comes to bolstering customer loyalty and boosting client engagement, eliciting positive emotions is the best play. Connecting with people is fundamental when designing interfaces, so ensuring these designs resonate with users emotionally goes a long way in establishing engaging and memorable experiences. A good rule of thumb to remember is that people always think, perceive, and react—either viscerally, behaviorally, or reflectively.
Using specific colors to correspond with associated emotions is a great way to inform such responses. For example, meditation apps may make use of pastel tones, like lilac and baby blue, to incite more calm and relaxed moods. Color is also used to establish visual hierarchies by drawing users’ attention to the most important aspects of the interface. Going beyond this, color also helps to reduce cognitive load by organizing related information together, or differentiating between content.
The Psychology Behind User Behavior
But how is this helpful to the user experience? Simply put, our cognitive systems filter data from the world of stimuli we take in every day. This cognitive load happens involuntarily during every interaction, including when engaging with user interfaces. In UX design, cognitive load refers to the mental exertion required for users to process data, reason, and make decisions when exploring digital interfaces.
Stellar user experiences reduce this load significantly to enable users to expend as little mental energy as possible. To understand how cognitive load influences information processing, it’s important to first get a grasp of its corresponding theories—and how they relate to UX.
Information Store Principle
This theory relates how our brains store innate (primary) and learned (secondary) knowledge, and holds great importance for establishing user experiences. Designers can capitalize on users’ primary knowledge, inherent abilities, and thought patterns to create consistent, intuitive interfaces. This helps to reduce the cognitive load by taking away the need to conceive of new concepts.
At the base of our cognitive processes lies memory and attention, so simplifying interfaces enables designers to better cater to these areas and further minimize mental strain. As part of secondary knowledge, contextual learning positions users to better understand new features through context clues. Similarly, personal preferences elevate user experiences and decrease the load by influencing cognitive processes through familiarity.
Borrowing and Reorganizing Principle
According to the theory, people take in visual data from our external environments and our brains analyze this information through effective organization. This makes information easier to retrieve and process. UX designers can integrate this principle into their approaches by focusing on consistency and uniformity in their layouts. Using familiar elements allows users to leverage their existing knowledge, which lessens the cognitive load. In turn, users are able to take in new information more quickly.
To ease mental strain further, designers should be cognizant of the complexity of information overload. By gradually disclosing information as journeys progress, users can efficiently break down data into more digestible pieces. Creating a step-by-step flow can influence a more seamless experience and lessen cognitive stress.
Conclusion
Integrating neuroscience into user experience design shifts the playing field by empowering audiences with highly intuitive and resonant journeys. From cognitive functions to emotional responses, designers can tap into the innate intricacies of human nature to truly create experiences that people care about. All while captivating and connecting with them on a much deeper level.
By leveraging various neuroscientific principles as part of design strategies, designers can also make buying journeys more comfortable, seamless, and less strenuous. Our brains dictate our every action, therefore, applying these theories enables UX designers to cater to customers in a personalized manner that enriches their experiences as a whole.
