Cognitive behaviour — how UX designers make use of it in design
As a Designer, it is important to know our user. To know our user better we conduct user research. In the process of user research we study user’s behaviour and attitude using various observation techniques. Observation and listening skills are very important to a designer just like its important to a doctor to diagnose a patient. The book “Power of habits” showcases many examples of how habits can transform people. The key to a good design is to observe and understand what the user wants so that we can build an habit with the application that we design.
Logout — A simple use case
While Login is the main Call to action in many applications, we seldom think about how to handle logout. So how is understanding about Cognitive Behaviour will help us design a logout button? Does a simple button need so much observation and understanding? Let’s look at some examples.
From the above examples we can see that most of the apps place the logout button in a hidden way. It is definitely not a three click process.
So Why is this?
We do not want users to stop using our app. Logout is a feature in every application that ends the session of the user. Only when we make the logout button hard to find, the user gets frustrated and still continues to use our application. In this case, the user frustration is a good emotion to use for our gain. This also improves user activity and usage of our applications.
The main motto of most applications is to get as many users to sign up and login to their apps. So logout is a use case that must be hidden or difficult to be reached by a user.
How do we do this?
So how did designers identify this? Answer. As designers we learn everyday as we test our apps with users across the globe. Each user is a valuable asset and provides us new information in their behaviour. We group these behaviours with certain pattern (identifying their habits) and change the way a certain feature is placed in a product. This is why Instagram and many applications that we use constantly change features and bring out new features and see the way people react to it. Habit is a cognitive behaviour. So when users build a habit with our application we need to observe what is the cue that lets them reach for the application and also how they use our application (routine), finally what is the reward that must be given to them so that it motivates them to follow the habit religiously.
Conclusion
To explain it in simple terms, Login is like welcoming a guest to your home, we should never explicitly show them the way out. Hence logout buttons must be always placed in such a way that its hard for them to reach it.The evolution of one small feature comes from numerous user research and testing. Observing the behaviour of the users and empathising with their emotions to a certain feature or application, help us continually improve the way we deliver our designs.
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/security-and-human-factors/
