Designing for the Wrong User
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Most UX design optimizes for calm, unhurried users — but stress is a condition of use, not an edge case. Drawing on perceptual narrowing, Hick's Law, the Yerkes-Dodson curve, and Miller's working memory limits, the author argues interfaces should adapt to elevated stress states by contracting: desaturating non-essential elements, reducing opacity of secondary content, removing optional items, and using modals to isolate tasks. The insight comes from field research with Australian police officers, who behaved as entirely different users depending on whether they were at a desk or mid-incident. Six concrete techniques are offered for progressively narrowing interface focus as cognitive load rises.
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f22 — everything in focusTwo officers, one screenf2.8 — the aperture shiftsWhat we don’t design forGet Hal’s stories in your inboxPractical methods to shift between different stresses8.3K Impressions1 Comment