---
title: "Designing for the Wrong User"
url: https://daily.dev/posts/designing-for-the-wrong-user-wchgrzdj8
source_url: https://uxplanet.org/designing-for-the-wrong-user-33178f5cb5b8
type: article
source: "UX Planet"
published: 2026-06-28T15:15:40.063Z
updated: 2026-06-28T15:16:05.782Z
tags: ["startup", "ux", "accessibility"]
reading_time: 8
upvotes: 6
comments: 1
language: en
---

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# Designing for the Wrong User

**[UX Planet](https://daily.dev/sources/uxplanet)** · 8 min read · 6 upvotes · 1 comments

## Summary

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.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://uxplanet.org/designing-for-the-wrong-user-33178f5cb5b8>

## Community discussion

Top comments from developers on daily.dev.

**@thomaswolgast** · 0 upvotes

> Amazing article! Never thought about this

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---

Tags: [#startup](https://daily.dev/tags/startup), [#ux](https://daily.dev/tags/ux), [#accessibility](https://daily.dev/tags/accessibility)

[View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/designing-for-the-wrong-user-wchgrzdj8)