Origin and meaning

American psychologists Edmund Hick and Ray Hyman discovered that cognitive load and thus decision-making time increase logarithmically with the number of options. A large number of options can cause people to experience "choice paralysis", which prevents them from taking any action at all. It is therefore advisable to limit the available options to a manageable number, or at least to visually organize them into groups and categories.

In terms of its message, it is very similar to the Paradox of Choice.

 

Hicks's Law states that the greater the range of options, the more time and effort a person needs to make a choice.

Decision-making becomes more difficult the more options are available. Contentment also decreases if people have to deal with too many options.

 

Practical application in UX and UI design

For example, if someone wants to buy a T-Shirt in an online store, three filters, for example for size, color and style, can be very useful. Ten different filters, on the other hand, overwhelm most users.

The number of menu items, auto-suggestions or search hits should also be limited to the bare minimum. Studies show that most searchers rarely look at more than a dozen hits or suggestions, and often only the first three to five items.

Impact on the User Experience

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Further information