Skip to content
UX Atlas

Design decisions,
connected.

485 cross-linked entries on why interfaces work and what the evidence actually says.

Search the Atlas
Hick's LawLaw · Decision making

Three ways in

Design decisions, connected. Look something up, explore the shelves, or start from the thing in front of you.

  1. 01

    Search

    What are you looking for?

    Titles, alternative names, tags and the body of every entry. Near misses resolve, and a description of the problem works as well as the name of the concept.

    Search the Atlas

  2. 02

    Browse

    Explore UX, UI, patterns, research and more.

    Twelve shelves and 485 entries, filterable by type, difficulty and evidence strength. Every entry connects across shelves rather than staying on its own.

    Explore everythingGlossary

  3. 03

    Solve

    What are you designing, or what is going wrong?

    Pick the surface you are working on, or the symptom you recognise, and get the laws, patterns, components, accessibility requirements and checklists that apply to it.

    I'm designing…Design problems

38

Laws, principles and heuristics

54

UI foundations

57

Patterns and components

20

Research methods

19

Accessibility entries

137

Glossary terms

Every entry says how much to trust it

Design writing routinely presents an aphorism and a replicated experiment as though they carry the same weight. Each entry here is labelled, and where the popular version of a law overstates its source, the entry says so.

Established research
Originates in published research and has been replicated. The effect is real. Its size in your product still needs measuring.
Mixed evidence
Real research exists, but findings conflict, effect sizes are small, or the jump from the lab to interface design is contested.
Expert heuristic
A review criterion developed by practitioners. Useful and widely taught, but evaluated by judgement rather than measurement.
Craft convention
True because the industry converged on it. Breaking it costs familiarity, not correctness.