UX for Brains: Let's be honest, people suck

Part one of the UX for Brains series makes a case for psychology as a core design tool.

Users don't read — they skim at highway speed. Their foveal vision is the size of a thumbnail. They form lasting impressions in milliseconds and abandon anything that requires real cognitive effort. They expect products to just work, then immediately want more. This is the baseline.

The article introduces a composite persona built from real usability testing, as a useful north star: if your experience works for her, it works. The argument isn't that users are hopeless. It's that designers who understand human limitations stop being surprised by them — and start designing around them instead.

This article was originally published on Lullabot.com.