Hick’s Law

Hick’s Law, or the Hick-Hyman Law, states that a person takes longer to make a decision when they are presented with more choices. It is a law based on a psychological principle that the time it takes to make a decision increases logarithmically with the number of available choices.

Hick’s Law takes into consideration that the logarithmic relationship is not linear, more choices increase cognitive load, and decision time may vary based on the complexity of the choices provided.

Hick's Law in Design

Hick’s Law is applied in UX Design and Product Design to understand how to simplify the decision-making process for the user. It seeks to reduce the number of available choices so the user can make quick decisions.

Here are some practical examples of Hick’s Law in UI UX design.

• Form Designs - Add only essential fields to the form to ensure users can fill it in quickly.
• Checkout Processes - Adding fewer steps to checkout so the users can get to the payment page quickly and not lose interest in between.
• Filtering and Sorting - Group related product filters (like size, color, price) so users can access smaller, manageable sets of products and browse easily.
• Navigation Menu - Breaking different links into categories and sub-categories for easy navigation.

Hick's Law Formula

Hick's Law can be expressed using the following formula:

RT = a + b log2(n)

Where:

RT (Reaction Time) = The average time it takes for a user to make a decision.
a = A constant representing the non-decision time.
b = A constant determined by empirical observation, representing cognitive processing time for each option and the specific conditions of the task.
log₂ (n) (Logarithm) = The base-2 logarithm of 'n' indicates that each additional choice adds a progressively smaller amount of time to the decision-making process.
n = The number of equally probable choices available to the user.

This formula is used to help UI UX designers determine how to place certain elements on a screen so the user can make the intended decision.

Note: All information and/or data from external sources is believed to be accurate as of the date of publication.