Part 2: Design thinking, heuristics and UX laws

Module 5 · Sun 9 Aug

Design thinking: empathise → define → ideate → prototype → test → develop. UX is a system of research, UI, information architecture, UX writing and interaction design. Usability testing checks if users can finish tasks; UAT is the release acceptance check; beta is a limited rollout.

• Nielsen heuristics: show system status, match the real world, user control, consistency, error prevention, recognition over recall, flexibility, minimalist design, error recovery, help/docs.
• Hick's Law: more options = slower decisions. Fitts's Law: bigger, closer buttons are easier to hit. Miller's Law: people hold only a few items in memory. Jakob's Law: users expect your app to work like the others they use.
• Gestalt: proximity, figure-ground, isolation - people see structure before content. A design system is the rulebook; a UI kit is the reusable parts.

Design for the real user mix: Tier 2/3 users need task completion over polish (class examples: Meesho search, IRCTC, banking apps).

Class case - "Where is my order?": the problem often wasn't missing tracking. The app auto-marked orders "arrived" by proximity when the rider wasn't at the door yet - unclear status at the critical moment. Use T-shaped RCA: explore wide, then go deep on one direction.