Easy way to recall Gestalt and 10 usability heuristics

As a UX designer you are directly involved in the process of making an application, service, or the product useful, usable and delightful for their users, and it is a sheer necessity to remember the UX principles.

Sometimes, the challenge is to remember the UX principles, and I thought, why not make them easier to remember using the recall value so that we don’t miss anything while working.

Story Building - a memory technique

Research says that stories are easier to remember than facts. Using a simple and vivid story to add or build the association to a concept helps us memorize anything.

For example, let us see how we can memorize Gestalt Principle, the law of simplicity.

Here is an exciting story to help us remember:

Once we went to a Live Sports Event to celebrate a milestone achievement. We were enjoying Coca-Cola drinks while taking selfies in the live event. Suddenly, a panda appeared behind us! Attempting to escape, we ran and jumped into our AUDI and drove. Soon, to our surprise, we found ourselves driving on the Formula 1 track and we sped on it full throttle and won the Formula 1 race.

Now, see how this story helps us remember the Gestalt Principle:

This story helps me remember the principle. Now, can you create a story?

References: https://graphicdesign.spokanefalls.edu/tutorials/process/gestaltprinciples/gestaltprinc.htm

Mnemonic - associate with something to remember

Here is the another example to remember 10 usability heuristics:

The key is to use a mnemonic - turning the first letters of the items on the list into an easy word or phrase that we can easily remember.

10 Usability Heuristic: U have charm!

There is one exception in above example - the word ‘Accelerators’, that I have added before the start of ‘Flexibility and efficiency of use’ heuristic, just to make the word pronounceable. While the accelerators are also part of the description of the same heuristic.

Reference: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/

This article does not explain the gestalt principle and 10 usability heuristics, nor does it tell you how to apply these principles in your UX project. Rather, This is just another way to recall them while we work...

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