Short notes on design principles, the behaviour they produce, and teardowns of real pages.
Fitts's law is about reaching a target. Hick's law is about choosing between options. Between them they account for a surprising share of what makes a screen easy or tiring.
02BehaviourRewards that arrive unpredictably hold attention better than rewards that arrive on schedule. The finding is old, and it is built into feeds, notifications and game reels.
03PracticeDark patterns are interface choices that steer people into something they did not intend. Most belong to a handful of recognisable families.
04PracticeThe path from landing page to account reveals what a product wants from you. Three things are worth watching: where it slows you down, what it chooses for you, and what it asks you to agree to.
05TeardownReview pages for online services follow a recognisable template. Taking one apart shows which sections carry information and which are there to move you along.
06TeardownThe two directions of a payment page are rarely given equal care. How a product treats money going out says more than how it treats money coming in.
07BehaviourA loot box sells a random reward for a fixed price. Whether that counts as gambling depends on where you are, and the design question does not wait for the legal one.