Introduction to UX laws

There are around 20 widely known UX laws, many of which are beautifully illustrated on lawsofux.com. However, a few of them are especially important — and worth knowing how to apply in practice.

They might sound obvious or abstract at first — but ignoring them is how most interfaces end up in UX hell.

I picked 5 laws that, in my opinion, are both the most important — and the ones you’ll actually run into in real projects: Jakob’s Law, Law of Proximity, Cognitive Load, Fitts’s Law, and Hick’s Law.

Law of proximity

When elements are placed close together, users see them as a group. It’s one of the most powerful — and most often ignored — principles in interface design.

Cognitive load

Cognitive load is the mental effort required to use an interface. The more users have to think, the more likely they are to bounce — or mess up. This is the core concept behind most UX mistakes.

Jakob's law

Users spend most of their time on other websites. So they expect your site to work the same way. That means familiar patterns, common layouts, and no weird reinvented scrollbars. If you break expectations, you better have a damn good reason.

Fitts's law

The closer and bigger a target is, the faster users can hit it. That’s why buttons should be easy to reach, large enough to tap — especially on mobile. Tiny CTAs in weird corners aren’t clever. They’re just annoying.

Hick's law

The more options you give, the longer it takes to choose. That doesn’t mean hiding everything — it means structuring choices clearly.

You can’t remove half the catalog in an e-commerce app. But you can group, filter, prioritize. Choice is good. Chaos isn’t.