Design for Executive Function
Designing for Executive Function requires designers to build systems that result in cognitive ease, meaning the system provides a clear structure, hierarchy, and guidance for user interactions. By utilizing attention, engagement, and conversion principles, designers can present solutions through the 4A approach, which guides the user's focus through a task.
4A's Approach: Awareness - Attention - Attraction - Action
Designers utilize awareness to highlight user problems and pain points to indicate that they are offering a solution and grab the user's attention to demonstrate the value of the design solution. Good copy is attractive because it presents stories and evidence that persuade the viewer to imagine a better future and believe in how the design solves their problems, which leads to action and the first step for developing nominal solutions.
Awareness (Pain Points)
What is the user's purpose?
What problem are you helping them solve?
Attention (Value Proposition)
How are you demonstrating value to the user?
What is the user getting from you?
Attraction (Reason to Believe)
How are you persuading the user to imagine a better future?
What evidence and stories are you presenting?
Action (Call to Action)
What is the primary task you want the user to do?
What alternatives are you presenting if they reject the primary task?
Executive Function Design Considerations
Understanding executive function and cognitive load is key to designing beyond functionality and usability and crafting experiences that ease user concerns through guided experiences.
Executive Function (Functionality)
Cognitive Load (Usability)
Cognitive Ease (Experience)
Maya Angelou expertly expressed, "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
Signs of High Cognitive Overload
Users take a long time to understand the interface and complete tasks
Users make frequent errors or have difficulty following instructions
Users feel frustrated and disengaged with the interface
Overload = Too much information, choices, thought required, and a lack of clarity
User Behavior
Hesitation and Backtracking
Increased Scrolling and Scanning
Unexpected clicking
Design Considerations
Environment: Make your environment easier to stay on task
Representation: Provide multiple ways to display information
Comprehension: Common vs Required vs Will Need knowledge
Executive Function Design Recommendations
Structure (Awareness + Attention)
Simplifying information displays and presentations can help the user focus on a task. Attention and structure relate to cognitive ease through working memory, our ability to hold information for short periods.
Design Recommendations
Guide user attention through a visual hierarchy that minimalizes clutter and avoids unnecessary animations and random pop-up distractions.
Avoid overwhelming users with too much information or too many calls to action.
Simplify the interface: Prioritize essential information and remove clutter
Use precise language and labels: Avoid jargon and technical terms
Hierarchy (Attraction + Engagement)
Assist users through a task flow by implementing familiar patterns and predictable user interfaces through chunking information for easier comprehension.
Design Recommendations
Use chunking to convert tasks into manageable steps and provide progress indicators to reinforce progressive discloser.
Clear instructions and progress indicators that guide users during each step of their task
Chunk information: Break down complex tasks into smaller, manageable steps
Provide progressive disclosure: Reveal additional information only when needed.
Guidance (Action + Conversion)
Assist users in determining the next course of action by ensuring quick system responses and feedback that nudge users toward the desired action.
Design Recommendations
Offer straightforward navigation and search to adapt to imagined futures, offering alternative potentials for improving business functions.
Minimize multi-tasking: Complex interfaces demanding constant task-switching can strain mental flexibility.
Maintain visual consistency: Use consistent color schemes, icons, and layout patterns.
Optimize for scanability: Use negative space effectively and guide users' attention with visual hierarchy.