Weber’s Law of Just Noticeable Differences
Slow and steady wins the race- and by race I mean users approval
I’m doing what I usually do every Sunday evening- drinking wine and reading up on various UX laws or principles to further learn about this wonderful field and share my findings. This Sunday’s adventure brought me to Weber’s law of just noticeable differences and how it helps guide your iterations.
Weber’s law of just noticeable differences states that users tend to like drastic changes less. The just noticeable difference is the smallest amount by which there a change will be experienced by users. This was originally discovered by Weber and uncovered how people’s perception to a change in stimuli is dependent on the original strength or magnitude of the original stimuli. This psychological phenomenon translates into design and has been shown to describe how users prefer small changes to large ones — even if a whole overhaul will result in a better user experience.
This law is why many big companies make small iterations over a long period of time. It’s no secret that companies like Google or Facebook are constantly researching their users preferences and behaviors, yet many times they seems to evolve slowly and subtly. By introducing small and subtle changes you can be sure that users will notice the difference but also not shake up their mental model to a point that creates more friction than necessary.
If you’re looking to make changes, even if they will create a significant improvement on a users experience, you’ll want to make sure it’s done gradually. Users prefer experiences that occur at the just noticeable difference which means that even if you’re looking to overhaul your product it’s best to make minor, incremental changes to keep users satisfied with the changes. Like they say, slow and steady wins the users over.
