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Miller’s Law states that the average person can hold about 7 (±2) items in their working memory at once. In UX design, this means that presenting too much information at once can overwhelm users while chunking information into smaller, manageable pieces helps them better process and retain it.
Takeaway
- Limit the number of items or options presented to users to around seven.
- Chunk information into smaller, bite-sized pieces for easier processing.
- Simplify navigation menus and dropdowns to prevent overwhelming users.
- Breaking down complex tasks into smaller steps improves usability.
- This law is crucial in structuring content for effective user interaction.
Origins
Miller’s Law comes from a 1956 paper by cognitive psychologist George A. Miller, titled "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two." Miller found that people could only hold around seven items in their short-term memory. This insight has influenced fields such as UX design, where simplicity and chunking are critical in helping users process and retain information without feeling overloaded.
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