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UX/UI Design vocabulary · Interaction Design

Cognitive load

Meaning in UX/UI design, with examples

nounCommon term

In UX/UI design, cognitive load means: The amount of mental effort a person needs to understand and use something; too much of it makes people slow, confused or likely to give up.

In Turkish: bilişsel yük, zihinsel yük

How it is used

Designers reduce cognitive load by showing fewer options at once, using familiar patterns, grouping information and remembering data for the user. The idea comes from educational psychology.

Example sentences

  1. Twelve plan options create too much cognitive load; let's show three.

  2. Pre-filling the address reduces cognitive load at checkout.

Common collocations

  • reduce cognitive load
  • high cognitive load
  • minimise cognitive load
  • cognitive overload
  • mental modelA person's own idea of how something works, based on past experience, which shapes what they expect a product to do.
  • frictionAnything in an experience that slows users down or makes a task harder, such as extra steps, long forms, unclear labels or slow loading.
  • visual hierarchyThe use of size, colour, contrast, spacing and position on a screen so that people notice the most important elements first and read the rest in a clear order.
  • microcopyThe short pieces of text in an interface, such as button labels, hints, error messages and confirmations, that guide users through a task.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Interaction Design

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