Opening reference…
Rules for structuring choices, managing complexity, using familiar conventions, and helping users reach correct decisions without unnecessary interpretation.
7 principlesRules for structuring choices, managing complexity, using familiar conventions, and helping users reach correct decisions without unnecessary interpretation.
Good decision design is mostly information architecture. Users need to understand what choices exist, how those choices differ, which ones matter now, and what will happen after selection. Raw option count is only one part of the problem.
Layr should look for decision cost created by ambiguous labels, competing priority, unfamiliar conventions, redundant mechanisms, implementation-driven complexity, and premature configuration. Familiar patterns reduce learning cost, while well-placed novelty can still be valuable when it improves the task enough to justify learning it.
This category also defines a strict boundary around "simplicity." Simpler interfaces are not automatically better. A design is simpler when it removes unnecessary concepts and work while preserving the information and controls required for correct, informed action.
Decision quality depends on how alternatives are structured. The user needs enough information to understand the available paths, eliminate irrelevant options, compare meaningful differences, and predict the consequence of choosing. Good design shortens this reasoning without withholding material context.
For Layr, “simple” should mean fewer unnecessary concepts and less unnecessary work. It should never mean fewer capabilities by default. A dense expert interface may be simple for its audience because the structure is stable, familiar, and direct. A sparse onboarding screen may be complex if every label requires interpretation.