Designers aren’t designed to be unbiased. Whether that’s because of a programming error or an evolution in the brain, it’s difficult for people who work with data and visuals to avoid biasing themselves. When not acknowledged and dealt with properly, Biases can lead to a lack of research or usability issues.

This article discusses how biases affect UX designers and how they can be mitigated by keeping teams grounded in reality and incorporating age into their design process.

What are Biases?

Biases can be understood as a “mental shortcut” used by the brain to process the immense amount of stimuli we are exposed to in our daily lives. Essentially, it’s when you rely on guesswork or a gut feeling instead of careful reasoning and thinking. These assumptions and quick thinking often result in errors.

Biases are particularly dangerous because they affect even those who don’t realize they have them or believe they are immune to them. As Fast Company notes, “These biases can creep into — and even derail — decision making, especially when we’re tired or stressed.” Companies using templates to conduct user tests, for instance, maybe missing important information about users. Templates can lead to bias, assuming that users will give the same responses as others, leading to the same questions and answers.

Some of the most common biases affecting UX designers:

№1: Recency Bias

When deciding based on an experience most recently in memory, rather than external information. For instance, if users initially respond negatively to a design element but later on it is changed without their knowledge and don’t realize it’s been changed, they may respond positively. This is because now it’s more recent in memory than the previous usage. (Some companies combat recency bias by conducting double-blind tests; others try to foster diversity in user groups. No matter the solution, these companies deal with the recency bias in one way or another.)

№2: Overconfidence Bias

When we think, we can see patterns and make predictions about outcomes. For example, if two photos are taken of the same object and then shown to a person, they may say that it’s an object. However, if a third photo is presented later, it will be missing a key feature found in the first photo. The person may still identify it as an object because their prediction was wrong, and they were not immune to the overconfidence bias because of recency bias.

№3: Confirmation Bias

When we tend to read the information that supports our original beliefs or biases, also, if presented with information that opposes a current belief, we tend to reject it. For instance, if you're trying to sell an idea and the client is resistant to it, even though you present valid reasons why it should be implemented, the client will eventually reject your idea because they are looking for information that supports their belief.

№4: Priming

A change in behaviour caused by exposure to subtle stimuli. For example, a person who sees a lot of news about terrorism may be more likely to report they have anxiety or feel worried than someone who hasn't seen any news on terrorism. They've been exposed to the "priming stimulus" of terrorists on television and online media.

How Do Biases Affect UX Designers?

Biases affect designers in a variety of ways. For instance, if a designer doesn't believe users can use a new element or have been given the directive to "put more elements on the page," their implementation may be off. This could be due to confirmation bias or even a lack of general interaction design experience. The designer may not know how to create a meaningful call-to-action, so they throw more elements on the page — not realizing that users will not process that much information.

Another example would be when designers are rushed and conclude users don't care about usability. They may then fail to provide a call-to-action, leaving users with a "do it yourself" tool, which is not where they are looking for information.

According to UXmatters, "Biases can make us more vulnerable to getting involved in conflicts with others or in being too generous." Designers who have biases may also give the user on their team less credit than they should be given. In addition, they may hesitate before providing feedback about the overall user experience because of their ideology.

Biases can lead to poor UX design and more serious issues. While biases can be fun to think about, the consequences of them can be major.

Let’s discuss a few ways in which biases can affect us:

• UX designers who accept their own biases may not understand how to reach out and help others. By doing so, they could end up missing some of the key user behaviours that could negatively impact their company in the long run. These users may not even realize they are being ignored.

“We’re often better at explaining what we’re doing than the people who are being affected by our decisions.” — UXmatters.

• Designers who do not believe in understanding user needs may be more focused on their own issues instead. Instead of talking to the client or users, they could collect their own data and write a report. As mentioned earlier, this can lead to missed opportunities and other issues, including productivity and revenue loss due to poor design. It can also lead to disengagement because the designer has created an analysis that does not match real-world experience.
• The user experience designer who is biased may end up ignoring the limitations of users’ memory. They may assume that users will recall everything they see. Since this designer is working on a simple project, it is easy for them to believe that the feature set is simple and can handle it. Going back to our example with the visual designer who believes users ignore detail, they may focus too much on speed rather than usability during their design process. This could lead to more mistakes, and you end up in a situation where you are designing for yourself instead of your user group.
• In the end, biases that users or designers do not control can lead to mistakes in the UX design process. In this case, the users’ needs may be overlooked as we focus more on our own biases.

How Does Age Influence Biases?

As UXmatters notes, "It's important to remember that biases affect people of all ages. It's not just about people in the working world." Children are especially vulnerable to biases because they tended to be impressionable, according to Fast Company. For example, they may believe in a trendy or popular medium when they should be cautious with the information they receive.

Here is an article that is filled with dozens of examples of children who were influenced by advertising. (For example, First graders believed that if they all wore a blue shirt, then everyone would become friends.)

Tips for Getting Rid of Your Biases

“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” — Albert Einstein

If you tend personal biases or company-related ones, there are things you can do. The first thing is to realize that everyone has some bias of some kind! It’s important to become aware of this and take steps toward removing them to become more successful in our ventures.

Here are some tips for doing just that:

• Learn more about your biases. Holding a bias does not mean that you know everything there is to know about it. It means that you should learn more about what it means and how it affects the user experience design process.
• A great way to do this is by reading books or articles on the topic. By reading, you’ll understand it better and potentially see inconsistencies in your own behaviour. This will help to remove those tendencies from your own actions.
• Seek other perspectives from people who share different beliefs from you. This will help you eliminate biases specific to yourself and truly understand the experiences of people who have different backgrounds than yours or other companies’ users do. (An example of this is talking to a few different people in your company and asking for their opinions or talking to product managers in other companies. )
• Another great way to do this is by seeking out user research through interviews, surveys, or usability testing. Diversity is key to creating effective products. If you’re not taking advantage of this input, you should be!
• Take active steps toward removing your biases from the design process. This includes being aware of when you have them and consciously removing them from the equation. (An example of this is by thinking about why you feel something a certain way before deciding on something to answer a problem in the design process.) Being fully aware of your biases will allow you to take steps toward eliminating them from your design process.
• If you are unsure of any of your biases, it is recommended to do research ahead of time to know what biases you might have and how they may affect your designs.
• Once the input has been gathered, the designer begins Stage 3, analysing and synthesising the data. For the designer to find meaning in this information, it must be analyzed. (For example, if a client has asked us to create a logo with certain colours and fonts, we have to analyze what those colours and fonts mean to decide how they should be used in our logo creation.)
• Similarly, if a UX designer decides to put several elements on the page or expect users to scroll down an entire page, they must analyze exactly how much content should be displayed.
• In this way, the user experience designer can be fully aware of their biases and what they may be doing in the design process because they analyse whether it aligns with their conventions.

We hope you’ve gained insights into your own personality and potential biases while reading this article, and Thanks for Reading it.