Constraints are an important part of UX design to remain cognizant of in order to properly build your foundations of human computer interaction, and in this article I’ll explore the four types of constraints that you’ll work with as a UX designer!

What are Constraints?

Constraint — Aka ‘Limitation’ or ‘Restriction’ holds behind it some subconscious negative connotations, however this is not the case when it comes to design.

Constraints are an aspect or element of design that prevents a user from taking a certain action, akin to a baby in a crib, confined to certain parameters for their own good!

The purpose of constraints is to reduce the number of actions and choices that a user can make, which serves a number of purposes, such as greatly reducing error.

Our users sometimes rebel, for the most part completely by accident, against all odds to perform actions that we could never have imagined… It’s impressive at times, but more often than not frustrating. The solution to this is most importantly to limit the possibility for error through good design.

We can break constraints down into four subcategories: Physical, Semantic, Cultural and Logical, so let’s get started.

Physical Constraints

What are Physical Constraints?

Physical constraints exist to limit the possible interactions, for example the famous childs block toys where you have to fit the shapes to their destination, these are perfectly designed to allow only one shape inside (Though I hesitate to say perfect, because I can recall a video of some ingenious designs that allow every shape through the same hole, complete constraint failure…).

How can we use them in UX?

We can use physical constraints in a variety of manner for UX Design, as it easily allows us to dictate users movements, in most cases completely removing the possibility for error, and an experience without error is what we crave as UX designers!

Semantic Constraints

What are Semantic Constraints?

You know when you see a teapot that you pour the water out of the spout, right? Would you open it up and start pouring it from the hole in the top? No, that would make no sense (unless you like your herbs mixed in with your tea, who am I to judge?) Semantic constraints rely upon the situation to enforce a decision, and works well to utilise the users assumption to their benefit.

How can we use them in UX?

Semantic Constraints can be quite useful if the action you want your user to take is assumed by the situation they are in, where the user’s knowledge of the situation and world around them allows them to quickly take action.

Cultural Constraints

What are Cultural Constraints?

Cultural constraints are based on existing cultural conventions, for example when you drive up to a traffic light and it shows red, you know that you’re supposed to stop because that’s the cultural constraint that has been reinforced, unless you love collecting speed tickets, that is (Again, I’m not here to judge!).

We know how to behave and what actions to take in certain situations no matter if they’re in London or Mumbai, because culturally these things have been set as convention (of course excluding local convention in this example, but those too are localised cultural constraints!)

How can we use them in UX?

Cultural Constraints are very effective at having a user perform an action such as typing on a keyboard, but the issue with this one is that the computer culture is still one relatively new to humanity, and whilst there definitely are some typical and assumed cultural constraints, every day the landscape of tech evolves. Keep in mind that you should always learn from what the best and most popular are doing, and don’t try to reinvent the wheel!

Logical Constraints

What are Logical Constraints?

Logical Constraints are based on just what the name suggests — Logic. Coming back to the teapot example earlier, if you were to want a new cup but had been off planet for the last however many years of your life and had no clue how to pack the tea or herbs (In the small possibility that you have, send me a ticket would you?), logically you wouldn’t stuff the spout, nor would you fill the base of the pot with your tea, you’d see the mesh and put it there! Genius hey? Sometimes our users can use logic. Sometimes…

How can we use them in UX?

Logical constraints in UX are by far the most typical, for example when we give them a field to fill in that says enter your email address, the majority will fill in their email address. Key word Majority, not All. Understanding that no matter what you do, sometimes logic will fail (and not always to the fault of the user), so we should also provide assistance where we can to reinforce the logic, in the case of input fields, add a label!

In Summary

Understanding the foundations of any topic we study is essential in understanding its essence and operation, and hopefully after reading this article some insight into constraints has been understood, allowing you to upgrade your UX game!

I’m in the process of writing about 3 more foundational principles of UX for you, so keep an eye on this space or drop a follow to check them out!

• The Principle of Mapping
• The Principle of Visibility
• The Principle of Feedback

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