你也许听说过这篇关于大象的故事：
A king brings six men into a dark building. They cannot see anything. The king says to them, "I have bought this animal from the wild lands to the East. It is called an elephant." "What is an elephant?" the men ask. The king says, "Feel the elephant and describe it to me." The man who feels a leg says the elephant is like a pillar, the one who feels the tail says the elephant is like a rope, the one who feels the trunk says the elephant is like a tree branch, the one who feels the ear says the elephant is like a hand fan, the one who feels the belly says the elephant is like a wall, and the one who feels the tusk says the elephant is like a solid pipe. "You are all correct", says the king, "You are each feeling just a part of the elephant."
一个国王带了六个人到了一个昏暗的建筑物里。他们什么都看不见。国王对他们说：“我从荒野中将这只动物带回到东方。他们称之为大象。”“什么是大象？”六人问。国王说：“你们摸一下这只大象，然后描速给我听。”摸腿的人说大象就像一个柱子，摸尾巴的说大象就像绳子，摸鼻子的说大象就像三个树枝，摸耳朵的说大象就像一把扇子，摸肚子的人说大象就像一面墙，摸象牙的人说大象就像一根硬管子。“你们都对了”，国王说，“你们每个人只摸到了大象的一部分。”
The story of the elephant reminds me of the different view of design that people of different backgrounds, education, and experience have. A visual designer approaches UX design from one point of view, the interaction designer from another, and the programmer from yet another. It can be helpful to understand and even experience the part of the elephant that others are experiencing.
大象的故事让我想起了有着不同背景、教育或经验的人对设计的不同的观点。视觉设计师对用户体验设计有着一种观点，交互设计会有另外的观点，而程序员也会有不同的观点。理解甚至体验别人正在体验的大象的那一部分将会有一定的帮助。
I'm a psychologist by training and education. So the part of the elephant I experience applies what we know about people and how we apply that to UX design. I take research and knowledge about the brain, the visual system, memory, and motivation and extrapolate UX design principles from that.
我是一个受教育而成的心理学家。所以，我体验的那部分的大象就是我们对人的了解和我们将我们的了解应用于用户体验设计。我对大脑、视觉系统、记忆和动机做了研究和学习，并从中推断用户体验设计的原则。
This article is a snapshot of the psychologist's view of the elephant.
这篇文章是一个对大象的心理学家观点的简单描速。
1. People Don't Want to Work or Think More Than They Have To
1.除非必要，否则人们不想工作或者思考
* People will do the least amount of work possible to get a task done.
只要能完成任务，人们能少做就少做。
* It is better to show people a little bit of information and let them choose if they want more details. The fancy term for this is progressive disclosure, which I wrote a blog post about recently.
最好只展示一小点信息，接着让他们抉择是否需要查看更多。渐进展开是个不错的方法。最近我写了一篇关于“渐进展开”的博文。
* Instead of just describing things, show people an example.
别只是解释，给个例子吧。
* Pay attention to the affordance of objects on the screen, page, or device you are designing. If something is clickable make sure it looks like it is clickable.
注意屏幕、页面或是设备上的对象的启示(Affordance，启示，功能可见性)。如果某个东西可点击，那么就要把它做得像是可点击的。
* Only provide the features that people really need. Don't rely on your opinion of what you think they need; do user research to actually find out. Giving people more than they need just clutters up the experience.
只提供人们确实需要的功能。别按你自己的想象认为他们需要什么；做些用户研究去确切地发现他们所需。给予他们超过他们的需要的功能只会搞砸体验。
* Provide defaults. Defaults let people do less work to get the job done.
提供默认。默认让人们做更少的事就能完成工作。
2. People Have Limitations
2.人有局限性
* People can only look at so much information or read so much text on a screen without losing interest. Only provide the information that's needed at the moment (see progressive disclosure above).
人们只能在屏幕上看有限的信息或阅读有限文字而不失兴趣。在当下只提供需要的信息（查看上述的“渐进展开”）。
* Make the information easy to scan.
让信息易于扫描。
* Use headers and short blocks of info or text.
使用标题和小块信息或文字。
* People can't multi-task. The research is very clear on this, so don't expect them to.
人们不能同时进行多项任务。这份研究很清楚的表明了这个观点，所以别期望他们能够做到。
* People prefer short line lengths, but they read better with longer ones! It's a conundrum, so decide whether preference or performance is more important in your case, but know that people are going to ask for things that actually aren't best for them.
人们喜欢短小的文案，但是长文案又能让他们更好地理解！这是个难题，所以要抉择在你的项目里，是偏好更重要还是性能更重要。但是，要知道人们喊着想要的东西并不是对于他们最好的东西。
3. People Make Mistakes
3.孰能无过
* Assume people will make mistakes. Anticipate what they will be and try to prevent them.
假设人们会犯错。要预见到他们会犯的错误并努力避免发生。
* If the results of an error are severe then use a confirmation before acting on the user's action.
如果一个错误的结果严重，那么在操作之前提供一个确认。
* Make it easy to "undo."
提供容易使用的“撤销”。
* Preventing errors from occurring is always better than helping people correct them once they occur. The best error message is no message at all.
防止错误发生往往比发生错误后帮助人们纠正更好。最好的错误消息是完全没有错误消息。
* If a task is error-prone, break it up into smaller chunks.
如果一个任务容易出错，那么把它分散成为细小的组。
* If the user makes and error and you can correct it, then do so and show what you did.
如果用户出了错而你能纠正，那么就纠正用户的错误，并且告诉用户。
* Whoever is designing the UX makes errors too, so make sure that there is time and energy for iteration, user feedback, and testing.
设计用户体验的人也会犯错。所以得保证有时间和精力去迭代、用户反馈和测试。
4. Human Memory Is Complicated
4.人类的记忆很复杂
* People reconstruct memories, which means they are always changing. You can trust what users say as the truth only a little bit. It is better to observe them in action than to take their word for it.
人们会重建记忆。也就是说记忆总是在变化的。你只能相信用户所述的极少的一部分。观察他们的行为要比听从他们所述要好。
* Memory is fragile. It degrades quickly and is subject to lots of errors. Don't make people remember things from one task to another or one page to another.
记忆是脆弱的。它消退得很快，而且，受很多错误影响着。别让用户从一个任务跳转到另一个任务或者从一个页面跳转到另一个时还记住某些东西。
* People can only remember about 3-4 items at a time. The "7 plus or minus 2" rule is an urban legend. Research shows the real number is 3-4.
人们在一次能够记住3～4个项目。“7±2”法则是个民间传说。实验得出，真是的数字是3～4。
5. People are Social
5.人是社会人
* People will always try to use technology to be social. This has been true for thousands of years.
人们总是尝试用科技来社交。这是数千年来的真理。
* People look to others for guidance on what they should do, especially if they are uncertain. This is called social validation. This is why, for example, ratings and reviews are so powerful on websites.
人们需要别人来指导自己该做些什么。尤其是在不确定的时候。这被称为“社会认同”。举个例子，这就是为什么打分和评论功能在各网站上这么强大。
* If people do something together at the same time (synchronous behavior) it bonds them together—there are actually chemical reactions in the brain. Laughter also bonds people.
如果人们同时在一起做事(同步行为)，这会把大家团结在一起——事实上大脑也会有一些化学反应。笑同样可以团结人。
* If you do a favor for me then I will feel indebted to give you a favor back (reciprocity). Research shows that if you want people to fill out a form, give them something they want and then ask for them to fill out the form, not vice versa.
如果你帮了我的忙，我会感恩并且同样帮助你(互惠)。研究表明，如果你想让人们填表单，那么先给他们些他们需要的东西，然后让他们填表，而不是先填后给。
* When you watch someone do something, the same parts in your brain light up as though you were doing it yourself (called mirror neurons). We are programmed with our biology to imitate. If you want people to do something then show someone else doing it.
当你在看某人做某事时，你大脑里相同的部分会被唤起，并认为是你自己在做(称为镜像神经元)。我们生性就是爱模仿的动物。如果你需要人们做，那么让他们看看别人正在做。
* You can only have strong ties to 150 people. Strong ties are defined as ties that with people you are in close physical proximity to. But weak ties can be in the thousands and are very influential (à la Facebook).
你最多只能报纸与150人的强联系。强联系的定义就是与其有亲密的身体邻近的联系。但是弱联系可以有上千个并且很有影响力(就像Facebook)。
6. Attention
6.注意力
* I am beginning to think that the whole idea of attention is a key to designing an engaging UI. I'll write more in future articles about that. Grabbing and holding onto attention, and not distracting someone when they are paying attention to something, are key concerns.
我开始考虑，注意力这个概念就是如何设计有浸入感的UI的关键。我接下来会写一些关于这个话题的文章。抓住注意力，当他们正在关注于某件事情时，不要分散他们的注意力。这个就是重点。
* People are programmed to pay attention to anything that is different or novel. If you make something different it will stand out.
人生来就爱关注任何不同的或者新奇的事情。如果你让一个东西与众不同了，那么它就会突出出来。
* Having said that, people can actually miss changes in their visual field. This is called change blindness. There are some quite humorous videos of people who start talking to someone on the street (who has stopped them and asked for directions) and then don't notice when the person actually changes!
说了这些，就是要告诉你人们很容易忽视在他们视野之内的变化。这个被称作变化视盲。有一些很有趣的视频，视频内容就是人们站在大街上和别人攀谈（被别人叫住问路），然后他们完全没有注意到，谈一半的时候，问路人被调包了！
* You can use the senses to grab attention. Bright colors, large fonts, beeps, and tones will capture attention.
你可以用感觉去抓住注意力。明亮的颜色、大字体、“哔哔”声或者是一些音调都能抓住注意力。
* People are easily distracted. If you don't want them to be distracted, don't flash things on the page or start videos playing. If, however, you do want to grab their attention, do those things.
人们很容易走神。如果你不希望他们走神，那么别用让页面上的东西会闪，也别让视频自动播放。但是，如果你要抓住他们的注意力，上面说的事情可以做。
7. People Crave Information
7.人们渴求信息
* Dopamine is a chemical that makes people seek… food, sex, information. Learning is dopaminergic—we can't help but want more information.
多巴胺是一种让人们寻觅……食物、性和信息的化学物质。学习是多巴胺能的——我们帮不了忙但是需要更多的信息。
* People will often want more information than they can actually process. Having more information makes people feel that they have more choices. Having more choices makes people feel in control. Feeling in control makes people feel they will survive better.
人们往往需要超过他们实际处理能力的信息。信息越多，人们就觉得选择越多。选择越多，人们就觉得有驾驭感。越有驾驭感人们就觉得活得更好。
* People need feedback. The computer doesn't need to tell the human that it is loading the file. The human needs to know what is going on.
人们需要反馈。计算机本身没必要告诉人类他正在读取文件。但人类需要知道现在计算机正干些什么。
8. Unconscious Processing
8.无意识过程
* Most mental processing occurs unconsciously.
大部分心理过程都是发生在无意识状态下的。
* If you can get people to commit to a small action (sign up for a free membership), then it is much more likely that they will later commit to a larger action (e.g., upgrade to a premium account).
如果你能让人们提交一个小操作（免费注册），那么他们肯定会晚点再提交一个更大的操作（比如升级到高级账户）。
* The old brain makes or at least has input into most of our decisions. The old brain cares about survival and propagation: food, sex, and danger. That is why these three messages can grab our attention.
老脑帮我们做决策，或说至少参与了决策。老脑关注于生存和繁殖：食物、性和危险（译者注：人脑分为新脑、中脑和老脑。新脑负责思维、语言、沟通各脑等，中脑负责情感，老脑负责生存和繁殖）。这就是为什么食物、性和危险这三种信息能够抓住我们的注意力。
* The emotional brain is affected by pictures, especially pictures of people, as well as by stories. The emotional brain has a huge impact on our decisions.
情感大脑（译者注：应该就是我刚才说的中脑。）会受到图片，特别是人物图片，有故事情节的图片的影响。感性的大脑对我们的决策有巨大的影响。
* People's behavior is greatly affected by factors that they aren't even aware of. The words "retired", "Florida," and "tired" can make even young people walk down the hall slower (called framing).
人们的行为倍受连自己都不知道的因素所影响。“退休”、“厦门”、“疲劳”甚至能够让年轻人慢慢走上下坡路（心理学上成为框架）。
* Both the old brain and the emotional brain act without our conscious knowledge. We will always ascribe a rational, conscious-brain reason to our decision, but it's never the whole reason why we take an action, and often the rational reason isn't even part of the reason.
老脑和情感大脑都不需要我们下意识的知识。我们总是将我们的决策归咎于一个理性的下意识的大脑，但是下意识的大脑从来不是我们采取行动的所有原因，甚至连原因都不是。
9. People Create Mental Models
9.人们会穿着心智模型
* >People always have a mental model in place about a certain object or task (paying my bills, reading a book, using a remote control).
人们总是在某些对象或任务中产生心智模型（管理支票、看书、使用遥控器）。
* The mental model that people have about a particular task may make it easy or hard to use an interface that you have designed.
人们所拥有的关于特定任务的心智模型，可能会使你设计的界面对于他们好用或是不好用。
* In order to create a positive UX, you can either match the conceptual model of your product or website to the users' mental model, or you can figure out how to "teach" the users to have a different mental model.
为了创造积极的用户体验，你可以让你产品或网站的概念模型符合用户的心智模型，或者你也能找到“教会”用户一个不同的心智的方法。
* Metaphors help users "get" a conceptual model. For example, "This is just like reading a book."
隐喻帮助用户“理解”概念模型。举个例子，“这就像是在看书。”
* The most important reason to do user research is to get information about users' mental models.
用户研究的最重要的原因是获取用户的心智模型。
10. Visual System
10.视觉系统
* If pages are cluttered people can't find information. Use grouping to help focus where the eye should look.
如果页面乱成一团糟，那么人们就没法找着信息。用分组法来帮助眼睛找到该关注的地方。
* Things that are close together are believed to "go" together.
靠近的东西会被认为是有“瓜葛”的。
* Make fonts large enough. Use fonts that are not too decorative so they are easy to read.
字体该足够大。别用太花的字体以便能够看清。
* Research shows that people use peripheral vision to get the "gist" of what they are looking at. Eye tracking studies are interesting, but just because someone is looking at something straight on doesn't mean they are paying attention to it.
研究表明人们会用周边视觉来抓住他们要找的“重点”。眼动研究很有意思，就是因为有人盯着某东西并看不代表他们正在关注它。
* The hardest colors to look at together are red and blue. Try to avoid red text on a blue background or vice versa.
最难看清的颜色是将红色和蓝色放在一起。严防蓝底红字或是红底蓝字。
* People can recognize objects on a screen best when they are slightly angled and have the perspective of being slightly above (canonical perspective).
当用户看屏幕时稍微有些角度并且透视稍微向上的时候，人们最容易认清对象（标准透视）。
* Color can be used to show whether things go together. Be sure to use another way to show the same info since some people are colorblind.
颜色可以用来表示物体是不是相配的。因为有盲人存在，所以一定记得要用其他的方式表达这个相同的信息。
本文作者:网友 来源:网络收集