Laws of Behaviour

Mental models for product design

007Pattern

Context Craving

In many situations, people will crave context and clarity rather than efficiency.

Why it matters

The point is that it's not always better to be efficient.

Sometimes in UX, people just want actions to be clear and predictable.

Input quality:

• Giving people more context can improve the quality of their input. • For example, if people understand why an onboarding survey is so beneficial to them, then they'll be more likely to give it attention.

Anxiety:

• Not having the context for something (e.g., a consequence or decision), can cause anxiety.

Complexity & understanding:

• If the user is craving context, they're trying to understand more.

What to inspect

  • Check whether the experience reflects this: Giving people more context can improve the quality of their input.
  • Check whether the experience reflects this: For example, if people understand why an onboarding survey is so beneficial to them, then they'll be more likely to give it attention.
  • Check whether the experience reflects this: Not having the context for something (e.g., a consequence or decision), can cause anxiety.
  • Check whether the experience reflects this: If the user is craving context, they're trying to understand more.

Common anti-patterns

  • Assuming users consciously notice every place where "In many situations, people will crave context and clarity rather than efficiency" could apply.
  • Dense copy and parallel actions that increase mental effort unrelated to the user’s goal.
  • Ignoring downstream effects on anxiety when shipping this pattern.

Critique prompts

  • Giving people more context can improve the quality of their input.
  • For example, if people understand why an onboarding survey is so beneficial to them, then they'll be more likely to give it attention.
  • Not having the context for something (e.g., a consequence or decision), can cause anxiety.
  • If the user is craving context, they're trying to understand more.
  • Where on this screen would "Context Craving" show up as friction or misunderstanding?
  • What would a first-time user misunderstand here in under five seconds?

Related laws