TLDR: WATCH THE VIDEO (click above)
UX designers are more than just designers. They’re choice architects. And how they choose to present us with things profoundly influences our choices.
Take job search, for example.
Recently I checked out Otta. Otta shows you jobs one at a time; this is called sequential ordering. You look, you evaluate, you click – or skip to the next option. The alternative UX design would be to show me multiple jobs at once. This is called simultaneous ordering. While this seems like a small UX decision, it will lead people to make very different choices and apply at different rates.
Why? Imagine you’re in a police lineup. You’re not guilty (of course). But someone is evaluating you and they could (wrongly) pick you from the line up.
Do you want to be standing next to five other potential suspects (simultaneously)? Or would you prefer for the victim to evaluate everyone one at a time (sequentially)? The victim looks at you and decides, then looks at someone else and decides.
Most likely, you want the sequential option. Research has found that witnesses are better at identifying suspects in sequential lineups vs. simultaneous ones. When options are presented to us one by one, we evaluate them on their own merits, using our internal benchmarks. This leads to decisions that are more about optimal fit and less about relative advantage. Whereas in simultaneous lineups, the victim is thinking: which of these people looks most like the perpetrator?
Which UX pattern should you use when?
Otta's choice to present jobs sequentially could be good for job seekers in some ways, but it also may backfire. A sequential decision forces users to consider each job on its own terms. This likely leads to more thoughtful job applications and, ultimately, more satisfying career moves – you’re comparing the potential job to your dream job.
However, it also values quality over quantity. You may swipe through five jobs and decide none of the jobs stacks up to your ideal dream job.
If you instead had five jobs shown to you at once, you’d likely change your mental frame and evaluate which was most likely to meet your criteria. When applying to jobs, this is probably a good thing; it takes a lot of applications to land a job. As with dating, the name of the game is to get out there. Start applying. Talk to employers. If you wait to apply for your dream job, then don’t get it, you may be left still swiping. So if you’re Otta and the goal is to get someone to land a job, you need people to start applying to them! And that means you may want to reverse the strategy and go with a simultaneous lineup of jobs vs. sequential.
Otta's UX is a reminder of how powerfully design influences our choices. Whether we’re choosing a job, deciding what to order from UberEats, or picking a suspect out of a police lineup, how options are presented matters. A lot.
3 takeaways from the teardown:
💼 When to use sequential vs. simultaneous ordering
💼 The design of choice environments, even in digital spaces, significantly impacts our preferences and actions.
💼 UX isn't just about ease of use; it's a tool for behavior change.
Your insights: Have you experienced decision fatigue in an app or product? How do you think Otta's approach could be applied to other areas? Share your thoughts, and let's dig into the psychology of our everyday digital interactions again next week.
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