UX Design Articles — Atticus Li

Atticus Li

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UX Design

Articles exploring ux-design through the lens of behavioral science and experimentation. Practical frameworks for growth leaders who measure in revenue, not vanity metrics.

16 articles

behavioral economics May 26, 2026 4 min read

The $300M Button: When Removing a Single UX Decision Created a Year's Worth of Revenue

In 2009, Jared Spool published one of the most consequential UX case studies in modern e-commerce: a major retailer was losing roughly $300M a year because their checkout flow forced new customers to register before buying. A behavioral economics deep dive into friction as a design variable, when subtraction beats addition, and the operational pattern Ron Kohavi documented across two decades of A/B testing.

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ab-testing Apr 8, 2026 9 min read

We Made the UX 'Better' and Conversion Dropped — Here's What Happened

How a cleaner homepage, a modal instead of a dedicated page, and a flat primary metric quietly killed enrollment conversions—and what to change in your experimentation strategy.

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behavioral-science Apr 7, 2026 8 min read

Decision Fatigue in User Interfaces: How Cognitive Load Kills Conversions

Decision fatigue degrades user choices throughout a session. Learn how sequential decisions drain cognitive resources and reduce conversion in digital products.

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behavioral-science Apr 7, 2026 8 min read

Default Bias: Why Pre-Selected Options Win Every Time

Default bias is one of the strongest forces in behavioral science. Learn why pre-selected options dominate and how to use smart defaults to improve outcomes.

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behavioral-science Apr 7, 2026 8 min read

Cognitive Load Theory Applied to Web Design: Why Your Users Can't Think and Click

Cognitive load theory explains why complex web pages fail. Learn how to reduce mental effort in digital interfaces so users can act instead of overthinking.

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ab-testing Apr 7, 2026 6 min read

Why the Ugly Version Won: Counterintuitive A/B Test Results Explained

Polished designs often lose to rough, authentic alternatives. Explore the behavioral science behind why ugly pages convert better in A/B tests.

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ab-testing Apr 7, 2026 8 min read

Why Did Conversion Drop After Improving UX? The Paradox of Better Design

Better UX does not always mean better conversion. Explore the paradox of design improvements that reduce measured metrics and what it reveals about user behavior.

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ab-testing Apr 7, 2026 7 min read

Flicker-Free A/B Testing: Preventing the Flash of Original Content

How to eliminate the flash of original content in A/B tests, covering anti-flicker techniques, page-hiding strategies, and architectural solutions.

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information overload Mar 29, 2026 9 min read

Progressive Onboarding: Why Teaching Everything Upfront Guarantees Failure

Front-loading your entire product's complexity into the first session is the fastest way to lose users. Learn why progressive onboarding aligned with learning theory dramatically improves activation.

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cognitive-load Mar 28, 2026 9 min read

Cognitive Load Theory Applied to Web Design: Why Your Users Can't Think and Click

Apply cognitive load theory to web design and understand why overwhelming users' working memory kills conversions. Learn to reduce extraneous load while supporting meaningful decision-making.

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customer trust Mar 28, 2026 7 min read

The Paradox of Personalization: When Tailored Experiences Feel Creepy Instead of Helpful

The uncanny valley of personalization and the privacy-relevance tradeoff. Why more data does not always produce better experiences, and how to find the optimal personalization depth.

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loading states Mar 28, 2026 8 min read

The Psychology of Loading States: Why Perceived Performance Matters More Than Actual Speed

Skeleton screens, progress indicators, and temporal distortion in digital experiences. How our perception of time waiting shapes satisfaction more than objective milliseconds.

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conversion-optimization Mar 28, 2026 9 min read

Information Architecture and Conversion: Why Site Structure Is a Growth Lever

Card sorting, mental models, and how information hierarchy affects both findability and purchase confidence. The hidden economics of navigation design.

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automation paradox Mar 27, 2026 7 min read

The Paradox of Automation: Why Self-Service Flows Need Human Touchpoints

Fully automated self-service flows can erode trust and completion rates when they remove all human presence. The automation paradox reveals why strategic human touchpoints dramatically improve outcomes.

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behavioral-science Mar 27, 2026 7 min read

The Peak-End Rule in User Onboarding: Why Last Impressions Matter More Than First

Kahneman's peak-end rule shows that users judge onboarding experiences by their most intense moment and their final moment, not by the average quality of the entire sequence.

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button placement Mar 27, 2026 7 min read

Fitts's Law and Button Placement: The Physics of Click-Through Rates

Fitts's Law reveals that click-through rates are governed by the physics of motor behavior, where button size and distance from the cursor mathematically predict interaction success and conversion outcomes.

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