hicks-law

name	hicks-law
description	Reduce decision time by managing choice count and choice structure with Hick's Law. Use when designing menus, navigation, plans, filters, onboarding paths, settings, or feature sets with too many options; avoid for complex-task load, staged disclosure, or CTA visibility issues.

Hick's Law

More choices slow decisions. Reduce, group, default, or reveal later.

When to use

• Navigation design.
• Menus and settings.
• Onboarding flows.
• Forms with many options.
• Dashboards.
• Conversion funnels.

Goal

• Reduce decision effort.
• Keep necessary choices.
• Make recommended path obvious.
• Improve speed and confidence.

Rules

• Aim for 5-7 visible choices per group.
• Group related choices.
• Hide advanced options until needed.
• Use smart defaults.
• Give search or filters for large sets.
• Do not remove options users truly need.

Does not apply well

• Expert users with learned shortcuts.
• Emergency flows with trained responses.
• Choices with obvious priority.
• Sequential decisions where only one choice appears at a time.

Reduction methods

• Remove: cut unused or low-value options.
• Chunk: group related items.
• Default: preselect common option.
• Recommend: highlight best option.
• Filter: let users narrow choices.
• Progressive disclosure: show advanced options later.

Flow

1. List decision points.
2. Count visible options.
3. Mark complexity and user intent.
4. Decide keep, group, hide, default, or remove.
5. Check if expert users need escape hatches.
6. Define expected impact.

Resources

• On the Rate of Gain of Information - Hick (1952)
• The Paradox of Choice - Barry Schwartz
• Don't Make Me Think - Steve Krug

Output

## Hick's Law Analysis

Interface or flow: [name]

## Decision Points
- [location]: [current options] -> [target options]

## Problems
- [choice overload or complexity]

## Reduction Plan
- [remove/group/default/filter/reveal]

## Expected Impact
- Decision speed: [estimate]
- Risk: [tradeoff]