| 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
- List decision points.
- Count visible options.
- Mark complexity and user intent.
- Decide keep, group, hide, default, or remove.
- Check if expert users need escape hatches.
- Define expected impact.
Resources
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]
