Are We Designing for Learning or Just Adding More Clicks? 🤔

I think there's an important distinction between an interaction that requires effort and one that creates unnecessary effort.

Cognitive load theory is useful here. Some subjects have a high intrinsic cognitive load because they're inherently complex. We can't always simplify the subject, but we can design interactions that help learners understand and apply it.

What we should be trying to minimise is extraneous cognitive load, the effort learners spend figuring out how to navigate an interaction, what they're supposed to click or what the designer expects them to do.

For me, it's not necessarily about the number of clicks. If those clicks involve meaningful decisions, exploration or practice that leads to an 'aha!' moment, they're probably worthwhile.