Complexity and Related Concepts (UX)

1. COMPLEXITY
and related concepts

2. The Nature of Psychological Complexity as a Variable
Complexity Complexity Complexity
Performance
Frustration
Pleasure
• Undue complexity sneaks into systems even though people consciously try to prevent it.
• Undue complexity can be injected into systems intentionally
• Ordinary social processes.

3. The Nature of Psychological Complexity as a Variable
Complexity
Task 1 Difficulty
Environmental stress
Task N Difficulty
Noise
Multi-tasking schedule
Physical requirements
Other interruptions
Etc.
Etc.
Novelty
Number of tasks
Difficulty
Workload

4. Relationship of Complexity and Ease of Use
• Ease of use can be measured objectively in terms of human behavior.
• Measuring complexity is more subjective.

5. Relationship of Simplicity and Complexity

6. Relationship of Complexity and Uncertainty
• Complexity can be applied to stimuli, responses, or to the mapping between them.
• Uncertainty applies to mapping only.

7. Relationship of Complexity to Number
2.5
2.5 + 2 + 1.5 + 1 = 7
5!/2 = 60
A B
5
5 + 4.5 + 4 + 3.5 + 3 + 2.5 + 2 + 1.5 + 1 = 25
10!/2 = 1 814 400
5 buttons 10 buttons
Memory Load
Performance

8. Relationship of Complexity to Nonlinearity
Complex adaptive
systems exhibit
nonlinearity

9. Relationship of Complexity to Distribution
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AABBCAABCBBCCAABCAACCCB
C = k * (U + ln u + O + ln o)
Stroop task:v

10. Relationship of Complexity to Nature of Elements
Chernoff faces

11. Relationship of Complexity to Naming Scheme

12. Relationship of Complexity to Obscurity
A: 0000 0001 0010 0011 0100 0101 0110 0111 1000
B: 1000 0101 0100 0001 0111 0110 0011 0010 0000

13. Relationship of Complexity to Structural Framework
WORD
CORD
W
C

14. Complexity of System vs. Task Complexity
Additional complexity in a
system may actually be more
disruptive when the task
is complex than when it is
simple.

15. Complexity of System vs. Contextual Complexity
Contextual complexity can increase overall complexity by providing secondary tasks or
by bombarding the person with extraneous stimuli.

16. Complexity, Feedback, and Interactivity