This post was originally published on Medium
Disclaimer: I do not have ADHD. But my partner, and a few friends, siblings, and coworkers do. This article describes my personal experience and is not intended to stereotype, generalize, or “other” neurodivergent folks. If I got anything wrong, please tell me in the comments.
I married a guy with ADHD. He’s the smartest, funniest, most caring person I know–but sharing household duties can be tricky sometimes. Over the years, we’ve developed tactics to get things done that work for both of us. And I’ve learned how to be a better content designer along the way.
According to CHADD, 10 million adults have ADHD. These folks may have difficulties with maintaining attention, executive function and working memory. Not only should UX and content designers accommodate these neurodivergent users, but I argue we should design everything for them. Because it’s our job to give our audience what they need with the least effort and attention possible.
Here are 5 approaches that work for neurodivergent users and also improve the experience for everyone else.
1. Assume they will forget
If I ask my husband to unload the dishwasher or take out the trash, there’s a 99.99% chance he will forget. His working memory refuses to retain the information. To cope, he makes lists. So if I need something, I add it to his to-do list app–no nagging necessary.
I also assume the users I’m designing for won’t remember critical information. And I help by:
- Letting them skip form fields or survey questions that require account, payment, or purchase info.
- Defining acronyms and concepts that are unique to the brand or product. No matter how many times they’ve used it before, they may not remember what something does or means.
- Allowing them to reset their password.
- Avoiding survey questions like “when was the last time you used [product?]” They will answer the question, but it’s a guess at best.
2. Anticipate their context
My husband will insist we’re out of peanut butter when there’s an unopened jar in the pantry. Why? Because he’s not looking for the peanut butter in the pantry, he’s looking for it in the kitchen cabinet. So when I buy in bulk, I tape a note onto the in-use peanut butter jar that says, “check the pantry for more.”
Imagine where your audience is looking for their peanut butter. Make sure the information your users need appears where and how they need it:
- Invest the time into high-quality, contextual research. You can’t design intuitive experiences if you don’t know who your customers are and how they use your content/product in the real world.
- Preview how your content appears in organic search results. Unless you have proof to the contrary, you can assume many/most of your users are finding you via Google.
- If your target audience is accessing your content on a mobile device in a public place with limited bandwidth, don’t make them watch a video.
- Study the issues your users need help with, and give them advice earlier in their journey to prevent problems later. For example, make sure sellers in your marketplace set their refund policy before making a sale.
3. Point it out
Just because it’s there, doesn’t mean they see it. My brother also has ADHD, and he loses his wallet constantly. Even though he insists he “looked everywhere,” I can usually find his wallet lying on the coffee table/other obvious place. But he legitimately didn’t see it there.
Similarly, information and calls to action can be inexplicably invisible to users. Just because the answer is right there on the page doesn’t mean folks can find it. To help:
- Structure content for skimming and scanning. Use bullet points, numbered lists, subheads, and white space. It may make the page “longer,” but studies have shown visitors are willing to scroll if the content seems relevant and digestible.
- User test everything. You will be stunned by how often the people who use your content overlook the answer that you think is painfully obvious.
- Allow folks to search, whenever possible.
- Minimize the extra content on the page to make critical actions more obvious.
Similar to audiences who can’t find the content they need, my brother gets really angry when he loses his wallet. Hard-to-navigate user experiences damage trust and incite frustration. If you do nothing else, design for task success.
4. Reward frequently
Frequent rewards and positive reinforcement can be highly beneficial for folks with ADHD. My colleague always has brilliant ideas and writes genius copy–but she has trouble focusing her attention. In a 1-hour meeting, she’ll venture down numerous tangents. I’ve learned to embrace these side quests.
Here’s how rewards can motivate your audience to stay engaged:
- If a process continues across multiple screens, show the user how much progress they’ve made.
- Write helper text that reassures distracted users they can save their place and finish later.
- Use a celebratory tone or playful design occasionally. But don’t drown them in confetti–not every screen needs a “great job!”
5. Encourage flow
There are certain tasks that draw my husband into intense focus. He can spend hours researching his fantasy football team or teaching our dog a new trick. But that delicious state of “flow” can be especially difficult for neurodivergent folks to reach.
For your users, more flow leads to more engagement and better task completion. Keep them on task by:
- Creating clarity. The moment someone needs to leave your user experience to look something up, you’ve lost them.
- Minimizing channel switching. If someone is on their computer and needs to check their phone for an access code, they might get distracted by another notification and abandon your experience.
- Avoiding pop-ups. Before you intrude on your user, consider whether it’s important enough to sidetrack them from the task at hand.
Bonus: Never try to multitask
If my husband tries to read and listen to music at the same time, he gets a headache. His brain can’t process two things at once–and neither can yours!
“Research in neuroscience tells us that the brain doesn’t really do tasks simultaneously, as we thought (hoped) it might. In fact, we just switch tasks quickly … That start/stop/start process is rough on us. Rather than saving time, it costs time (even very small micro seconds). It’s less efficient, we make more mistakes, and over time, it can sap our energy.” –Psychology Today
So this advice is for you, my fellow design/content expert:
- Pause your text, email, and Slack notifications during meetings. Your collaborators deserve your full attention.
- Block a few hours on your calendar each day/week to focus on deep work (if your manager OK’s it).
- If you typically listen to music or podcasts while working, try silencing them. Quiet is good for our brains. If you must listen to something, look for music without lyrics or play ambient white noise.
- If a new thought or idea occurs to you while working on a separate project, jot it on a note and re-focus on the task at hand before it draws your attention away.
I hope you learned a few insights to foster kinder, easier user experiences. The next time you embark on a design challenge, imagine your neurodivergent friend. Building something that works for them will probably help everyone else along the way.
