DESIGNING FOR STRESS AND EMERGENCY

Summary from the TLDR Design newsletter

Designers must account for stressful, real-world contexts where users have reduced attention, memory, and decision-making capacity, so interfaces should minimise cognitive load by prioritising single-tasking, clear order of actions, sensible defaults, and built-in safeguards. Practical steps include breaking tasks into short, sequential steps, providing an emergency mode and pre-planned responses, stress-testing the product in realistic conditions, and striking the right amount of onboarding friction so users still realise value.