Australian education psychologist John Sweller came up with this theory in the 1980s during a study about problem-solving. His goal? To prove that thoughtful instructional design could improve learning by reducing cognitive load.

Once you’ve completed your designs, test them on the most popular devices to ensure they remain consistent on various screen sizes. Then, audit your designs for consistency with user feedback and usability testing sessions. Adjust your design as needed to keep things uniform.

Germane cognitive load is the cognitive effort people willingly invest in understanding and completing a task. In UX design, germane load is all about how much effort users will put into engaging with a digital UI.

Seniors prefer larger text and simpler designs due to challenges with small fonts and fast animations. Children benefit from interfaces tailored to their age, with bright, engaging visuals and easy navigation.

Choosing the right format depends on the topic’s complexity and the audience’s preferences. An interactive tutorial might work best when teaching a tech-savvy audience about advanced software functions. However, annotated screenshots would likely be more helpful for a beginner audience learning basic software navigation.