Peak-End Rule
Design Principles
People judge an experience by its most intense moment and how it ended, not its average.
In practice
The peak-end rule, from Kahneman, shows that memory of an experience is dominated by its emotional peak and its final moment; duration and the average barely register. For design this is a gift: you cannot make every step delightful, but you can craft one high point and a clean, satisfying ending — and that is what people will remember and tell others.
Questions
What is Peak-End Rule?
The peak-end rule is a cognitive bias whereby people evaluate an experience largely on its most intense point and its conclusion rather than the sum of its parts.
Why do you use Peak-End Rule?
It tells you where to spend effort. A great peak and a good ending outweigh a dozen merely fine steps.
How do you use/apply Peak-End Rule?
Identify or design the moment of highest emotion — the reveal, the success — make the ending clear and gratifying, and never let a flow trail off or end on an error.
When do you use Peak-End Rule?
In onboarding, checkout, unboxing, service journeys and anything with a beginning and an end.
Who uses Peak-End Rule?
Experience, service and product designers.
