The most common cognitive barriers in digital experiences

When it comes to cognitive accessibility, many common design patterns create friction. Below are common challenges that make digital experiences harder to use for this audience, and what you should keep in mind to build your best and most inclusive products.

“Sticking to standardized choices across websites and instructions is always a good move to make, because for people with cognitive disabilities in particular, you can have a predisposed understanding of what’s going to happen. It’s almost like you’re guessing what’s going to happen beforehand, and you’re using previous experiences to make it easier on yourself. If something that you’re doing is drastically outside of those expectations, it can be very difficult.”

– Fable Community member

A young woman with a developmental disability works on a laptop in an office. Behind her, a window reveals a cityscape.

Image credit: Disability:IN

1. Unpredictability

When interfaces behave differently from one page to the next, or even within the same site, it’s impossible to build reliable mental models. This unpredictability forces users to constantly re-learn interaction patterns, which can be exhausting and disorienting.

Examples:

  • Inconsistent design patterns that break user expectations
    A link styled like a button (or vice versa) causing users to anticipate the wrong interaction.

  • Interface changes occur without warning or visual anchors
    New components appear suddenly (e.g., chat windows, banners) and push content out of view.

  • Unstable flows interrupt progress and force users to reorient
    Pages refresh after clicking an element, losing the user’s place

2. Visual density

When a page is visually dense, it takes more effort to understand. Without clear spacing or places for the eye to rest, users can struggle to know where to focus, how the page is organized, or which elements belong together.

This often comes from:

  • Too much information, leaving no obvious way to distinguish sections or context.
  • Poor layout and spacing that makes content hard to scan and process.

3. Visual sameness

Without clear cues, it becomes difficult to judge what’s important, where to go next, or how different sections relate to one another. When everything looks the same, nothing stands out, and users are left guessing.

Common culprits:

  • Content that flows in a long, uninterrupted stream.
  • Complex tables without alternating background colours or grouping, making data hard to scan.
  • Low-contrast adjacent content regions that blur together.
  • No visual hierarchy or signifiers (e.g., headings, clear boundaries, interactive affordances).
  • Minimal or absent styling: while plain pages may feel “clean,” they can be cognitively overwhelming for many users, especially those with those who require support related to focus.

4. Visual noise

Too many competing visual cues can also overload attention and make it difficult to determine what matters. When everything is calling for attention at once, users may struggle to filter the essential from the irrelevant.

Examples include:

  • Numerous alert components disrupting focus and context.
  • Excessive colours, fonts, or highly saturated visuals (including stark white or deep black backgrounds).
  • Micro-animations, alert sounds, or aggressive chatbot windows.

  • Long blocks of text without structural aids: accordions or collapsible sections can help make long passages more digestible.

5. Lack of guidance and reassurance

When users aren’t given enough context or clarity, everything becomes guesswork. This lack of guidance can turn even straightforward tasks into anxiety-provoking challenges.

What this could look like:

  • Important information from earlier in a flow isn’t reiterated later (e.g., product details disappearing by the time of checkout).
  • Vague form labels or insufficient instructions.
  • No visual cues for state changes: missing toast messages, absent field state indicators, no previews before submitting forms or bookings.

  • A lack of tooltips or examples: for some users, plain language alone isn’t enough; they need detailed context and concrete examples to make sense of what’s happening.

These challenges stem from the fact that people make sense of information in different ways. Some users can move forward with brief, high-level cues, while others need additional context or examples to feel confident. Good design supports both by providing clarity upfront and offering optional depth when users need it.

6. Excessive effort and cognitive load

Often, the problem isn’t a single barrier, it’s the cumulative cost of many small frictions. Over time, this constant burden can make tasks feel overwhelming, even if no one element is a blocker.

This can look like:

  • Long flows with no ability to pause or save progress (e.g., long-form submissions that time out).

  • Tedious manual steps, such as confirmation fields that don’t allow copy-and-paste.

  • Workflows that force users outside the app (for example, multi-factor authentication) — even when necessary, these can break focus and disrupt mental flow.

Designing with cognitive accessibility in mind

At the end of the day, everyone benefits from designs that reduce cognitive friction. Whether it’s a true barrier or a small irritation, there’s still a real risk that customers will leave for an experience that feels smoother and more comfortable.

When building websites or apps, ask yourself:

  • Does the layout make sense? Is the structure intuitive and predictable?
  • Can users easily find and parse information? Is there clear visual hierarchy, spacing, and grouping?
  • Do interactions feel stable and reassuring? Are form inputs, flows, and states clearly labeled and communicated?
  • Could any interaction demand less effort? Could complex flows be simplified, broken down, or saved for later?

By supporting cognitive ease, we create digital experiences that are more usable, and more enjoyable, for everyone.