Designing for Decision Making

Presentations by Mike Morrison (Curvenote) and Leah Kim (Fermilab) on May 5 in the Consortium for the Advancement of Scientific Software (CASS; https://cass.community/) User/Developer Experience working group. The speakers discuss how to direct users' attention and present a case study where UX methods were used to reduce cognitive load. Visit the working group website to find slides, learn about upcoming events, and more: https://cass.community/events/udx-2026may-kim Mike Morrison speaks first, acknowledging that science is hard. But sometimes it’s hard for inefficient, fixable reasons — like outdated publishing systems and bad communication. In Mike’s talk, you will learn how user experience design principles can speed up science, improve your own scientific communication, make doing science more fun and streamlined. All of this will be communicated through live demos, silly graphics, and games. Following this introduction of design principles, Leah Kim, UX designer at Fermilab, presents a case study of their application. In safety-critical environments, every second counts, and human attention is limited. Leah will share lessons from redesigning the Alarms application used by accelerator operators. Through observation, empathy, and iterative design, she explores how understanding cognitive load, attention, and operational context can guide interfaces that help users focus on what truly matters, reduce stress, and support safe decision-making.