---
id: "action-design-intuitive-ux"
type: "action-item"
source_timestamps: ["§ Design Products with Different Literacy Levels in Mind"]
tags: ["ux-design", "product-development"]
related: ["entity-chatgpt", "framework-literacy-tailored-ai-strategy"]
action: "Prioritize simplicity, clarity, and guided onboarding in UX design rather than complex controls and maximum autonomy."
outcome: "Increased accessibility and user retention among the highly receptive low-literacy demographic."
speakers: ["Chiara Longoni", "Gil Appel", "Stephanie M. Tully"]
sources: ["adoption"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-adoption"
originDay: 9
articleStem: "hbr-edu-39-understanding-ai-not-embrace"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2025/07/why-understanding-ai-doesnt-necessarily-lead-people-to-embrace-it"
sourceTitle: "Why Understanding AI Doesn’t Necessarily Lead People to Embrace It"
---
# Design Intuitive UX for Low Literacy

**Action:** Prioritize simplicity, clarity, and guided onboarding in UX design rather than complex controls and maximum autonomy.

**Detail:** Do not assume users want maximum autonomy, complex controls, or sophisticated UX. The majority want simplicity, clarity, and guided onboarding. Design interfaces that are highly accessible to everyday users — the approach that made [[entity-chatgpt-d39]] succeed (success driven by accessible UX more than back-end sophistication). This is Step 4 of the [[framework-literacy-tailored-ai-strategy]].

**Outcome:** Increased accessibility and user retention among the highly receptive low-literacy demographic.

> **Enrichment:** Consistent with the **Technology Acceptance Model** — *perceived ease of use* is a primary adoption driver, so intuitive UX serves both low-literacy awe and high-literacy pragmatism.