Chunking refers to separating a large body of information into a smaller number of “chunks” so that information can be processed and memorized more easily. A chunk can refer to a string of letters, word, or series of numbers. The optimal number of chunks that can be most efficiently processed by our short-term memories is 4 plus or minus 1 (Lidwell, Holden and Butler, 2010). It is important to note that the limits brought up by this principle are specifically for tasks involving short-term memory. For references that may be scanned (such as a dictionary), chunking sections into 4 or so entries per page would be counterproductive and inefficient.
Example from original source:
The example on the right is an e-learning course by Kaplan EduNeering, which utilizes chunking of the topics on the grey left sidebar as well as on the topics on the main page. The top left example shows how familiar words are more natural for us to chunk together and recall than unfamiliar words. The bottom left example shows how a large string of number (such as a phone number) can be made easier to recall by chunking them into small pieces.
Example from online:
On Apple’s Human Interface Guideline’s page in their developer portal, the content is divided into five digestible chunks. The first four boxes feature different Apple products while the bottom rectangle features additional technologies. Under Technologies, information is further divided into columns of four. However, a critical observation is that the alphabetical ordering of their technologies seems a bit arbitrary; the way the rows are divided make the four items in each column seem like they might be related when in fact they aren’t. However, this may be due to the fact it is difficult to divide the content into four perfect groups of four technologies that are related.
Example from real life:
In this example, I’ve divided the page on Chunking from “Universal Principles of Design” into four unironic chunks. This was to help me remember the key points of what I wanted to talk about in this very post.
Works Cited
Human Interface Guidelines. (2018) Retrieved from https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/
Lidwell, W., Holden, K. and Butler, J. (2010). Universal principles of design. 2nd ed. Rockport Publishers, pp.27,40.
One of my favorite examples of Chunking is ZIP codes. Its not one you usually think about, but its something most of us have memorized about our own homes. In the US we use 5 numbers, plus an additional 4 numbers in two chunks if we want to be extra accurate. That follows the 4 +or- 1 rule. Internationally, the 4+-1 rule is followed as well. Only a few countries break this, and even fewer do so severely. (Most violators are 6 or 7 consecutive numbers).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_postal_codes