Relevance theory

Relevance theory is a cognitive theory developed from Grice’s Cooperative Principle.¹ It proposes that human evolution has resulted in cognitive systems which minimise processing effort by actively seeking out relevance in communication.

There are two conditions that make information actually feel relevant to us when we read it:

• cognitive economy - we don’t want to have to make an effort to understand it. Information design, being focused on clarity, is clearly helpful here.
• cognitive effect – we want our effort to be rewarded with useful information. Information designers can help here by researching the needs of users.

We usually assume that people giving us information have the sincere intention of communicating something they think we should know. So it has a good chance of being relevant to us and worth our attention.

Information designers can help here too. Contextual cues such as the choice of genre, branding, and informative titles can help readers decide if information is aimed at them.

And visible structures help people pick out relevant information with less effort, to maximise their understanding.

1. Sperber, Dan; Wilson, Deirdre (1995). Relevance: Communication and Cognition. Wiley-Blackwell.