Understanding and influencing decisions

Progressive disclosure

A screen showing "task completed yesterday", an arrow leads to another screen saying "Task completed on 11/10/2026 by automated service BestBot" with an option to "Get digital proof"

Description

Use progressive disclosure to reveal more detailed information about a decision. This helps people understand the decision, make suggestions for improvement or get the information they need to seek redress.

For example, enabling a user to find out who/ what completed a task and more information that could help them seek redress if necessary.

IF thinks this pattern makes it easier for people to understand complex systems. They can access just enough information for their needs, without being overwhelmed.

Advantages

  • Reduces overwhelm.
  • A useful framework to share just enough information, at the right time.

Limitations

  • Requires coordination across teams to agree on the levels of disclosure.

Examples

  • Elicit →

    It provides researchers with summaries of the outputs of its AI systems, with the ability to find out more with abstract summaries or user-created filters.

  • Google Flights →

    It provides information on how their system calculates whether the price of a flight is high or low for the time of year.

Related patterns