Three. It’s a magic number
– posted May 16th, 2008 by Laurence Veale Comments (7)
Three steps to sign up, three points to explain how a Web 2.0 application or product works. Three seems to be everywhere.
Twitterfone: how it works in three
Basecamp: three price points
Clip N’Seal: how it works in three
Choppr: how the process works in three steps
Blogger: how to set up a blog in three steps
iQ Content at the IIA congress: 3 steps
Why 3?
Three is a magic number. Can you tell us why?


7 comments so far
1. Dominykas on May 17th, 2008 - 13:50
I always thought that three is magic because we got two hands and in general the body is sort of bipolar. Add to this true-false, black-white, good-bad. And once a third option becomes apparent (gray) - you got magic!
2. pete on May 18th, 2008 - 05:10
Three is special because:
One instance tells you nothing
Two instances set a pattern
Three breck the pattern
This template for humor resonates deeply, so threes are common elsewhere
3. Peter Knight on May 23rd, 2008 - 13:09
That’s easy!
It’s easy as
One, two, three, as simple as
Do, re, mi, A, B, C, one, two, three!
Baby you and me girl!
It’s easy as
One, two, three, as simple as
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related
4. Niall Devitt on May 29th, 2008 - 12:44
Instructions often come in three steps:
Ready, Steady, Go
On your marks, get set, go
5. Fred Herrera on Jun 10th, 2008 - 14:54
metro, boulot, dodo
6. Robin Blandford on Jul 11th, 2008 - 17:53
3 steps are great, 3 sign-up options are bad.
http://www.bytesurgery.com/blo.....decisions/
7. Stewart Curry on Jul 24th, 2008 - 17:26
Three just works. Bing bang boom. Yada yada yada. Bish bash bosh.
Or maybe it’s just a design pattern that’s stuck in our collective conciousness and we think it’s best because it’s popular and it’s popular because every thinks it’s best…
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