The word "chunk," usually means a piece of something larger.
But in UX design, when we talk about the process of chunking, we're usually referring to breaking up content into small, distinct units of information, rather than just an undifferentiated mess of atomic information items.
So, why is chunking important for our users?
Well, as human beings, we find it easier to comprehend and remember information if it's been broken down into meaningful chunks.
For example, if I asked you to remember this string of numbers, do you think you could do it?
You might find it to be easier to remember this phone number if the string is chunked.
Now instead of memorizing eleven numbers, you just need to memorize four chunks.
Often, when we break up our web content, we'll do it in a similar way using negative space to show where the chunks are separated from each other.
You may have heard of the "magical number 7" made famous by cognitive psychologist George Miller in the 1950s.
Miller found that most people can remember about seven 7 chunks of information in their short-term memory.
