I ran a Maze test where the obvious answer lost

I ran a Maze test last month where the answer everyone expected lost.

Three versions of the same Apple Pay screen. One collapsed two identical, unlabeled card entries into a single button. One tap, fewest choices, the version people said they wanted when I asked them directly.

I ran that preference question and the actual task separately, on purpose. The version that won on completion, and on trust, was not the simple one. It showed more: the last four digits on each card.

A hidden decision is still a decision. Someone just made it for you, off screen. The single button still had to guess which card to charge. It just moved that guess somewhere the user could not see it, at the exact moment seeing it mattered most.

Full breakdown of the test, and why testing preference and behaviour separately keeps mattering, is in this week's Design is Dead.

Next time you simplify a screen, ask what decision you are actually hiding, not just how many elements you are removing.