Design: Principles

To some, user-interface (UI) design or Web design might seem like work that relies solely on creativity and seeking innovative ideas. However, you should always base your design solutions on a few rules that optimize the entire design process—such as Ben Shneiderman’s eight golden rules of user-interface design.

Shneiderman pioneered the concepts behind his eight golden rules after conducting fundamental research in the field of human-computer interaction. Although Shneiderman defined his eight golden rules back in 1985, their timelessness has ensured that they are still in use by application and Web designers all around the world.

In this article, we’ll discuss Shneiderman’s eight golden rules, and supplement them with practical tips and examples to help you apply these universal principles in your daily work as a UX designer. Read More

UX design is not just about making things look good. Yes, it’s important to attract users’ initial interest, and an attractive user interface can do wonders in creating engagement, but visual design only scratches the surface of what you need to consider when thinking about the user experience.

UX design is really about two core principles:

1. Giving the user a fulfilling experience. While users are interacting with a Web site, they should feel that their time is well spent there. The result of a good user experience is customer satisfaction—so, whether you’re measuring customer-satisfaction (CSAT) or your net promoter score (NPS), your business score should benefit.
2. Propelling the user down an appropriate path. If users are interested in what a site is selling, the site needs to move them to a position where they can do some buying. Read More

Information architecture (IA) is a key aspect of UX design that focuses on organizing information, structuring Web sites and mobile apps, and helping users navigate them to find and process the information they need. A well-designed, user-friendly information architecture ensures that users spend less time and effort searching for information and are successful in finding what they need. Key information-architecture tasks include identifying common features in content, forming groups of similar information objects, and linking documents to other documents on the same topic. Optimizing search for a Web site or mobile app also helps visitors to find information quickly.

The knowledge that forms basis of a well-designed information architecture for a Web site or mobile app comprises the following:

• the information needs of visitors
• a site or app’s content
• business goals and budget constraints

In this article, I’ll describe some principles of information architecture, then look at the role of information architecture within the context of UX design. Read More