In today’s environment of ever-changing UI designs, both of devices and the software they use, it can be difficult to stay true to the design principles that are preached by user experience specialists and others. No matter how much our technology may change, our users still have the same requirements from a UI. It is vitally important that principles of user experience design always prevail. UI design and User Experience Many designers like to experiment with CSS to create stunning designs. What’s most important however is that user interfaces are designed to be used? The main principle for UI design therefore is to focus on the user and their requirements for your UI. There is no point in creating pixel-perfect applications if the user cannot navigate to the page they would like to get to. Think about the problem your user might have that they would want to solve and see how the UI design could make this easier for them. It could be that graphic design could help improve the user experience by making some elements of the page stand out more. Consistency It is also important that you remain consistent in your design. This means that if an image is clickable on your page, other images should be clickable. If text is underlined, the user will also expect this to be clickable. Even typography and the structural layout of text in you UI design should be as consistent as possible. For the user, this means they can quickly recognize your page and can follow the same navigation principals to find information. Remember your site should not only be consistent within itself, but should also not deviate too much from the standard web principles that we follow every day. Calls to Action If you are working on a UI that has a specific business or other goal, then you should focus on optimizing your calls to action. One call to action button on each page is a great principle, especially for those who are starting out. This means that the user will not be too distracted by other elements on the webpage. Ideally large processes, such as purchases or sign-ups should take place over several pages. This makes the action seem more manageable to the user and also limits the errors that the user can make. Conclusion We may all get carried away by phases such as responsive design and HTML5, but when we look beyond the pixels at the user experience, we can see that user interface designs play and important role in the user experience. The principles above all relate to the user and by focusing on the needs of the user, as well as ensuring designs are consistent, creating user interface designs that are user-friendly should be straight-forward. In the best case, get feedback from your user where possible. While there will always be business requirements and data to be measured, try to limit the number of CTA icons on your pages, to funnel the user towards a specified goal. ==================== About the Author: ==================== Pidoco.com – User Interface Design, Wireframe Software, Wireframes, Interface Design Software, UI Design, Prototyping tools, Clickable Wireframes, Interface Design Tool, Usability Testing and Digital Paper Prototyping.
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