The priority of every UI/UX Design/designer is the experience of the users. With today’s rapid changes, trends and updates in the industry, UI/UX designers are expected to keep up with it. Following such changes and making informed decisions while crafting a design. Intuitive, responsive, seamless to navigate, minimal, functional and sufficient info that can be perceived by any user is the ideal design. To ensure these there are a few Must follow UI/UX Design principles for successful user experiences. Let’s take a look at each in detail to turn yourself into a better designer.
1. User-Centered Design
First and foremost you have to prioritise user-centered design. It is regarded as the foundation of UX and a must-follow UX Design principle. By understanding the requirements and goals of the users you must be able to craft designs based on factors like:
- Researching the users and their behaviour via methods like interviews, forms or surveys and usability tests.
- Be empathetic while designing. Understanding what the user needs or designing by putting yourselves in their shoes to understand their point of view or their convenience.
2. Simplicity in Design
The best way to increase a seamless user experience is to make the navigation of the application or website by implementing a simple or minimal design. Minimal or simple design is an important UI design principle to follow certain formats overwhelm the users which must be avoided
- Maintain a proper adaptable layout which is simple and minimal
- Utilise straightforward navigation making it easy for navigation.
- Use fewer elements with more info and impact instead of adding too many elements.
3. Consistency
Instead of opting for major changes prefer minimal design changes making it easier for users to adapt quickly to updates. The goal is that users understand the patterns across the interface.
- Well-placed uniform design and formatting such as colours, fonts buttons and spacing
- Follow popular design standards like the material design trends for Andriod and PC as well as Human interface guidelines for IOS.
- Utilise buttons and other elements wherever necessary in the design
4. Inclusive and Accessible
The success of a design depends on how much it is inclusive to the audience. Therefore this UX design principle is a crucial step while designing. For example, if a person with a disability can use the app with its features and navigation, it has a wider user base. Having an accessible design must not be avoided at any cost.
- Proper text formatting and contrast should be maintained for readability.
- Mention alt text for images
- Utilise fonts that can be scaled or resized
5. Visual Hierarchy
People these days are quick they scan instead of reading. Therefore proper application of visual elements, placements and guided-like experience through design must be possible. This UI design principle makes it appealing to the audience. The users must be guided to the most significant action within a screen.
- Make use of size, colour contrast and other elements like spacing which is just an empty element but makes a huge impact to highlight important elements.
- Always ensure the primary actions or their buttons are prioritised and placed in significant positions.
- Follow the comprehension pattern of “F” or “Z” for the users to easily comprehend.
6. Responsiveness
Another UX design principle to follow for UI/UX designers is making the design responsive to the user so they can determine whether their actions are registered to follow these simple but effective steps.
- Use elements like animations, loaders or micro-interactions to indicate progress
- Provide messages such as success/failure for the users to do other actions.
- The design should be responsive making it adapt and work on all or numerous common screen sizes.
7. Prioritise Usability
Usability is another crucial factor in designing which is a must-follow UI or UX design principle by UI/UX designers. Give no time to the users to think and assist them in quick decisions with your design which is or must be easy to navigate.
- An intuitive navigation process must be followed like a back button taking the user to the page before and not anything else.
- Prefer not to add any unwanted steps in the user-flow
- Use simple Call-to-Action and labels if needed in designs
8. Mobile-Friendly Designs
The majority of users these days use smartphones and even browse on them despite them having access to PCs for their convenience. Due to this reason always prioritise mobile-friendly designs even if you are designing for a website. A UI design principle is also important for mobile devices.
- Start designing from small screens leading your design journey towards bigger screen sizes.
- Ensure extra efforts are made to the buttons making them touch-friendly and following specific size guidelines (48px as the common target size)
- Simple navigation is meant to be applied to mobile devices are well.
9. Quick and Well-performing
Regardless of the design, it is important to ensure it loads fast and performs well. As the priority goes to the users not frustrating them must be on your list as a designer.
- Optimise images and other assets, this aids in reducing loading times.
- Heavy interactions such as animations take harder to load therefore avoid them and use minimal options.
- Show content as it loads this creates a better User experience. This is called progressive loading
10. Proper testing
No designs are perfect at the first attempt and even if it is, their functionality, responsiveness and other factors must be checked. Check via multiple testing processes to ensure it is working well.
- Conduct A/B testing to determine which one seems, feels and performs better.
- Collect user feedback and suggestions to fix issues and improve based on the user’s point of view.
- Analyse the design with tools and measure necessary metrics such as usability metrics
In summary, to be an enhanced or skilled UI/UX designer, you must follow these UI design principles as well as UX design principles accompanied by using new trends, tools and the introduction of new technologies. As the demand for the digital design industry is mostly focused on UI/UX keeping up with the rapid changes is substantial. Learn the core design principles and values and try implementing them in your projects. Remember to also keep learning and explore new things for a fulfilling career.
Are you looking for a career in UI/UX Design, Aviv Digital Academy is one of the leading UI UX design course in Calicut. We offer a comprehensive curriculum designed to equip you with the skills and knowledge necessary to thrive in the design industry. Our programs provide a comprehensive Guide to become a UI/UX Designer, For more details, Contact us at: +91 8156998844
