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Design Principles In UI/UX: What Every Beginner Needs To Know

Anyone can become a great designer. Your talent and creativity are massive but also your ability to understand the user’s pains and desires. The users depend on your designs to give them a pleasurable experience. And I am confident we always aim to design interfaces that crave them to come back for more. To ensure you are always on the right track, it is essential to understand a few principles behind a good UI/UX design.

In this blog, I will help you through basic design principles and techniques that every beginner needs to know when looking to create that ultimate design.

Let us get the ball rolling on the following principles I believe will change your way of thinking:

  • Usability 

Ensure your interface is fully functional and solves the user’s problems. Have elements in your design that guide users through the flow and make them take control of the interface. Users love to feel that they are in control. Carry out sufficient Usability testing to jot down that every element in your design is functional and serves a purpose.

  • Accessibility 

Is your interface accessible to every user? Can it also accommodate people with disabilities? As designers, we should always aim to include as many people as possible to experience our interface. Workaround the possibilities to support people suffering from some form of situational disability to access your app or website. And see through it is accessible on any device.

  • Consistency

Your design has to display a consistent pattern every time a user accesses the app or website. When the design consistently solves a user’s problem, they will always count on it. Having consistent fonts, colors, and other elements in your interface that repeat is a good way for people to remember you. Many brands do the same to get associated quickly in the user’s mind.

  • Simplicity

Life is easier when everything’s made simple. According to Hick’s Law, the time it takes for us to make a decision increases with the number and complexity of choices. So, as you can tell, it is crucial to reduce complexity and look to break it down into smaller processes. Always picture that you are looking to give the user an easy and comfortable ride navigating your interface.

  • Hierarchy 

Having a hierarchy in your interface assists users in digesting all the information piece by piece. It gives a visually pleasing look and structures your design into significant aspects. Always look to place important pieces of information that stand out and get the user’s attention first when planning out your hierarchy. We see a typical example in a copy where it consists of a heading, subheading, and body text.

PRO TIP: Try to utilize the theory of serial position effect in your design. This is an interesting technique. The users tend to remember the first and last items in a series best. Place your most important pieces of information at the first and last in the series. And the least important in the middle.

  • Contrast

Contrast helps to make something stand out to the user. It makes the user’s life easier to read your design without stress and only focus on the most important piece. Always look to use contrast in your UI design to grab the user’s focus and attention span. For instance, black text/white background and large headers/small body.

  • Proximity

Have you heard of the Law of proximity? Objects that are near, or proximate to each other, tend to be grouped. So, it is ideal for designers to group different clusters of elements. It makes the information meaningful to the user, and they will understand the relationship between them.

  • Balance

Having balance in your design gives the users the warm feel to look around your interface. Have your elements such as text, colors, design patterns distributed well around your interface. Your balance can be symmetrical and asymmetrical. Symmetrical balance emphasizes equal weight on either side of the center. On the other hand, asymmetrical balance emphasizes different weights spread out on either side of the fulcrum.

  • Color

Color is magical. Using color theory and psychology, you can do enormous things to attract users to your interface. Design dominant colors for call-to-action messages that drive conversions. And use cooler colors such as blue and green in your theme to make the user feel relaxed and spend more time in your application.

  • Typography

How your texts look also influences the user. Each text design has its tone and can make an impression on the user. Design the way the text is readable to the user and play around with typefaces and colors that would assist you to deliver the message well.

  • White Space

They are the spaces in your design that do not have any design elements to them. This is quite overlooked in design. It is essential to have some space in your interface to make users don’t feel congested or overwhelmed with too much information. It acts as a breathing space for them. If the interface is cluttered with design elements everywhere, It would lose appeal and make users leave.

“Design is intelligence made visible.”

– Alina Wheeler, author

Having gone through all these principles, what do you believe is missing in your UI/UX design?

Everything is down to basics. Ensuring your interface is usable, accessible, and easy to navigate. And minor tweaks in your visual representation that gives an eye-pleasing experience for the user. 

In the end, it is all about delivering your goal, and how you craft that message is crucial. Your design is declared a success when people keep coming back for more interaction.

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