The design of a website says a lot about what your company has to offer. Going for the gorgeous look is one thing, but functionality is still the priority. The user interface of a website has to meet certain expectations on multiple devices. Web design and development services can ease you into the entire process. To get a better grasp of what makes a great design, follow these nine rules.
There should be a lot of layers to your design ideas. The rough sketch is not meant to iron out all the flaws, but instead is used to introduce possibilities. What starts out as a media rich interface may end up being optimized for text. You may find that it relays the information on the interface much better with this method.
And what starts out as a simple design may turn into an elaborate maze of media. It’s so intricate in the way it presents media that consumers can’t stop browsing the interface. Your rough sketch will give you the roadmap that lays out the foundation of your design. By starting with an idea, you gain more control over the finished product. There is big difference in quality when the design is rushed. The interface of a design that spends tons of time in the idea phase will prove to be the one that is the most useful.
If you work with a design agency, make sure that you find one that is receptive to your requirements. The best UI design agencies aren’t only good at executing plans – they exert as much effort in primarily translating your vision into a concrete UI/UX design concept.
Why Site Speed & Design Can Make Or Break Your Google Ranking
Everyone wants to make the biggest spectacle possible with an interface. Flashy isn’t always better, and in many cases will create some serious loading problems. Media and other interactive features of a design is usually controlled by plugins and scripts. When one of these malfunctions, they can even be flagged as a virus. Companies should always make sure that there are no errors with a design, especially from scripts that load in the background.
Search engines will consider blocking a website if it proves to be too problematic. Pre-launch testing will get rid of the most serious bugs, but sometimes real-world testing will be the most important stat. Pay attention to load times and make sure that they are optimal for the page size. When a page takes too long to load, users will either refresh or move on to a new website. Interactivity should never come at the cost of speed. Nothing is wrong with extra features, but be mindful of webpage bloat.
Making the design mobile compatible is not mandatory, but is guaranteed to improve business. Every person with a phone that has access to the internet is a potential mobile consumer. Now with that large figure in mind, factor in the number of users on tablets. That is an entire section of its own in millions, and doesn’t even include the amount of people that still use netbooks. There are many long-standing businesses that still issue netbooks to their workers. The market for netbooks is smaller, yet it is still worth mentioning when optimizing for mobile.
Growing hardware expectations for video game consoles has also led to browsers being included with each software revision. All major consoles now ship with a functional browser, and that includes portable models. Add this to another set of people that can be loyal customers. Different screen sizes allows your design to be shown in its best state. With mobile options, users can see everything on screen in a format that makes sense.
Visual perception in user experience design
Eye candy is a real thing when you’re dealing with interactive design. It’s not just shiny and colorful things, but the placement of your text and media that makes a difference. This is known as the visual hierarchy, and it governs how attention grabbing a page is. Too much information in one spot makes things messy for any visitor. The idea is to put information in the most obvious places without disorientating the reader.
Getting the attention of the visitor isn’t the same as keeping their attention. An interactive design needs to persuade the user to explore a website. Not only should they look for information, but it needs to entice their natural curiosity. Every design is limited by the story it wants to tell the world. When your visual elements are in order, natural curiosity will always take over. This is another area where page stats can show what portions of the design are the most appealing. Pay attention to how long users stay on one page versus another when considering design changes.
The headline of a design is a minor addition that can have a big impact. The most notable is when they are used correctly on designs that offer a service. Headlines or subheads draws attention to the most important parts of a page. It is the simplest way to engage users without putting a lot of focus on the visual elements. Think of it as being the least interactive part of a design, but one that can decide whether a visitor skims or reads a page.
A missed opportunity with the headline can lead to hours of wasted work on an interactive design. Does your headline fit with the rest of the optimized parts of the webpage? And has it been proofed for spelling, grammatical and spacing errors? These are all things you should be checking before and after creating a headline. A descriptive headline is a vital part of an interactive design that wants to draw in the user.
The fold is what users see before scrolling down the rest of the page. Every good webmaster understands the fold and how it impacts a visitor’s experience. Interactive designs that include a call to action must be aware of the fold. Spending hours on a message to have it cut off due to poor spacing is bad design. Clicks and retention rate are improved when the fold is followed. But even when the rules are followed, there are other concerns that can ruin the design.
A page that isn’t optimized for multiple devices and screen sizes will change your spacing. This is especially frustrating when your message is carefully crafted from the first to the last word. Personal user settings can also make text get cut off and force a scroll in unintended areas. You can prevent the screen size issue by implementing mobile versions of the page that work on multiple devices. Although you can’t do anything about personal user preferences, it is still better to fix the things that you’re in full control of.
If your business relies on CTA’s, consider making multiple versions of the same message. It will come in handy when you need to revise specific pages in your design.
Information heavy designs will always have to sort through spacing issues. A good rule of thumb is to use tall scrolling pages when there is a lot of data to go through. As an example, user agreements work best on tall scrolling pages. The default would usually be an embedded adobe format document. Many companies offer the document as an alternative download and instead present the full information on the page. You can do a lot with this type of page if you’re willing to load a few light plugins. Remember that interactivity comes in all forms, and a page with easy to use scrolling buttons is one of them.
Origami can make UI/UX designers better
Sometimes you have plenty to say and not enough screen real estate to put it on. Instead of trying to fit your entire message onto one page, space it out over several pages. Another option would be to trim the fat and make it an easier read. Consider breaking up information into more digestible pieces. At the same time, you can add summaries to specific pages and add link to read more. This is a great way to gauge interest products, services and resources.
Searchers and Browsers: the Personality Types of UX
Page standards exist for a reason, and should not be ignored. Unusual layouts will make it harder for visitors to get your information. By ignoring too many of these standards, your interactive design gets wasted. There are some web browsers that will automatically change the layout of a page if certain conditions are not met. Doing so makes text and images intelligible, and sometimes they end up on top of each other. Visitors don’t want to deal with this headache, and will usually just click away from the page.
Also, when using script and plugin heavy designs, be aware of outdated versions. Always keep your design up to date and following the latest standards.
There are no shortcuts to optimizing the user experience through solid design. Getting it right is worth the effort, especially if it improves the company image. You don’t get unlimited chances to make the design perfect, so get it right the first time. A good user interface will go a long way in making a website accessible.
FAQs
Who wrote the 8 golden rules for UI design? ›
8 Golden Rules of Interface Design. Ben Shneiderman (born August 21, 1947) is an American computer scientist and professor at the University of Maryland Human-Computer Interaction Lab. His work is comparable to other contemporary design thinkers like Don Norman and Jakob Nielsen.
What is the importance of user interface design explain golden rules of user interface design? ›User interface (UI) design defines how an individual user interacts with a digital information system. It is essentially a series of visual elements that a user uses to interact with the digital device. The goal of any UI design is to make the users interaction with the device and the interface as smooth as possible.
What is the Golden 6 3 1 rule? ›The first is 6:3:1, also referred to as the Golden Rule when choosing colors. The principle of 60% + 30% + 10% represents the best proportion for reaching balance with your color selection. This criterion works to perfection when you're trying to produce a neat and harmonious interface.
How many types of golden rules are there? ›This is the dual entry accounting system. The golden rules of accounting are three rules that govern financial accounting. These golden standards ensure that financial transactions are recorded in a systematic manner.
What is user interface design rules? ›According to Jef Raskin there are two laws of user interface design: First Law: A computer shall not harm your work or, through inactivity, allow your work to come to harm. Second Law: A computer shall not waste your time or require you to do more work than is strictly necessary.
What is the 8th principle that graphic designers use in their work? ›Design principle #8: Leave lots of negative space.
Negative space, otherwise known as white space, creates shape and can help highlight the most important pieces of information in your design.
The term "Golden Rule", or "Golden law", began to be used widely in the early 17th century in Britain by Anglican theologians and preachers; the earliest known usage is that of Anglicans Charles Gibbon and Thomas Jackson in 1604.
What are UID golden rules in software engineering? ›User Interface Golden rules
Strive for consistency - Consistent sequences of actions should be required in similar situations. Identical terminology should be used in prompts, menus, and help screens. Consistent commands should be employed throughout.
The Golden Rule can help you build consistency as a leader and as an organization. It helps you establish a standard of behavior and influence others to adhere to that standard in all situations and circumstances. This makes decisions about how to treat people in different situations easier.
Why the golden rules is important? ›It signifies the necessity to: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." The concept is derived from the "Ethic Of Reciprocity," which Wikipedia describes as a "reciprocal" or "two way" relationship between one's self and others that involves both sides equally and in mutual fashion.
What is the importance of the golden rules? ›
The Golden Rule guides people to choose for others what they would choose for themselves. The Golden Rule is often described as 'putting yourself in someone else's shoes', or 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you'(Baumrin 2004).
What is the 6th step in 8 Golden Rules Shneiderman? ›6. Permit easy reversal of actions. As much as possible, actions should be reversible. This feature relieves anxiety, since users know that errors can be undone, and encourages exploration of unfamiliar options.
What is the rule of thirds in design? ›The rule of thirds is a method used to divide images or graphics into nine thirds by creating an evenly spaced grid with three columns and three rows. Designers and photographers can create or imagine these guidelines to arrange the elements in their design or to position the view of the photo they're about to take.
What is the Golden Rule give example and explain? ›The golden rule is a moral principle which denotes that you should treat others the way you want to be treated yourself. For example, the golden rule means that if you want people to treat you with respect, then you should treat them with respect too.
What is golden rules and example? ›| Type of Account | Golden Rule |
|---|---|
| Personal Account | Debit the receiver, Credit the giver |
| Real Account | Debit what comes in, Credit what goes out |
| Nominal Account | Debit all expenses and losses, Credit all incomes and gains |
You may have learned from your parents that you should always treat others in the same way that you would like to be treated. That's called the Golden Rule. It's also sometimes called the ethic of reciprocity.
What are the 5 user interfaces and what is a user interface used for? ›UI is created in layers of interaction that appeal to the human senses (sight, touch, auditory and more). They include both input devices like a keyboard, mouse, trackpad, microphone, touch screen, fingerprint scanner, e-pen and camera, and output devices like monitors, speakers and printers.
What are interface rules? ›Interface rules determine whether a particular profile data item should be updated during data transmission to or from ORS. Interface Rules are applied on global level only and can be set differently between the profile types.
What are the 3 main user interfaces? ›The various types of user interfaces include: graphical user interface (GUI) command line interface (CLI) menu-driven user interface.
What are the 9 principles of design? ›The main principles of graphic design are balance, contrast, emphasis, repetition and pattern, proportion, movement, white space, unity, and variety.
What are 5 of the 9 principles of design? ›
The 9 Principles of Design Are: Contrast, Emphasis, Movement, Repetition, Proportion, Rhythm, Balance, Unity, and Variety and they are the foundations of creating art and are the rules for how Artists arrange elements or the Elements of Art to create an Artwork.
What are the 12 principles of design? ›There are twelve basic principles of design: contrast, balance, emphasis, proportion, hierarchy, repetition, rhythm, pattern, white space, movement, variety, and unity. These principles work together to create visually appealing and functional designs that make sense to users.
Who uses the golden rule? ›This maxim, known as “the golden rule” of ethics, is sometimes portrayed as an exclusively Christian concept. But it can be found in different guises in all world religions, as well as in secular teaching. Different cultures can find more common ground in a negative formulation of the golden rule than a positive one.
When did the golden rule fail? ›The Golden Rule Fails When Coaching and Developing Others
What feels good to one doesn't feel good to another; so rather than creating fairness, it often causes conflict.
Top 5 Golden Rule Quotes:
"Everything you should do you will find in this: Do nothing to others that would hurt you if it were done to you." "Do not offend others as you would not want to be offended." "The successes of your neighbor and their losses will be to you as if they are your own."
Examples of UIDs
A Universal Unique Identifier (UUID) is a 128-bit number used to uniquely identify some object or entity on the Internet. A global unique identifier (GUID) is a number that Microsoft programming generates to create a unique identity for an entity such as a Word document.
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” This seems the most familiar version of the golden rule, highlighting its helpful and proactive gold standard.
Who wrote the 10 usability heuristics for UI design? ›Jakob Nielsen's 10 usability heuristics for user-interface design have been widely used as broad rules of thumb for guiding design decisions since their original introduction in 1994.
What are the 7 principles of Norman for transforming difficult tasks into simple ones? ›- Use both knowledge in the world and knowledge in the head.
- Simplify the structure of tasks.
- Make things visible: bridge the gulfs of Execution and Evaluation.
- Get the mappings right.
- Exploit the power of constraints, both natural and artificial.
- Design for error.
- When all else fails, standardize.
Strive for consistency
In other words, use all elements across your application consistently. For example a certain style of button should always do the same thing, or navigation should function logically, going deeper in hierarchy.
What are the five 5 things to consider when designing the user interface? ›
- Keep the interface simple. ...
- Create consistency and use common UI elements. ...
- Be purposeful in page layout. ...
- Strategically use color and texture. ...
- Use typography to create hierarchy and clarity.
- Input Controls.
- Navigation Components.
- Informational Components.
- Containers.
The 6 principles of user interface design are Structure, Simplicity, Visibility, Feedback, Tolerance and Reuse.
What are the 4 basic design rules? ›Effective design centres on four basic principles: contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity. These appear in every design.