Hi.
My name is Ela Kaya, and I'm the User Interface Designer here at DMC.
I'd like to introduce you to my video series on design and user interface
and its guidelines.
Whether you're interested in the subject or would like
to apply these guidelines to your own designs, this video series will cover
the elements that make up great design.
This video is part one of the series, a brief introduction to design and
user interface.
Before I jump into the rules of design and user interface,
I'd like to start out be defining and introducing these terms.
So let's get started.
Design equals form plus content.
The example I have here is a submit button.
In this example, the blue rounded rectangle is the form and the
submit text is the content.
The form is telling me the parameters of where I can click, and the content is telling me
what will happen when I click.
The definition of user interface is the way a user interacts with a
product.
A great example to explain this interaction is with cars.
Everyone who can drive knows the user interface of
a car.
Say, I designed a new car from scratch, but I decided to switch the
position of the gas and brake pedal.
That would be an example of poor user interface design.
I am not thinking about what a typical user is used to and may put them in
danger or potentially kill them if they try driving my car and they hit the
gas pedal when their intention was to brake.
Great user interface design in this example would keep the standards of how
cars were made before so that the user does not have to re-learn how to
drive a car.
The location of other elements, like the speedometer and door
handles, would follow this same logic.
Location memory is very powerful, and when the location of a button moves,
this can cause a lot of frustration and errors to users who were accustomed
to where it was located before.
This illustrates that when you are designing for a client, you have to consider
the software and hardware that they currently use and design around it.
In most cases, you would not want them to have to re-learn the interface of
a re-designed technology.
The foundation of all great design and user interface is trust.
Have you ever considered when looking at any design
whether it be a computer program, advertisement, or phone interface, what
makes it have great design?
Well, great design has a set of rules structured on the basis of trust and
predictability.
Think of a site with lots of flashing colors, random
rotating dollar signs, and complicated backgrounds.
This is not a very trustworthy looking site, right?
This design showcases distrust and unpredictability.
Another predictability example would be the trash can on your smartphone or
computer.
If you happen to throw away a file in the trash, and instead of
deleting it, the computer uploaded your file to your Twitter account.
That would certainly be a feature that is unpredictable
and untrustworthy.
Psychology plays a big factor in design.
As humans, we change very slowly, but technology changes quickly.
So the interface has to consider this gap.
So we use things that are familiar in our physical world to represent
things in a digital space.
We remember images far better than words.
We tend to scan quickly rather than read the entirety of a page, and we
tend to have shorter attention spans.
Given that, using imagery and icons should be exercised whenever possible to reduce
cognitive load and create user friendly and memorable designs.
If you're interesting in learning more about design and user interface, I
recommend the following books, "Don't Make Me Think," by Steve Krug; "The
Design of Everyday Things" by Donald Norman, and "Seductive Interaction
Design" by Stephen Anderson.
These books outline the rules of design and user interface as well as why
some products are so addictive to users and why others can fail.
Though the rules of design and user interface are centered
on trust and predictability, these rules are, in fact,
breakable.
They are breakable because every case is unique.
In some cases, for example, if a software surprises you, like an app game
giving you a coupon, this is an enjoyable experience.
And although it may be unpredictable, it is a memorable action
that keeps a user engaged.
In your design, every design rule may not be
applicable or as piece of content might have higher priority and overrides a
rule or two.
When these instances come up, it's up to you or your
team to decide which rule aligns with your goals and highest priorities.
Thanks for watching!
That concludes part one, a brief introduction to
design and user interface.
Stay tuned for part two, the rules and guidelines to design and user interface.
If you'd like to learn more or interested in using DMC for your user interface
designs, feel free to email us at sales@dmcinfo.com.
I look forward to working with you.