Yearly Archives: 2013

A User Interface is considered engaging when the experience of using it is enjoyable and easy. Its visual design, graphical consistency, color scheme and interactive elements all play vital roles in a user’s immediate perception. Less obvious aspects of the interface such as the layout and readability of the text also contribute to an engaging…

Certain User Interaction assumptions tend to fall by the wayside the more experience and research both designers and clients gain. Some of the better insights that UI professionals have come to understand are the myth that users will only make a mistake once, remembering to use actual content and data in the very beginning of…

Careful and attentive listening is a key component of successful usability testing. UI and UX designers will find the results from their end-user testing sessions far more productive if they let their ears do most of the work. Allowing the users the freedom to talk uninterrupted will put those observing the testing in the best…

The end user’s goals should be the goals of the client and their product. It is essential for any UI system to help achieve those goals in as easy and efficient a manner as possible. They should be a guiding principle in all phases of a project, re-affirming these goals often. So it is essential…

“A modern paradox is that it’s simpler to create complex interfaces because it’s so complex to simplify them.” – Pär Almqvist “The more users’ expectations prove right, the more they will feel in control of the system and the more they will like it.” – Jakob Nielson “Obsess over customers: when given the choice between…

In the real world, objects can be manipulated in various ways. Successful User Interface designers often take advantage of the user’s knowledge of real world objects to develop the UI’s metaphors and analogies. This allows for a more direct manipulation of the elements within a system’s environment, making the interface more intuitively learned and retained…

User research can sometimes be boring, especially classic usability research where you have strictly defined use case scenarios that you’re going through over and over again. Spending a day with 10 or 20 different subjects going through the same scenario over and over can be pretty draining, making it hard to stay focused and engaged.…

When it comes to balance, the physical world tells us that weight is associated with gravity and objects being pulled downward. Visual weight, however, is more 3-dimensional in that it asserts itself in other directions as well. The visual weight each object carries pushes some UI elements to the forefront while causing others to recede.…

Selective Attention is the “looking but not seeing” that occurs when someone is focused on performing a specific task. This concept in psychology can often explain why users in testing situations fail to see certain interface elements, even if those elements are in plain sight. Concepts such as human visual perception not being as reliable…