When creating a user interface system, it is important to design it in a way that is easily adaptable to localization. Many design decisions you make in the early stages of a product’s development will affect your efforts to localize the UI for other countries and languages. Some design areas to keep in consideration include…

Within the confines of a flat UI, contrast is essential. Many flat user interfaces rely on contrast to emphasize interactivity and visual hierarchy. To make the interface as intuitive and innovative as possible, the immediate impact of contrasting graphical styles convey can solve a long list of UI issues. Because of this, generating the proper…

With space limitations of mobile devices affecting how a user interface can convey the levels and layers of its features, more and more designers are incorporating the blurring of graphics on certain layers within the UI of applications. Giving the appearance of depth by blurring the elements beneath the top level of features, it’s an…

“The most common user action on a Web site is to flee.” – Edward Tufte “A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. They don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions, without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the…

The seventh annual conference Interaction14, hosted by the Interaction Design Association, will be taking place February 4-8, 2014 in Amsterdam. The conference concentrates on the multiple relationships and emerging languages that are part of the broad scope of disciplines that Interaction Design interconnects with, such as GUI Design, Industrial Design, Ethnography, User Experience Design and…

UI design is increasingly going in the direction of a “mobile first” philosophy: where the interface is designed for mobile applications first, and desktop second. With the rise in use of mobile devices, having your user interface system function on as many platforms as possible is a must. One benefit of having a mobile-first design…

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…