“ If we want users to like our software, we should design it to behave like a likevable person”
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler"
Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
“ Know the user, and you are not the user”
In regards to User Experience - "Just because a website is usable, does not mean customers will use it."
Permission priming can help solve this problem by: Directing the user's awareness: Users know that a photo editing app needs camera access. Evidence shows that a reminder, directing the user's awareness to this fact, prepares them for the ask better. Tying access to value: Users sign up to do something specific. Let them know that you're only asking for access to help them achieve their goals.
"Never blame the user for what goes wrong"
“ The joy of an early release lasts but a short time. The bitterness of an unusable system lasts for years”
“ Like all forms of design, visual design is about problem solving, not about personal preference or unsupported opinion”
A design pattern library can range from being thorough, trying to cover all the bases, to politely broad, so as to not step on the toes of a design team. But patterns should never sacrifice user context for efficiency and consistency. They should reinforce the importance of the design process while helping an organization think more broadly about its users’ needs and its own goals. Real-world problems rarely are solved with out-of-the-box solutions. Even in service design.
For example, when designing digital forms, using button and input fields patterns will improve familiarity and consistency, without a doubt. However, there is no magic formula for the order in which questions on a form should be presented or for how to word them. To best solve for a user’s needs, an understanding of their goals and constraints is essential. Patterns can even cause harm without considering a user’s context and the bearing it may have on their decision-making process.
I don’t know how my mind dysfunctions. But most of the time when someone gives me a rule, I automatically question it or try to break it. This isn’t always true. Early in my career, I would follow the rules of UX to a tee. I didn’t know any better and was too green to have experiences where the rules didn’t work or to know they weren’t applicable to the situation.
“ I prefer design by experts - by people who know what they are doing”
Photoshop is a privilege, not a right.
I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they go by.
Good design must be defined by appropriateness to audience and goals, and by its effectiveness, not by its adherence to Swiss design or the number of awards it wins.
Every practice has a set of rules which governs it. Mastery occurs with the realization of these rules. Innovation occurs at the point of intelligent and creative rebellion against them.
“ You can use an eraser on the drafting table or a sledge hammer on the construction site”
Everybody’s a web designer until, you know, they actually try to do it.
Being a graphic designer gets you used to rejection of your brilliance. So it’s good practice for dating.
"If I asked people what they wanted, they would have said 'Faster Horses'."
If something’s hard to do, then it’s not worth doing.
Sometimes there is no need to be either clever or original.
Users often leave Web pages in 10–20 seconds, but pages with a clear value proposition can hold people's attention for much longer. To gain several minutes of user attention, you must clearly communicate your value proposition within 10 seconds.
People are on the Web not to enjoy your Web design, but to get something done.
We don’t get hired to make pretty things or win design awards. We get hired to solve business problems.
If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.
Client: “My wife doesn’t like it”; Designer: “Well then, I don’t like your wife”
Great, I’m glad your UI doesn’t use tables. So what? Who cares if it still doesn’t let people achieve their goals.
“ As far as the customer is concerned, the interface is the product.”
Designing for clients that don’t appreciate the value of design is like buying new tires for a rental car.
If your UI even vaguely resembles an airplane cockpit, you’re doing it wrong.
I don’t care if you like it! I want to know if you understand it.
The Fire Department has traditionally considered architecture a priority only when it’s burning down.
The moment clients realize that revisions are not an all-you-can-eat buffet, suddenly they realize they are not hungry.
Instead of thinking of design as a phase, which is mostly completed before you begin construction, you look at design as an on-going process that is interleaved with construction, testing, and even delivery. This is the contrast between planned and evolutionary design.
Some design activities are for creating knowledge for the designer, other activities are for creating understanding for stakeholders, and others are for evaluating assumptions. Sometimes it’s better to hand dig and pan for gold before bringing in the bulldozer. What is the right method? Again — it depends on the project and how much investment you can afford for the results you need.
This first law is simply a question which sets a foundation for designers to intentionally choose a “design way” that is best for their organization: When do you pay for knowledge, and how much will it cost when you pay for it?
At the end of the day, pretty colors make people drool.
The 15 Rules Every UX Designer Should Know 1. UX is not (only) UI User Interface is a part of User Experience 2. Know your audience User research is a natural first step in the design process 3. You are not the user Testing with real users is an essential part of the design process 4. Adapt design for short attention spans Don’t overwhelm users with too much information 5. The UX process isn’t set in stone Adapt your design process for the product you design 6. Prototype before you build a real product The design phase for digital products should include a prototyping stage 7. Use real content when designing Avoid Lorem Ipsum and dummy placeholders 8. Keep things simple and consistent The hallmark of a great user interface is simplicity and consistency 9. Recognition over recall Showing users elements they can recognize improves usability versus needing to recall items from scratch 10. Make design usable and accessible Design for a diverse set of users that will interact with your products 11. Don’t try to solve a problem yourself Design is team sport — don’t work in isolation 12. Don’t try to solve everything at once Design is an iterative process 13. Preventing errors is better than fixing them Whenever possible, design products to keep potential errors to a minimum 14. Offer informative feedback An app or website should always keep users informed about what is going on 15. Avoid dramatic redesigns Remember Weber’s Law of Just Noticeable Differences
Because every person knows what he likes, every person thinks he is an expert on user interfaces.
Should a logo be self-explanatory? It is only by association with a product, a service, a business, or a corporation that a logo takes on any real meaning. It derives its meaning and usefulness from the quality of that which it symbolizes. If a company is second rate, the logo will eventually be perceived as second rate. It is foolhardy to believe that a logo will do its job immediately, before an audience has been properly conditioned.
A logo does not sell (directly), it identifies.
Any system that sees aesthetics as irrelevant, that separates the artist from the product, that fragments the work of the individual, or creates by committee, or makes mincemeat of the creative process will in the long run diminish not only the product but the maker as well.
I haven’t changed my mind about modernism from the first day I ever did it…. It means integrity; it means honesty; it means the absence of sentimentality and the absence of nostalgia; it means simplicity; it means clarity. That’s what modernism means to me…
Know the ways that your users misinterpret your intent. Know that, to them, it is not misinterpretation.
A well-timed pat on the back can simply feel good to receive, especially when it's for a meaningful accomplishment. These success states are good ol' fashioned celebrations of progress.
Make them visual (confirmation and green go great together!) And immediate (don't wait until a user has finished filling out a form to let them know there's more password work to do.) Remember that it's a conversation (your user communicates in interactions, your product responds in success states)
Success states work best for achievements that are meaningful from a user's point of view—this way you're not celebrating their activity within the product, you're celebrating their taking another step towards a better version of themselves.
The faster your product can show users that this is where they can find a path to a better version of themselves, the faster they integrate your product into their lives. This is why it's worth paying attention to how you order the steps in your onboarding flow. When you front-load it with user value, it can pay major dividends.
Momentum is a state of mind in which you feel that things are unstoppably going your way. Psychologists actually refer to it as a power -- when athletes feel it they perform better, when gamblers feel it they take bigger risks, and when you feel it doing household chores, psychologists Iso-Ahola and Dotson have observed, your home sparkles a little more. Momentum is built in wins. At least two in a row. Two consecutive wins, and you're on a "hot streak": the task you're performing suddenly becomes easier and smoother.
The problem is that losing momentum feels terrible and is even worse for performance than no momentum. A task that the user has to "restart" is more demanding and difficult. And oscillating between losing and gaining momentum exponentially increases frustration. The idea, in essence, is simple: success breeds success — so if you want to set users up for success — get them there fast and keep the wins coming. If 10 steps make up your onboarding flow, how many quick wins are you giving users in the first five? Or the first three? How many can you cut out? How many can you postpone?
A rule of thumb that's proved useful in the past is this simple question: is the user actually better off for having made it through the onboarding flow?
If the user could see what their future would be like on the other side of your onboarding before they started signing up, would they want to switch places with that future self?
Activity and achievement are two different things. User actions only add value if they bring the user closer to what they're seeking. Put those steps first, and let their momentum carry the rest.
The difference between simplicity and ease Is difficulty a momentum killer? No. Maybe users have to do something difficult to find value, that might just be the nature of the problem you’re solving. The funny thing is it's difficulty that makes achievement feel good, so a challenging onboarding flow is okay!
The principle of gradual engagement suggests postponing registration or form filling to create a low barrier of entry into your product. Front-loading user value is coupling a low barrier for entry with an ordering of onboarding steps that builds momentum.
Save encouragement states for milestones. Empty praise usually erodes motivation instead of amplifying it. You can use success states to do more than one thing at a time: combine "encouragement" and "signpost" success states to celebrate users and steer them towards a follow-on activity.
When you "prime" users for an ask, you're explaining two things: why you're asking for something and how responding will benefit them. Both have strategic underpinnings: Communicating why you need the access directs the user's attention to what you need from them to deliver value, building trust. Focusing on the benefit reminds them they signed up to receive that value, building motivation.
Asking for permission breaks up the onboarding flow. The more natural the ask, the less jarring it is.
Don't ask for permission to use the camera until you need to use it, in other words. If you wait to ask for access to the camera when the user is all set to take a picture, they won't think twice about giving it the go-ahead.
Success states have become synonymous with celebration, particularly in user onboarding. But the fact is that guiding a user through a complicated flow of actions with positive feedback is more than celebrating a milestone. It's expanding the first conversation that users have with your product.
In many workflows, a screen makes a demand of the user and when the user complies, the product moves on like nothing even happened. Taking a beat to verify that all is well can give the user 1) mental closure and 2) feedback that the product is listening and reacting.
Design is like a mom, nobody notices when she’s around, but everybody misses her when she’s not.
If you dig a hole and it’s in the wrong place, digging it deeper isn’t going to help.
Bad design shouts at you. Good design is the silent seller.
Inclusive design doesn't mean you're designing one thing for all people. You're designing a diversity of ways to participate so that everyone has a sense of belonging.
Design is so critical it should be on the agenda of every meeting in every single department.