What is UI Design?

After we have thought of the experience a user goes through to complete their tasks, we need to show the interface to the user in a way that they would love and understand.

User Interface Design is an important part of the development of any product. This is because it's the first part of your product that a user comes into contact with before they even click a button.

Here, we focus on the visual side of a product and its interactivity. A UI designer is concerned about buttons, icons, typography, color, and other elements that a user will see in a product.

Users tend to relate aesthetics to usability [Aesthetic-Usability Effect] and hence, you can have the best user experience for your digital platform, and users might still fail to complete tasks because it doesn’t look good and/or communicate well enough.

So what goes into good UI?

1. Users need to have a sense of control over whatever they are doing. This means users should be able to reverse their actions, make decisions easily, and find their way around your product.
2. Don't make users think too much. Here you want to remove as much unnecessary information as possible. We need to present to users information that is relevant to their end goal within our product. We also need to make important elements easily accessible to the user. If they have the chance to do one thing on that screen, do not make them struggle to find it. If users can find it easily, they will perform the task faster!
3. Design for everyone. Or at least, try. This includes people with low vision, low-end phones, small screens, hearing impairments, among others. In short, you do not know whom your product will end up with and will have to prepare your product as much as possible.

These are not exhaustive. Consider these as some of the things to keep in mind when it comes to UI Design. Below are some resources to help in designing some pretty good UI.

Thanks to all who read the first issue “What is UX Design”. I hope to make this a continuous thing and continue sharing my thoughts on all things design.

Stay learning,

Derrick.