Fundamentals of User Interface Design
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The document provides an overview of fundamentals of user interface design. It discusses basic building blocks like lines, shapes, size, color, and texture. It then covers basic design principles such as balance, repetition, alignment and symmetry, contrast, and closure. It uses an example of designing a financial report to demonstrate how to apply these concepts. The example walks through iteratively refining the design by grouping and aligning elements, establishing a visual hierarchy and rhythm, removing redundancy, and highlighting important details. The goal is to design a clear and easily readable interface.
Fundamentals of User Interface Design
- 2. Who’s this for This presentation covers fundamentals of user interface (UI) design and how they’re used to build a simple interface element. It’s been tailored for: ● Programmers who don’t have much experience building UIs. ● Beginner UI designers who are still learning basic concepts. ● People who want to learn more about the process, like project managers.
- 3. From idea to product
- 4. Getting to the final product requires lots of activities and skills. The timeline on the left is a simplified model. The real process is more complex and often iterative. Research Problem solving Implementation Idea Product
- 5. We’ll tackle only a narrow part of the timeline. This part is especially important because it is—for better or worse—the most common point where designers and programmers meet. A lot of conversations happen here, so it’s good to share the same vocabulary. Research Problem solving Implementation Idea Product Designers Programmers
- 6. Note When you’re starting, spending just a couple of hours on learning basic principles of visual design greatly improves your ability to produce a decent looking user interface. It won’t make you an expert, but it will steer you away from major disasters. If you continue to learn, you will become good.
- 8. Lines and shapes Straight or curved lines, circles, different polygons, ... What we perceive as text is just a combination of different lines and shapes. Text ﺺﻧ 文章
- 9. Size All shapes can vary in size, width and height. Lines can be thicker or thinner. We usually assign more importance to bigger things.
- 10. Color Color can be evaluated on three dimensions: hue, lightness, and saturation. Hue is what most people mean by color and what we have a clear name for: red, green, yellow, etc. Lightness, often called value, is how light or dark a color is. Saturation is how vivid and intense a color is. Desaturating a color leads to gray. Lightness Hue Saturation
- 11. Texture Surface patterns, shininess, reflection are all texture components.
- 12. Basic principles
- 13. Balance Saturated or dark colors and big size add weight to elements. We can use that to visually balance the page.
- 14. Repetition If similar things are repeated, we see them as belonging together; they form a group. Repeated element don’t have to share all characteristics. But the more they do, the easier it is for us to group them.
- 15. Repetition Here we see one group of sixteen elements.
- 16. Repetition If we change the position of some elements, we suddenly see four groups. It’s almost impossible to perceive all elements as one group, even though they are exactly the same.
- 17. Repetition We can accomplish the same grouping effect by varying some other characteristic, like color lightness.
- 18. Alignment and symmetry Humans love alignment; it brings order. What we love even more is symmetry. When we combine symmetry with repetition, rhythm emerges.
- 19. Contrast Contrast shows how different something is from its surroundings. This text has high contrast and is easy to read. This text has low contrast and is harder to read.
- 20. Contrast Contrast is always a relative measure and depends on the context. For example, the same gray fills both inner squares even though the left one looks darker than the right. This text has high contrast and is easy to read. This text has low contrast and is harder to read.
- 21. Contrast is used to point out different elements in a group. It’s easy to spot which three elements are different from all other in the example. Repetition and contrast
- 22. Closure Our brains tend to look for simple and familiar patterns first, before engaging in a more detailed analysis. This allows us to quickly fill in the gaps at the cost of potentially missing important details. It’s important to know about closure, because it can work for or against us. 1 3 5 _ 9
- 23. Summary Building blocks: Lines and shapes Size Color Texture Basic principles: Balance Repetition Alignment and symmetry Contrast Closure
- 24. Keep in mind Majority of described principles belong to Gestalt principles first mentioned in the 1920s. There are many other design principles, but the ones here form the core and will be enough to start with.
- 25. Let’s apply what we learned
- 26. Design brief Design a report which is a part of a broader financial suite. The report lists invoices due in a given period with tax breakdown. It’s important to mark which invoices are overdue and which are already paid.
- 27. I move things around until they look right. Milton Glaser, graphic designer “
- 28. Start Let’s start by putting all required information and controls out there. Everything we need is here, but it’s hard to focus on what’s the most important. Building block: lines, shapes Invoice 341231 Date issued: Sep 13, 2016 Due date: Nov 15, 2016 overdue Net 412782.23 Tax 53661.69 13% Total 466443.92 Invoice 341232 Date issued: Oct 22, 2016 Due date: Dec 13, 2016 Net 377192.03 Tax 86754.17 23% Total 463946.20 Invoice 341230 Date issued: Sep 1, 2016 Due date: Oct 28, 2016 paid Net 20152.66 Tax 3425.95 17% Total 23578.61 From: Oct 15, 2016 To: Dec 15, 2016 Generate report
- 29. Squint test If we do a “highly scientific” squint test, we see our data is grouped in two big chunks: left group with invoice numbers and dates, and right group with monetary values. We want to have horizontal groups for each entry, like rows, and not two vertical groups. Principle: grouping Invoice 341231 Date issued: Sep 13, 2016 Due date: Nov 15, 2016 overdue Net 412782.23 Tax 53661.69 13% Total 466443.92 Invoice 341232 Date issued: Oct 22, 2016 Due date: Dec 13, 2016 Net 377192.03 Tax 86754.17 23% Total 463946.20 Invoice 341230 Date issued: Sep 1, 2016 Due date: Oct 28, 2016 paid Net 20152.66 Tax 3425.95 17% Total 23578.61 From: Oct 15, 2015 To: Dec 15, 2015 Generate report
- 30. Spread things around Since “due date” is important, we moved it to a dedicated column. This will make it more prominent and balance everything on the screen. These rows look very much like a table, so let’s do just that. Principle: balance Invoice 341231 Date issued: Sep 13, 2016 Net 412782.23 Tax 53661.69 13% Total 466443.92 Invoice 341232 Date issued: Oct 22, 2016 Net 377192.03 Tax 86754.17 23% Total 463946.20 Invoice 341230 Date issued: Sep 1, 2016 Net 20152.66 Tax 3425.95 17% Total 23578.61 From: Oct 15, 2016 To: Dec 15, 2016 Generate report Due date Nov 15, 2016 overdue Due date Dec 13, 2016 Due date Oct 28, 2016 paid
- 31. Move to a table Redundant labels are removed. A new header row is created to explain data in the table. Lines are drawn between rows to create a clear boundary. Building block: line Principle: groupingInvoice 341231 Sep 13, 2016 412782.23 53661.69 13% 466443.92 Invoice 341232 Oct 22, 2016 377192.03 86754.17 23% 463946.20 Invoice 341230 Sep 1, 2016 20152.66 3425.95 17% 23578.61 From: Oct 15, 2016 To: Dec 15, 2016 Generate report Nov 15, 2016 overdue Dec 13, 2016 Oct 28, 2016 paid Invoice ID and date issued Net TaxDue date Total
- 32. Align numbers Numbers are much easier to scan and compare if they’re aligned to the right. Principle: alignment Invoice 341231 Sep 13, 2016 412782.23 53661.69 13% 466443.92 Invoice 341232 Oct 22, 2016 377192.03 86754.17 23% 463946.20 Invoice 341230 Sep 1, 2016 20152.66 3425.95 17% 23578.61 From: Oct 15, 2016 To: Dec 15, 2016 Generate report Nov 15, 2016 overdue Dec 13, 2016 Oct 28, 2016 paid Invoice ID and date issued Net TaxDue date Total
- 33. Create hierarchy We need to show what information is the most important. For example, headers, issue dates, and tax percentages aren’t. By decreasing them in size and changing color to gray, we decreased the contrast between them and the background. The lines between rows were also too strong and they got a similar treatment. Building blocks: color, size Principle: contrast Invoice 341231 Sep 13, 2016 412782.23 53661.69 13% 466443.92 Invoice 341232 Oct 22, 2016 377192.03 86754.17 23% 463946.20 Invoice 341230 Sep 1, 2016 20152.66 3425.95 17% 23578.61 Nov 15, 2016 overdue Dec 13, 2016 Oct 28, 2016 paid Invoice ID and date issued Net TaxDue date Total From: Oct 15, 2016 To: Dec 15, 2016 Generate report
- 34. Create hierarchy Big buttons were towering above the table and weren’t too clear. Were “From” and “To” referencing due date or date issued? Introducing a label makes it clearer. It also looks less intense and more balanced. Building blocks: lines, shapes, color, size Principle: contrast Invoice 341231 Sep 13, 2016 412782.23 53661.69 13% 466443.92 Invoice 341232 Oct 22, 2016 377192.03 86754.17 23% 463946.20 Invoice 341230 Sep 1, 2016 20152.66 3425.95 17% 23578.61 Nov 15, 2016 overdue Dec 13, 2016 Oct 28, 2016 paid Invoice ID and date issued Net TaxDue date Total Generate reportInvoices due from Oct 15, 2016 ▾ to Dec 15, 2016 ▾
- 35. Create rhythm Moving things around and modifying their properties changes their relative position and spacing. We want things to have good rhythm that comes from alignment and symmetry. The best measure depends on the situation. We want to improve vertical rhythm in this situation so we took the height of the main text line in the table as the basic measure. Overlaying the grid over everything allows us to see where are things out of sync. Invoice 341231 Sep 13, 2016 412782.23 53661.69 13% 466443.92 Invoice 341232 Oct 22, 2016 377192.03 86754.17 23% 463946.20 Invoice 341230 Sep 1, 2016 20152.66 3425.95 17% 23578.61 Nov 15, 2016 overdue Dec 13, 2016 Oct 28, 2016 paid Invoice ID and date issued Net TaxDue date Total Generate reportInvoices due from Oct 15, 2016 ▾ to Dec 15, 2016 ▾
- 36. Create rhythm By moving the overlay grid to the side we’ll be able to see the changes better. The goal is to align all text lines in the table with the grid and also have the row separator lines in the middle of one grid measure. Invoice 341231 Sep 13, 2016 412782.23 53661.69 13% 466443.92 Invoice 341232 Oct 22, 2016 377192.03 86754.17 23% 463946.20 Invoice 341230 Sep 1, 2016 20152.66 3425.95 17% 23578.61 Nov 15, 2016 overdue Dec 13, 2016 Oct 28, 2016 paid Invoice ID and date issued Net TaxDue date Total Generate reportInvoices due from Oct 15, 2016 ▾ to Dec 15, 2016 ▾
- 37. Create rhythm Changes are minor, but the result is easier to scan and more pleasant to see. Rhythm and grids are guidelines, not hard rules. For example, the header labels are not aligned with the grid, but rather stayed closer to the separator line. Principle: alignment and symmetry Invoice 341231 Sep 13, 2016 412782.23 53661.69 13% 466443.92 Invoice 341232 Oct 22, 2016 377192.03 86754.17 23% 463946.20 Invoice 341230 Sep 1, 2016 20152.66 3425.95 17% 23578.61 Nov 15, 2016 overdue Dec 13, 2016 Oct 28, 2016 paid Invoice ID and date issued Net TaxDue date Total Generate reportInvoices due from Oct 15, 2016 ▾ to Dec 15, 2016 ▾
- 38. Remove redundancy The first column contained too many words “invoice”. We removed them and got more space for other columns. As a general rule, removing redundant and unnecessary elements always improves clarity and focuses on what is important. 341231 Sep 13, 2016 412782.23 53661.69 13% 466443.92 341232 Oct 22, 2016 377192.03 86754.17 23% 463946.20 341230 Sep 1, 2016 20152.66 3425.95 17% 23578.61 Nov 15, 2016 overdue Dec 13, 2016 Oct 28, 2016 paid ID and date issued Net TaxDue date Total Generate reportInvoices due from Oct 15, 2016 ▾ to Dec 15, 2016 ▾
- 39. Group Long numbers are hard to read. We formatted monetary values by creating groups of three digits. This makes them easy to scan and compare. The same principle is used for grouping credit card and phone numbers. Principle: grouping 341231 Sep 13, 2016 412,782.23 53,661.69 13% 466,443.92 341232 Oct 22, 2016 377,192.03 86,754.17 23% 463,946.20 341230 Sep 1, 2016 20,152.66 3,425.95 17% 23,578.61 Nov 15, 2016 overdue Dec 13, 2016 Oct 28, 2016 paid ID and date issued Net TaxDue date Total Generate reportInvoices due from Oct 15, 2016 ▾ to Dec 15, 2016 ▾
- 40. Highlight details We added color to critical elements. This way they’re different enough from the rest to be immediately noticeable. Even if someone has a type of color blindness that would prevent them from discerning red from green, the text and the width of “Paid” and “Overdue” labels are different enough to be recognized. Building blocks: shape, color Principle: contrast 341231 Sep 13, 2016 412,782.23 53,661.69 13% 466,443.92 341232 Oct 22, 2016 377,192.03 86,754.17 23% 463,946.20 341230 Sep 1, 2016 20,152.66 3,425.95 17% 23,578.61 Nov 15, 2016 Dec 13, 2016 Oct 28, 2016 ID and date issued Net TaxDue date Total Generate reportInvoices due from Oct 15, 2016 ▾ to Dec 15, 2016 ▾ Paid Overdue
- 41. Before and after Each step was simple and logical; it didn’t seem like a big change. But many steps together led to a complete transformation. Visual design shouldn’t look like magic anymore. It is a chain of deliberate decisions following basic principles. Invoice 341231 Date issued: Sep 13, 2016 Due date: Nov 15, 2016 overdue Net 412782.23 Tax 53661,69 13% Total 466443.92 Invoice 341230 Date issued: Sep 1, 2016 Due date: Oct 28, 2016 paid Net 20152.66 Tax 3425.95 17% Total 23578.61 From: Oct 15, 2016 To: Dec 15, 2016 Generate report 341231 Sep 13, 2016 412,782.23 53,661.69 13% 466,443.92 341230 Sep 1, 2016 20,152.66 3,425.95 17% 23,578.61 Nov 15, 2016 Oct 28, 2016 ID and date issued Net TaxDue date Total Generate reportInvoices due from Oct 15, 2016 ▾ to Dec 15, 2016 ▾ Paid Overdue
- 42. Success That was neat, right? You should be able to build similar components by yourself now. Just remember basic principles and do one step at the time.
- 43. Learn more about design We’ve talked about one particular step in the whole process. Activities before user interface design determine what actually gets built. Research Problem solving Implementation Idea Product “Will this solve our problem?”
- 44. Recommended reading If the step just before user interface design interests you, there are some very good books about it. http://merlin.rebrovic.net/blog/recommended-ux-reading
- 45. Learn. Build. Improve. Repeat. merlin.rebrovic.net @merlinrebrovic