Memo UX / UI designer. 19 principles of building interfaces

We continue to write about the design of sites and the development of interfaces. This time, they immediately identified 19 principles for building interfaces. We have collected these principles bit by bit over the past 3 years of work from various books, articles, studies and, of course, our own experience in developing interfaces.

Creating interfaces in designing large sites is the most voluminous and one of the most important stages. Therefore, I separately decided to highlight the principles and laws of interface design.

• Kiss principle. From eng. "Keep it short and simple". The interface should be simple and clear, tasks should be solved with a minimum number of actions, everything should be clear and obvious.
• Do not make you think. It is necessary to avoid complex actions that make users think.
• We remove the obvious. You should not show obvious interface elements, you need to focus only on the really necessary things.
• Signal to noise ratio. In each interface there are important elements (signals) and unimportant or even meaningless for a certain part of the system (noise), of course, you need to concentrate on the signals and avoid noise.
• Proven better than fashion. You should not cling to fashion and do something just because others do it, it’s better to give preference to proven interface elements.
• Habitual controls. In any modern interface there are many controls, it will be better to use familiar elements and visual images.
• People do not read, people browse. Users do not like to read large arrays of texts, do not force them to do it.
• The principle of smart borrowing. Do not reinvent the wheel for standard things.
• Miller's wallet. In one functional block there can not be more than 5-7 elements, otherwise the user will not be able to keep information in short-term memory.
• The principle of grouping. Information on the page is desirable to break into logical blocks (groups), so the user is easier to navigate.
• Intuitive. Understanding is better than memorization.
• Everything is useful in sight. All important interface elements should be visible and appropriately highlighted.
• The principle of 3 clicks. There should be no more than 3 clicks to move from one section to another. The same rule applies to the main page: any important information should be available in no more than 3 clicks.
• Uniformity. In large projects, homogeneous functionality is often found in different parts of the site (for example, comments), it should not differ. The same goes for style.
• Ways to solve the problem. Users need to suggest ways to solve their problems using the interface, and these methods should be obvious.
• The principle of bridge railing. This principle is also called “protection against a fool”, users need to be protected from accidental actions.
• Correct copywriting. Interface design is largely copywriting, every letter is important, especially the headings.
• Principle of unity. Settings and controls should be tried not to hide in separate sections, but give the opportunity to manage from one place, if appropriate.
• Trends. It is necessary to take into account modern trends, so that the interface is not outdated even before the project’s release, but approach this thoughtfully.

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Original article here: http://seclgroup.ru/article-user-interface-architecture-principles.html

Author:
Nikita Semenov ( Facebook , VK , LinkedIn )
CEO
SECL GROUP / Internet Sales Technologies