In an increasingly connected world, where the digital is extremely mixed with the physical, it is necessary to look carefully at the developed software. Websites, computer systems and mobile applications need to constantly evolve to offer an unparalleled user experience.

And we’re not just talking about performance. In addition to responding quickly to requests, websites and apps need to meet other expectations, such as the UX (User Experience) and the UI (User Interface).

Thus, it is possible to have a more complete product, aligned with what the user needs — and expects. And talking specifically about the visual part, the UI design, we have a big challenge: how to improve the interfaces without compromising the user experience and, mainly, the product’s visual appeal?

It is exactly this issue that we will address here. So if you want to know what UI is and what the principles of UI design are, be sure to check out the special content we’ve created on the theme.

Good reading!

What is UI?

The user interface is everything you can see on a website, system, or application. Colours, typography, images, shapes and transitions, for example, form this interface that allows interaction by the user.

For this contact to happen without major problems, it is necessary to know some UI Design principles to make this visual part more pleasant.

By the way, creating user interfaces is a task of the UI designer. With a specific set of skills for the role, the UI designer is able to turn graphics into beautiful products, but without compromising usability on the part of the audience.

But for this to be possible, the UI designer needs to follow a set of UI design principles. Basically, there are 10 good practices that will raise the quality of the final product, as listed below:

10 principles of UI design for any quality product

1. Visibility of system status

The first principle of UI design concerns constant visibility into system state. In this sense, when navigating through the screens, the user must always be informed about what is happening.

For example: if information is not saved, it must be informed with a clear and direct message. The same goes for any element that has not been loaded onto any screen. Anyway, it is necessary to give constant feedback to the user.

Source: JavaScript and CSS progress bar

2. Integration between the system and the real world

Another important point to create a proper UI design is to integrate the language of the real world and the system, always thinking about the best experience for human beings. Be it words, elements, colors and concepts, all screen logic needs to be designed for people — not machines.

3. Standards and consistency

One more important point within the UI design is to maintain the pattern and consistency of elements throughout the product. Terms, icons, buttons and even words cannot be changed that interfere with the use by the user.

Remember that if the user needs to guess what the elements mean, your system has serious UI design issues.

4. Control and freedom

It is inevitable that interactions with a system lead to unexpected and unwanted situations for the user. Therefore, it needs to have a way to undo the changes or, as is known in the UI design arena, it needs to have an “escape route” from that functionality.

In practice, this means avoiding dead ends or forcing functionality to run against the user’s will.

Source: User Control and Freedom Heuristic

5. Error prevention

Error prevention is also one of the principles of UI design which is obviously a recurrent task of the UI designer. This principle consists of alerting the user about critical system events — such as confirmation when deleting a file or making a modification to information — to avoid unwanted consequences.

So, the recommendation is to always issue alerts and add extra steps so that a critical operation is always carried out with awareness.

Source: Daily UI #54 Confirmation

6. Pattern recognition

When interacting with the system, the user needs to be naturally guided — through pattern recognition — to other areas of the software. An example is the pencil icon for editing functions on a website or app.

When recognizing this element, the user already expects the result when calling the function. So, in this case, the interface was built to reduce the cognitive load and, obviously, to reduce the resistance in interactions with the UI design.

7. Flexibility and efficiency of use

Another good UI design practice is to balance the software’s flexibility with its user experience. This means that the functions of a system must be designed for novice users, but they must also be well resolved for experienced users.

Using gestures in a mobile app, for example, might be more natural for experienced users. However, it cannot be the only way to interact with the system. So, it is always important to offer other possibilities of use for people.

8. Minimalism and aesthetics

“Visual pollution” should also be abolished from interfaces. Any message or element that does not add must be removed, at the risk of confusing and alienating the user from the product. So focus on minimalism and good aesthetics when building systems.

9. Error recognition, diagnosis and recovery

The penultimate principle of UI design is to handle errors that somehow help the user to continue interacting with the system. Clear error messages, without codes, and with alternatives to continue browsing must be the priority of websites, systems and apps.

10. Help and documentation

Lastly, even if all UI design practices are followed, it is necessary to provide didactic and accessible documentation for the end user. This set of information needs to be practical in all aspects, from the search for information to the ease of understanding the topics.

Did you like the content? So share with other UI designers who need to know the best practices in the area to become professionals more prepared for the technology market.

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