Interface
Design Tips
Interface Design
- Keep it Simple Stupid (KISS)
- You are communicating information or a message to your audience. Message
is the top priority.
- Always keep your goals and objectives for the website in mind. It's easy
to forget the big picture.
- Interface : A process or procedure or device that can transfer information
from one source to another.
- Design : An Assembly of parts either by processes or layout, that
can effectively communicate info from one source to another.
- Design Process : Arrangement of Pieces of information.
Design Considerations
- Consistency - (Quit button in the same spot)
- Access - Can I get to where I want to go in the piece?
- Intuitiveness - Does it work? Does it flow? Is it easy to navigate.
- Don't let the design overshadow the message. It's not the ingredients, but
how you put them together. Content defines style
- The goal is unity, not uniformity. Create a harmonious environment where
all the content can coexist;everything looks like it goes together.
- Remember, the users computer must reproduce what you produce, so be aware
of your target machine.
- The more invisible and seamless your interface, the better.
Users of western languages...
- scan from top left to bottom right
- assume that larger items are more important
- Assume that items higher on the screen are also more important or emphasized
than items below
- look for more to come controls or indications at the bottom center or right
Remember C.R.A.P.
- Contrast: Changes or similarities in style, color, size, or any other
quality can indicate what information goes together and what doesn't.
- Repetition: Repetition emphasis what information you want the user
to remember. Especially important to instructional/educational work.
- Alignment: Can indicate items or points of the same relative importance.
It also gives the interface a sense of order.
- Proximity: Items located near each other often seem related in some
way, such as how control elements are often grouped together. This helps the
user by signifying their common purpose, as well as providing a common area
for these elements.