Design is not just about beauty, but more so about functionality. That’s what we grasped from Don Norman’s book ‘The Design of Everyday Things’. A cognitive scientist & engineer, Don has pioneered many ideas surrounding user centred-design. In this book he critiques and examines designs of everyday use like doors, stoves, thermostats (oh boy, it makes you ponder) He then applies the below universal design principles to creating tech products (super relevant to digital products too). We at DesignCoz make sure to refer to these principles in our everyday projects:
<rich-h2>Here are 5 Design Principles you should know & how they are relevant to designing digital products today: <rich-h2>
<rich-list-item>Visibility<rich-list-item>
<rich-para>Before a user interacts with something, it's the principle that he/she sees it first. Every design should have certain key elements that’ll make the user notice and take the required action. You can’t make everything visible on your interface therefore, you need to identify those key elements that’ll get the user where they need to be & do what they need to do.<rich-para>
<rich-list-item>Consistency<rich-list-item>
<rich-para>The consistency principle refers to how easy it is for users to make sense of what they see on your interface. (if your design layout has left-align typography on some screens and right-align on some, it will distract your users and break the flow of the content)<rich-para>
<rich-list-item>Learnability<rich-list-item>
<rich-para>Users must be able to understand products and design systems easily and quickly. Learnability relates to how easy or difficult it is to use the product based on what the general rule of thumb is. For example, most digital products have the back button on the top left corner, which gives the user a preconceived notion or muscle memory of where the back button should be. Having the back button on the right would be odd for users at first.<rich-para>
<rich-list-item>Predictability<rich-list-item>
<rich-para>This principle refers to a user’s ability to forecast what will happen next. If a user can predict the outcome of a certain action before they do it, that calls out a good product. Without it, users won’t know what to do with an interface. And if they can’t figure out what actions to take to reach their goal, they probably won’t stick around long enough to figure it out. For example, if there’s a hyperlink on a webpage with the traditional blue line it immediately alerts the user that it's a link and is very much clickable, but what if the text is just bold? Would the users know if it’s a hyperlink? Of course not!<rich-para>
<rich-list-item last-item>Feedback<rich-list-item last-item>
<rich-para>Feedback helps to communicate if the user has completed an action correctly or incorrectly. Feedback should be clear and meaningful, so that users can interpret it in the desired way. For example, using a tick when an action has been completed successfully is a globally recognised way of saying “that’s correct!”.<rich-para>
<rich-h2>Takeaway:<rich-h2>
<rich-para>You can pull-in your audience with the beauty but what will sustain them is usability, SIMPLE & EFFECTIVE USABILITY.<rich-para>
