Principles of UX Design

It is called user experience for a reason. Users are the centre of all design. Through research and user testing you learn what users are looking for, as well as what they don’t want in the product. “It is important for almost all users to have more control over the design they are interacting with and to be able to make decisions that fit their needs. If the users can make more decisions, they will feel empowered, resulting in more control over the design and a higher level of trust in the product being used.”⁵

There are two aspects to the principle of Consistency. Firstly, the users expect their experience with the product to be uniform from beginning to end. They want to see the same visual elements like icons, colours, and placement of text throughout the design. The second aspect of consistency is about giving the users a familiar experience. For example, it is common in PC games for the movements and actions to be bound to certain keys and whilst the binding can be customised by individual users, the default settings are familiar regardless of what games one might play. Imagine if a newly released game was configured differently – how might that affect the user experience? Even if you “innovate and do things differently than your competitors, it is never a good idea to give an entirely unfamiliar experience to the users”⁶

Good design will always follow a hierarchical pattern. The use of hierarchies makes the design more logical and supports users to navigate through and interact with the design. The Interaction Design Foundation suggests having “an easy-to-scan visual hierarchy that reflects users’ needs, with commonly used items handily available”⁷

Inclusive design recognises the diversity of users – language, cultures, gender, age, disability, and other aspects of human diversity. Morales (2021) writes about inclusive design principles and provides some very clear rationale for why inclusive design is essential. Click on the link to read his article ‘What is Inclusive Design? Principles and Examples.’

Context is a term used in design to refer to the circumstances, background or environment in which a user, or users, exists. User context should be taken into account when designing. Read the article, Designing with the User's Context in Mind by Boag (2106) for a useful description of context and why it is important to consider in design. 

UX design is entirely focused on solving the users’ problems, which makes the usability of the design one of the most crucial user experience design principles. No matter how aesthetically pleasing your work may be, it won’t strike a chord with the user unless it is easy to use. Usability testing is a strategy used throughout the design process. It is the practice of testing how easy a design is to use with a representative group of users. It should be conducted regularly from initial development through to product release. Usability testing will be considered in more detail in the section on the UX Design Process later in this module.

The less-is-more approach advocates for simplicity as opposed to cluttering the page with decorative elements. The aim of this principle is to reduce the operational and cognitive costs incurred by the user. The Interactive Design Foundation asserts that designers should “make everything count in the design. If functional and aesthetic elements don’t add to the user experience, forget them.”⁸

Simply put it is a designer’s responsibility to ensure that their design is usable for as many people as possible. This principle is related to both usability and inclusive design, and as you have read in Morales's (2021) article, accessibility is at times used interchangeably with inclusivity. He describes accessible design as “the primary outcome of an effective inclusive design process. It focuses on the end result or the outcome of a design. The goal is to ensure that all users, especially those with differing abilities, are able to use and benefit from your product.” The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines promote the development of accessible web content. 

Great UX has everything to do with simple language. When a user visits a website, they typically don't expect to encounter highly technical terms from the outset. Avoid using jargon. Plain language will stick with them better than formal language, and provides better recall when needed, as this is how people talk in their everyday lives. Another reason to consider is that people frequently interact with designs created in a language that is not necessarily their first preference. Because of the wide variety of users, coming from a wide variety of native languages, it is important to design for a global audience. The tone and voice of the text should be such that non-native speakers can also navigate and understand the product.

Typography is the art and technique of choosing and arranging letters and text in a way that makes your design clear and visually appealing to users. It involves the selection of font families, size, emphasis (bold, italic, or underlined), and text colour. You will already be familiar with the power of typography without even knowing it. Every time you read a book, or look at the cover of a magazine, or browse the internet, you have been exposed to typography choices that impact your experience. Typography can significantly impact the way users interpret the language being used and can help enhance or suppress the message of the text. Fitz-Patrick’s (2021) The UX Designer’s Guide to Typography is a useful place to start gaining a deeper understanding of typography and its importance in UX design.