Five tips to improve your user interface design
As UI professionals we’re often driven to create and present polished deliverables to a client or peer on first pass.
There are internal pressures to retain job profitability and pressures from the client on timing. There is also the pressure individuals put on themselves to impress peers or clients (or if you’re me a hint of paranoia and perfectionism).
On top of this, as soon as you put a mark on a whiteboard or draw a box in OmniGraffle it becomes really hard to undo. It becomes an individual’s creation, something that belongs to them that they feel precious about.
All of this can stifle the best solution (there’s always more than one solution).
So, if you want to improve your user interface design and your collaborative relationship with your peers and clients, then here are my top tips:
- Start on a whiteboard or paper and get people (internally or users) to feedback from the start.
- Keep going back and reflecting on your research and task models (or involve the people who did the research), it will keep informing and improving your design.
- When you’ve come up with a good idea, photograph it, store it, and then work on a completely different approach (again get people involved to comment).
- Embrace the views of the people that challenge you the most. They’re the person most likely to improve your skills and the project as a whole.
- Share anything with your client as soon as possible, say it’s an idea and expect criticism… And don’t take it as criticism, but understand they may see the world or their business differently to you.
None of this need be laborious, I’m talking about a few marks here and there – just enough to communicate an idea and reflect the user and business knowledge.
Whiteboard sketches of user interfaces to try out design solutions, these are at the perfect fidelity for trying out ideas.I’m talking at the UPA 2010 conference in Munich on taking research and implementing the findings through into design, so would love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Please comment or email me here. Thanks :)
About the author
Richard is a managing director at cxpartners. He works with brands to develop engaging user experiences for different devices, and loves creative problem solving. Richard does a lot of baking, and loves to make bread. Email Richard, or call +44 (0)117 946 3930
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Nice :)
As you design is there a way to document “design themes” or “goals” you are looking to achieve as it pertains to the overall UX you are trying to achieve?
rgds,
Dan
Really glad you liked it. Yes we’ve been looking at a number of ways to hold a vision throughout the UX phases and also into design and build. I try and put together another post with some examples, but here are some of the things we’re going:
- Adding design goals to task models
- Adding a simple slide to the begin of a wireframe deck giving vision
- Creating user storyboards (on top of personas) to show how someone would use the device or interface in context
- Using storyboards of wireframes to show the state of the interface as someone makes there way through it
Hope that gives some ideas, and as I say I’ll try and follow it up with a post shortly, as they are all good techniques for carrying the research findings through into the design and focusing the development team.
Richard
Very cool.
May be nice to take a bunch of magazines old and new and recycled and cut out pictures to represent a UX vision you are aiming for.
Big fan of simple communication pieces to help get the business team on board as to what the design is attempting to achieve beyond the visuals.
rgds,
Dan