Visual design dictates how interactive elements look in an interface. It influences the user experience in many ways; for example, it:
affects legibility
creates visual balance on the page
coaxes the eye to move toward certain page elements
directs users toward actions
builds trust and credibility
reinforces the brand
Given its importance, all UX designers (and everyone on crossfunctional development teams) should have at least a baseline understanding of visual design and share a common language. But even proficient UX designers are not always versed in visual design, and few teams are able to create a solid common vocabulary. That difficulty can lead to hours of back-and-forth communication, countless unnecessary...
The first few words are particularly important due to users’ tendency to scan web pages instead of thoroughly reading every word. To maximize the chance that they will find what they need, frontload links with information-carrying language. Then, the rest of the label text should work to
Usability and utility are equally important and together determine whether something is useful: It matters little that something is easy if it's not what you want. It's also no good if the system can hypothetically do what you want, but you can't make it happen because the user interface is too
In digital systems, customers interact with the representation of the brand in the form of websites and other interactive services, making behavior a crucial attribute of brand. The granularity of behavior as a brand attribute can and does vary and can be expressed holistically at the level of
A 60-Second Trailer of the 60-Day Report on Cybersecurity
She explained that the original design of the Internet was driven more by considerations of interoperability rather than security, and as a result we are now faced with almost insurmountable issues. Some examples include online criminals who steal our information, mass bandits who have the ability
Can the blockchain and IoT solve international freight’s issues?
DS: The initial concept behind CargoChain was initiated about six months ago, when I was researching what I wanted to develop for the Shanghai Blockchain Hackathon. As is nearly always the case in the blockchain space, you’re looking from an outsider’s perspective to figure out where blockchain
9 Blockchains Transforming the Way We Pay, Play, and Work
Look past digital currencies’ nosebleed pricing volatility, and you’ll discover a robust, decentralized, secure database. Brands and technologists are quickly figuring out how to put this powerful ledger to good use. Here are several real-world examples that demonstrate cryptos’
Closeness of Actions and Objects in GUI Design
That mainstream corporate websites make blatant usability mistakes is understandable because most members of their teams aren't grounded in graduate degrees in human-computer interaction. (That's why I have recently added foundational courses, such as The Human Mind, to my usability conference
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Instructional Overlays and Coach Marks for Mobile Apps
Minimizing the amount of instructions focuses the users’ attention on a single, primary action. The less text overall, the more likely it is that users will read it and then actually follow that instruction. This idea of deferring secondary content is not unique to coach marks, but applying it to
OK-Cancel or Cancel-OK? The Trouble With Buttons
We get countless questions about small details in UI design that don't matter much to the overall user experience. One classic is the order of buttons in dialog boxes: OK / Cancel Cancel / OK Both are reasonable choices, and people can argue for hours about their preferences: Listing OK
Mobile Tables: Comparisons and Other Data Tables
To see nutritional information for a smoothie from Jamba Juice, users first need to select the drink of interest and then are shown the data specific to that item. A toggle between Small, Medium, and Large allows users to select which option they are interested in, but does not aid comparison
How Community Can Drive Commerce: A Lesson from China’s Little Redbook
A product search on Redbook for Giorgio Armani Lipstick 501 (left) shows only one product listing. Searching for the same keywords on other popular shopping platforms like Taobao (right) yields thousands of options to choose from, because shops and individual sellers can list their own products
Remote UX Work: The NN/g Case Study
UX design often requires collaboration to generate ideas. In-person ideation workshops are much easier than the remote equivalent. When ideation participants are in the same room together, they have a shared context — it’s easy to see what they’re sketching on a sheet of paper and what
WP Engine Culture Recognized at Greater Austin Business Awards
The annual Greater Austin Business Awards competition, presented by The Austin Chamber of Commerce, is designed to honor excellence in all aspects of business. In order to promote awareness and perpetuate good practices, the Awards recognize companies and organization in the Austin region for
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WP Engine Named a Great Place to Work in Ireland
Almost three years ago, WP Engine expanded its global presence and opened a second international office in Limerick, Ireland (our first was in London). Known as a city where technology and culture collide, Limerick has been the perfect location for WP Engine to grow and evolve. At its start, the
WordPress for Good: Relieving Fatigue .
In this segment, we highlight Untire, an application that helps cancer patients and survivors reduce cancer-related fatigue (CRF) symptoms and regain life. CRF is a common side-effect of cancer and related treatments; patients describe it as a paralyzing level of fatigue that leaves patients
UX Retrospectives 101
At regular, but rare, intervals (maybe once a year), you can conduct a retrospective of your retrospectives: a meta retrospective. Are you running your retrospectives right? Do they help make subsequent projects better? Most important, do you see regular improvements in your design process, or are
Cards: UI-Component Definition
For example, placing all the photos in an online photo album on separate cards is not necessary, since they are all of a similar type, are clearly self-contained without the border, background, and shadow, and you don't get additional details when you click on it (you simply get a larger version of
Test Paper Prototypes to Save Time and Money: The Mozilla Case Study
With that knowledge in mind, in the first iteration of the design we focused on limiting the number of choices. The new design allowed people to start with either their task or their product or service, and it offered 5 most-wanted links in a box in the bottom left corner of the page. These
From Smart Home to Aware Home
Edge Computing is most recognized for the role it plays reducing latency issues, as well as protecting our privacy and security. But Edge Computing is also the key to enabling interoperability – or an Aware Home — because it allows smart devices to communicate and allocate computing
A 60-Second Trailer of the 60-Day Report on Cybersecurity
Melissa Hathaway came across our radar recently when President Obama tasked the former Bush administration aide with leading a 60-day review of Bush’s Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative; a largely classified, purported $30 billion, multi phase plan to address cybersecurity issues
Is Workplace Privacy Dead?
Employee monitoring doesn’t have to endanger your company culture. Some companies were able to improve their culture since the software allowed them to spot all kinds of harassment in the workplace. Additionally, thanks to tracking tools, companies were able to detect internal threats and
Why Blockchain and Remanufacturing are a Perfect Match
For example, an automotive remanufacturing blockchain could be built, parts could be posted for potential buyers to view, or buyers could post the type, quantity, and quality of parts they require. Payment options could then be automated via smart contracts when parts are shipped. Blockchain would
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2 Billion Downloads Later, Apple’s App Store is Still Going Strong
It would be nice if Apple gave us a better breakdown of the kinds of apps it actually delivers (free vs. paid, games vs. utilities, etc.). This kind of transparency is obviously not in Apple’s DNA, so we depend on data from third-party services like AdMob for this information. According to
Killer Marketing Plan For Startup Entrepreneurs
Why break the bank for your marketing needs when you can brainstorm your way to a killer marketing plan? The best marketing ideas come simple and cheap but these ideas do not come out of the blue. Your actual business plan will require an out-of-the-box, innovative thought process. You’ll
Visual Design Terms Cheat Sheet | Iterative Design and Testing of Icon Usability
Iterative Design and Testing of Icon Usability
As you can see, all the versions of the color icon were essentially the same since the computer with a light bulb going on was easily recognized by all users as representing some combination of computers and bright ideas (the Sun solutions!). The light bulb did double duty as representing software
Flat-Design Best Practices
Google’s Material Design, which has been around since 2014, took an admirable stab at this concept. The best thing about Material Design was that it defined a carefully considered framework with specific rules, behaviors, and visual properties. Unfortunately, it’s not always implemented
Web Page Footers 101: Design Patterns and When to Use Each
Users will often go directly to the footer to find information such as coupons and promotions or to simply staying up to date with the company’s sales and product releases. Thus, the footer can include information that allows customers to stay engaged with the company — social-media links (or
