UX Rules: 10 Key Principles

There are many user experience principles and laws that a designer should know. These principles are not just written by great UX designers like Jakob Nielsen and Don Norman, but also by many psychologists who studies human behavior and human interaction. Some of the principles are coined decades ago but are still relevant today. Some of the UX principles are still missed in today’s designs but hopefully by following these principles you can increase the change of your UX being Knockout.

1. Design for Users: An essential factor while designing a product is to know your users or audience. It will help in planning if you have an idea about the user's needs and pain points. So, user research is an essential part of user experience design. Empathizing with people will provide value for people who will use your product or service and focus on problem-solving instead of features.

2. Your users are not like you: Users don’t think like you. You know your product from start to finish. Your decisions and expressions have been imprinted in your product. Many users are coming to your website or using your product for the very first time. They have something in their mind to achieve their goal. Some of them might be having a bad experience of using the same kind of website or product, and others may be pocking around.

   Some designers assume that people who are using their product or service are like them. They have the same beliefs, behavior, and needs. Only people who are different from them would make different choices, which is not true. In social psychology, this is termed as False-Consensus Effect.

   “Knowing how people will use something is essential. ”- Donald Norman

   It is essential to know your users because it forces you to be objective and make decisions based on your user’s need and pain points. The technique to overcome False-consensus bias is Usability testing.

   Usability testing is done to evaluate the user’s satisfaction with the product. In this, the users are asked to complete a specific task while the researcher is observing them. The observer will watch, listen, or take notes. The goal is to identify the problems faced by users; qualitative and quantitative data is collected. If more people are facing the same issues, then recommendations are made to resolve those issue.

3. Reduce Cognitive overload: There is a phenomenon in Psychology called Hick’s law which states that the more choices users have, the longer it will take for a user to make a decision.

   Information overload occurs when the system presents irrelevant data to the users; in this, the designer picks up every information related to the product, which results in too much noise that the signal is almost impossible to find.

   The second problem arises when the designer doesn’t know how to present the data accurately, I.e. no simple methodology for processing, comparing, and evaluating information sources. People identify patterns related to the real world. Data visualization can be used to identify those patterns. However, when wrong visualizations are used, the data seem to be overwhelming.

   The final problem people talk about is data overload is the lack of clear structure in groups of information and weak clues between those groups.

   Tips to avoid information overload:

   · Keep it simple: Less information is easy to understand.

   · Relevant information: Use the information that meets the needs of the users.

   · Supportive information: if the user needs more information, make sure it's easily accessible.

   · Allow users to take actions: if users need to complete the task then and there, make it visible.

   Follow these steps to reduce cognitive overload that we and our users have to handle.

4. Designing with real content: Whether you are designing a brand-new application, creating a landing page, or working on new features, the design should always start with the content-first approach. When I talk about content, I'm referring to everything which includes videos, icons, images, and text.

   In the very first draft of wireframes, you will see lorem ipsum text used as a placeholder before the designer asks for content. When the text is placed, the product becomes more complex and realistic. This, in turn, use of lorem ipsum doesn't cut it anymore.

   If I'm talking about the real content that doesn't mean the finalized copy of every title and paragraph. It just means that content should be relevant and minimum make sense.

   Designing with real content helps ensure that we know the product better. Putting the text where it should be placed gives us more knowledge of the goal. As a designer, we talk about user experience, the story we want to express to the visitors. The same applies to content, which is part of the design, and we want our visitors to read it properly.

   If you are a part of a small team and writing content by yourself, use your own words. Get feedback and edit it. If you are a part of a large team, you have someone to write the content part. Get them involved in the project at the beginning as soon as possible. This content-first approach will strengthen the projects you are working on.

5. Recognition over recall: The goal while designing a digital product is to make it as simple as possible. The experience should have a memorable flow and be easy to understand. More the familiar the interface, the more people will tend to visit it.

   Difference between recall and recognition: Recall is how we retrieve information from our brain through learning and practice. For example, we recall information during exams. In comparison, recognition is how we retrieve information from our brain through our previous knowledge and experiences.

   According to Nielsen’s heuristics, there should be consistency and standards and match between the system and the real world. The human brain is wired to recognize patterns quickly rather than recalling things.

   If we are, for example, redesigning an interface. The new design should not be different from the previous one otherwise it will be too hard for the users to adopt it because the mental models are obsolete and users no longer recognize what they have to do with the new interface.

   Minimize the memory load by providing options, objects, and actions. Instructions should be visible or easily retrievable. Provide enough context and cues to help them figure out what they have to do next.

6. Collaborative work: Collaboration among the team members is important. When you design you need to work with as many people as possible to their ideas, feedback, thoughts, and insights on your work. Depending on the project, the role of team members can be diverse. A team consists of a user experience designer, user interface designer, visual designer, business analyst, information architecture, developer, and many other positions depending on the work to be done.

   When we talk about the digital product, good communication between the UX designer, UI designer, and developer is required along with the insights of other team members which results in creating thoughtful, beautiful apps accessible to the users.

7. Design problems are not solved at once: Design is an iterative process in which designers, developers, and educators continually try to improve the design, product, or service. The design process involves various steps such as defining, ideating, prototype, and testing which need repetition at every stage to get closer to the answer, solution, or discovery.

   For example, products such as Microsoft or Apple use an iterative process. These products regularly work on the new features and also work on the problems of previous editions. The iterative process is essential as it ensures a good user experience by reducing usability issues in the very beginning.

8. Error prevention: It’s always better to design interfaces that prevent errors before they happen. Always provide information to support data and make sure that information is easily visible. Any important updates or changes must be notified to users before unexpected actions take place.

   For example, the automatic check for the entered data in a form. Always provide alerts or reminders for inappropriate data entry to reduce errors.

   Final confirmation before deleting: While presenting a feature of deleting something always show a confirmation dialogue box so that the user makes sure whether they want to delete it or not as the user has spent an ample amount of time and effort to create it.

   Offer Undo: A safety feature is required when a user makes a mistake. We must have experienced those moments when we did something wrong, unintentionally, and were left with no options but to regret. The “Undo” feature can be handy as the user feels safe, secure, and confident to play around with the various features as they know it can be fixed later.

9. Give informative feedback: Users must be given informative feedback on their actions. The system status includes- location within the system, the progress of task completion, the time required for the task to complete, etc. Presenting status information to the users will facilitate their next move and improve operating efficiency. This is as simple as a button changing to a highlighted state when pressed. Other types of feedback which show small changes in the system are- loading, scrolling, animations, clicks, taps, etc.

   For example: In SWIGGY food application, provides feedback at every stage from the order confirmation, food preparation, delivery time, name of the delivery person, food delivery to payment. From small to large feedback is essential as it helps in creating an excellent experience.

10. Create accessible design: Accessible design is a design process that meets the needs of special people. The design is only useful if it is accessible to the users. Accessibility is all about people. If we start our design process considering the accessibility, we will find them easy to implement.

    For example, people with visual impairment may not be able to read text on your website, but if you have correctly formatted your website text, these people can use screen reading software to hear the words written your website.

    There are many specialist technologies available for your website to be accessible. Examples: Alternative web browsers, eye tracking applications, braille for the web, screen readers, screen magnifiers, head wand, etc.

    Designing for everyone in mind will be another step closer to making UX better.

Conclusion:

When you apply the principles of good UX design to your website, you will find yourself creating a compelling user experience design. Always remember to do a variety of usability testing and use an iterative process. Remember to focus on the business goals of the product over the aesthetics and biases you have about design and UX in general.