The Meaning of Usability Design Principles
A design is basically a blueprint or design for the construction or production of a structure or an object, or the output of that design, or the intended result of that blueprint or design in the form of some material, device or process. The word ‘design’ itself can mean the art, form, or combination of matter intended to be used or enjoyed, and design can also be used as a term relating to artistic qualities. The word ‘design’ is derived from the Greek word dikaios meaning ‘to carve.’ So design means ‘art.’ In architectural use, a design is usually expressed by a diagrammatic representation or drawing which is often produced by a computer program, usually in 3-D (graphics) format.
Now let’s look at the design principles of a user experience designer. This is a person who is involved in planning and conceptualizing a product, system or user experience. User experience designers are needed for products such as computers, software, electronic goods and interactive games. They need to figure out how the system will interact with the user, what kind of features will be necessary and what kind of aesthetics will be desired. Thus they must have good knowledge of human psychology and cognitive psychology and their background in marketing research and design principles.
User interface designers are people who go through the whole design process as well as participate in its development. Interface designers do things like choose the layout, color scheme, fonts, icons and other visual elements that make up a user interface. They have to be great at thinking about things like how to balance text and images in a way that is attractive to the human eye without making it difficult to understand or remember. They also decide what kind of technology will be needed and what kind of user interface patterns will be employed. Designers for such projects need to know a lot more about ergonomics than any other person.
In terms of what they design it can be anything from menus and tool bars to webpages or interfaces for games and electronic media. For this field however, there is a lot of room for creativity and great design. A designer has to be very imaginative and have a flair for creative ideas. The best designers are able to use their imagination to create new ways of using a product that has existed for decades and still does. The main meaning behind designing is to improve the usability of something and the only way to do that is to think of something new or an idea that hasn’t been thought of before.
Another important job in designing is the creation of “ui kits”. These are basically just collections of functions or elements that a user interface needs to display. Designers often need to come up with new ways of combining or arranging these elements in a way that makes it possible for a user to get his or her work done. If you plan to become a UI designer then you will have to learn more about the computer program and how to program it in such a way as to enable you to add your own personal touch or creativity to it.
There are a lot of UI elements and software packages that designers can use to make their designs better and more user friendly. The whole idea of UI design is to think about how people perceive a piece of information or a design, so that they can then improve it in some way. You can learn about UI design principles by reading books and articles, or by taking a course. But the best way to get the full picture is to actually practice as you learn. You can set simple goals for yourself and then go and implement those into your projects so that you can see your UI design project through to the end.