Don’t be afraid to create your design with plenty of blank space. Also make sure you have plenty of white space between elements and visual units. Don’t be afraid to make words very large or very small. Don’t be afraid to speak loudly or to whisper. Contrast is an essential element Continue Reading
Degree
Notes from my degree course
Principles of User Interface Design
PARC principles – four basic principles do UI design: Proximity Alignment Repetition Contrast Proximity Group related items together – one cohesive, visual unit. Non-related items should not be grouped together – causes confusion. If more than 3 to 5 items on page, try to group elements. Don’t spread separate elements Continue Reading
Navigation
Design documentation – Navigation Chart and Storyboard Design documentation – includes variety of techniques including: navigation charts storyboards Techniques provide common understanding of development needs. Captures views of both clients and developers. Show organisation and structure of content. Navigation types Four main navigation types: Linear Navigate sequentially Build knowledge Example Continue Reading
Main Criteria for User Interface
Consider following when designing user interface: Navigation Do not get lost Consistency Help facility to guide Content Educational Entertaining Promotional Informational Look and Feel Colours to suit brief and create right mood Visually appealing Layout Uncluttered Clear Intuitive Clients/Users Meet expectations More specific users are, easier to target material and Continue Reading
User Interface is Important
Website interface must be chosen carefully. Reflection of company. Users make judgement of company based on experience of website. Needs to create right emotion. Loyalty different on the web. Easy to click to competitors web site. Judgement made in first three to seven seconds. Website needs to reflect same brand Continue Reading
Effective Use of Colour
Colour Wheel Use of Colours Colour Scheme Psychology of Colour Colour Blindness
Colour Blindness
Inability or reduced ability to see colours/colour differences under normal light conditions. About 8% of men and 0.4% of women suffer. Most common in red-green area. Complete colour blindness resulting in only black & white affects only 0.00001% of both genders. Mostly an inconvenience. Can be restrictive, i.e. aircraft pilots Continue Reading
Psychology of Colour
Colours can have an impact on one’s psychology: Positive courage strength warmth energy basic survival ‘fight or flight’ stimulation masculinity excitment Negative defiance aggression visual impact strain violence Movement of colour, if used appropriately, can be effective. e.g. stare at a moving optical illusion and then at a static image.
Colour Scheme
Monochromatic Single hue and it’s varying tints and shades. Analogous In addition to a single hue, it uses adjacent hues. Complementary Uses two hues opposite each other. Split Complementary Single hue and two colours adjacent to the complement. Split complimentary colour wheel Triadic Three colours equally spaced around the wheel. Continue Reading
Use of Colours
Tint of a colour made by adding white. Shade of a colour made by adding black. If two colours are opposite (on a colour wheel), they are considered complimentary, e.g. red and green. This blog post by Nancy Mitchell discusses complimentary colours in the context of decorating an apartment.