UI/UX Articles and Interesting Tidbits of the Week
March//9//2018
Here are some interesting finds on UI/UX of the week!
1.https://www.toptal.com/designers/responsive/responsive-design-best-practices
Best Practices for Responsive Design. Interesting article showcasing the importance of responsive web products, detailing statistics on the reach of responsive products, and what strategies to adopt in order to produce effective Products of that nature. Highlight of the article includes:
“Responsive web design is about offering a seamless experience on any device, and since different web browsers render web pages in different ways, websites must be tested to ensure that they’re compatible with a variety of mobile and desktop web browsers. Even though making a website scale to the correct responsive breakpoints is primarily the responsibility of a web developer, it’s the web designer that decides exactly how a responsive website will adapt to various screen sizes in order to create an optimal user experience.”
2.https://icons8.com/articles/ui-design-user-interface-illustrations/?ref=webdesignernews.com
Expanding UI with Illustrations. Article focused on the importance of illustrations and infographics, to expand the reach and effectiveness of User Interface. This is something I’ve shared before, but this article showcases statistics around this strategy, and includes contextual examples for situations such as onboarding, while also including microanimations to further substantiate this approach. Highlight of the article includes:
“In the age of fast and massive information consumption, the role of visuals is growing. According to the explorations by S.Thorpe, D.Fize and C. Marlot on the speed of processing in the human visual system, it takes people on average 150 ms for a picture to be processed and 100 ms more to understand its meaning. Pictures are easier to remember and recall, their message is clear to people of different languages and regardless their ability to read. That is why infographics, icons, illustrations and other assets by graphic designers are used so widely.”
3.https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2018/03/future-mobile-web-design-video-game-design-storytelling/
Web Design Evolution, Video Game Design & Storytelling . Another great article hailing from Smashing Magazine, focused on the importance of storytelling as a means to convey the core message of a brand, specifically in web products. This article showcases principles long used in Video Game design to make this point across, namely by focusing on elements such as personas creation, symbol introduction and by creating mascots, among other relevant features. Highlight:
“Storytelling isn’t just relegated to big brands that can weave bright and shiny tales about how consumers’ lives were changed with their products. Nor is it just for video game designers that have hours of gameplay to develop for their audiences. A story simply needs to convey to the end-user how their problem can be fixed by your site’s solution. Through subtle design strategies inspired by video game storytelling techniques, you can effectively share and shape your own story.”
