Businesses looking to capture the huge market through mobile technology, it has inevitably made designers think out of the box to bring in new functions of interface elements as over the last few years UI is gaining importance.
Attractive designs, deep colors, intriguing textures and clips of physical objects have no place now and much more on the list. Our audiences are getting tech savvy and look for quick responses when browsing, and this is what we need to consider.
Not much of the changes have made customers at ease. The simplicity brought by us has also developed a trait of minimalism where outward appearance has leveled up the hierarchy over accessibility, legibility, and discoverability. With no signs of tumbling down the peak, the trend is devaluing the digital content experience.
1. A Thin Layer
In order to catch up the race, we are creating the most unresponsive, unpretentious interface. Out-casting the visual contrast, the thinnest weights of a typeface along with white text on bright color backdrops are ushering in. Conjuring with it are Headlines, text, borders, backgrounds, icons, form controls and inputs: all in grey.
Looking back, we can say that minimalist trends are dramatically emerging on the web. And, no doubt, the trendsetter is the one having an apple bite. With iOS 7, Apple has brought in a drastic change to its user interface, embedded it with simple mobile interaction, and articulated Apple’s marketing and innovative product design. It turned out to be a catalyst and we imitated and took up everything making a hotchpotch.
New technology also airs this trend. High-resolution computer monitors and mobile devices with advanced screen glass provide the space for ultra-light and subtle hues, which are barely visible on the first or second generation devices.
It would be candid to say that designers have always worked on devices being in the shoes’ of their audiences, but today the gap is widening. It seems that we are only designing supermodels where the access lies with a Mac.
2. Modest Potentiality
Like JavaScript progressive enhancement, there are numerous sensible accessibility practices which retain no place in designing or are ignored. With just one vision, we are deviating down the accessibility.
Confining our knowledge to Apple, for every problem we are applying the same solution, extorting the integrity of beauty, focal pointing on physiognomy over users’ requirements and comfort levels.
Though many designers prioritize user’s needs and their accessibility levels, it fails when the actual process of development starts wherein again we follow the monopolistic services, giving no justice to our new products and services.
3. Blind Imitation
Having that human innate character, we are always looking and comparing each other’s work. Voluntarily or involuntarily, we take in what is around us. Whether it is technology, culture, language, geography, sights, and sounds of films, television, news, we respond to all.
Added to this, when something new has to be created, our clients too look at their competitors’ products and services to able to savor their success.
But this blind copying program ends in a void as there is you have style without context, form without function, and a mimic function. We are again at the same place, without any help to our users, just making high-grade digital products and services with the brands representing them.
4. In search of Good Design, We Lost The Path
The most paramount question to ask when designing is: does your interface matches the product? Does it portray the value of the brand and organization? Does the content output voices the message?
And the answer to this is – “No.”
Because of each company, brand, app or service, stands different and is unique. Each one of them has their own personality, its own values, and special trait. The design is a medium. As professionals, it is our duty to do everything to create a design that spreads the message without words.
Our role is to clearly spread the advantages of a service and unilaterally provide access to content and information. But flattering through fashionable styles and obscure information structure is not the way as it’s disrespect towards the people who have put faith in us.
No way going to extreme reduction, we can simply move ladder up while attaining visual rhythm. With our own creditability, we can carve out an astounding experience with minute details and be meeting fundamental standards of accessibility.
5. Make Excellence Your Benchmark
Looking back at our designs, we always feel that we must have made better choices. Comfortable with the tested patterns, we never think beyond that, not even from the customers’ point of view. And, this mostly never allows us to even rectify our blind spots.
When working for clients, we always think that we are at the upper hand everything at our dispose. However, when it comes to meet their brand standards, we always fell apart with our accessibility of limited designing structure. So, what comes next is to think practically what we can give to users the experience they deserve.
6. Create Protocol To Follow
Before putting anything together, plan out beforehand. Always keep brand values in your mind and considering that jot down keywords to use them as a framework when choosing typography, typeface, and colors that can not only convey organization’s message but also touches the users’ mindset.
By defining a color spectrum, font size, text background, style to the captions, take in everything without leaving anything, to make content legible and readable.
Never overdo with your design, for eg: overlaying text on images. Optimize the space in the layout giving text its own space. Scrims not always work as text will overlap a part of a photograph in a lack of contrasting stage.
7. Find Missing Loops
Never putting in the backdrop, testing work is effectual to find the trivial things that may come up later on. Review your design in different devices to see its legibility.
Check your computer monitor in both darkness and bright light to try to read content. Same way, check in different mobile gadgets keeping them at different angles with varying brightness degrees.
8. Think Out of The Box
Don’t confine yourself to what you have created. Get feedback from different users; question whether you have put in brand guidelines. If you are not at all satisfy with the choices. Push yourself to ask why you are not satisfied and make a report why should change.
Experiment with everything including size, color and weight. Try to recreate which can hold our attention. Still, can’t find inspiration, explore graphic design in print. There from the history treasure, you can get your missing piece to solve your puzzle.
9. Beyond Fascia
Designing sticking to the standard may seem to be strong but when it is explored beyond the limits, it definitely wades through wide demographics, involves larger audience and makes good business. Blindly following trends not only deteriorate usability but also obstructs consistency and uniqueness.
To meet their needs, users will always find the ways, by sizing the text or enabling features for better interface. However, as geeks of our fields, we can do a lot to make their browsing easier addressing to their hurdles.
