How To Create a Good User Interface: 15 Essential Tips for UI Designers

User interfaces are vital for websites, apps, software, games, and more. After all, they’re how users interact with underlying code! Because of this, a UI can heavily impact whether a user or site visitor has a good time and can find what they need or clicks away disappointed. UI designers must know how to create a good user interface from scratch. This article will list 15 essential tips for UI design to help you do that. So, let’s learn how to create a good user interface.

Best Tips For UI Design: Do Your Research

First, research your target audience or the expected user for your app/platform. Different users have different expectations and design appreciations. For example, young users might be a little more tech-savvy than their grandparents, so you don’t need to make large buttons. 

On the flip side, if your target audience is elderly folks, the UI should reflect this by being simplistic, streamlined, and easy to see.

Organize Information by User Expectation

Come up with an information hierarchy early in the design process. You should organize all the information on a page logically.

For example, users expect contact information to be at the bottom or top of the page, not smack dab in the middle where a page’s main content should go. Keep this in mind when designing headings or buttons as well.

Learn more about UI design principles and the best UI design practices.

Keep It Simple

When in doubt, simplicity trumps complexity, at least when designing an effective user interface. Focus on keeping things simple and easy to use instead of creating creative but complex buttons, systems, or user pathways.

For instance, say that you must design three pages for a company’s services. Instead of putting all three services underneath a tab, which a user has to move a cursor over and then down to click on each service, consider placing a button at the top of the screen.

Then, prospective users can click on the service they want to view. Keep it simple above all else to benefit yourself and your clients.

Elevate your UI design prowess with the help of these UI Design archives

Focus on Intuitive Access

Similarly, intuitive access is essential when designing successful UIs. Usable and intuitive UIs:

• Allow people to complete tasks quickly
• Are pleasant to use
• Have very smooth learning curves

The last point is especially critical. An intuitive UI is one that people can quickly learn and engage with after a minimum of trial and error. The more they work to discover a UI, the more likely they’ll drop your app or platform in favor of a competing experience.

Also read: What is UI Design? Understand The Fundamentals Of User Interface Design

Tips For UI Design For Mobile

Over half of all Internet traffic comes from mobile users these days. Therefore, every UI designer needs to design their experiences with mobile users in mind. Good mobile UIs:

• Can fit on smaller screens standard to smartphones
• Have large and easy-to-touch buttons that don’t crowd one another
• Are responsive and load quickly

Make All Areas Easy To Find

Every area on a website or app must be easy for users to find. Otherwise, they could click away to another site or delete an app/software program entirely. Therefore, don’t hide site pages or other areas in folding lists, at the corner of the screen, or in unexpected places.

Make all the primary areas of your website easy to find at the top or bottom of the screen. Furthermore, consider the earlier advice and organize the areas logically – primary services, for instance, should come before secondary services, which should come before an “About” page or similar content.

Prioritize Visibility

Prominent buttons and pages are vital to creating an enjoyable and easy-to-use UI. If it’s easy for users to see all the major design elements of a mobile app, platform, or website, they’ll be more likely to browse the site in detail and flip through all the pages you’ve organized.

This is doubly true if you keep mobile users in mind, as mentioned above. Mobile users need to see all the primary buttons and site elements to tap on them readily. For example, GetWeave’s UI is visually easy to grasp.

Use Highlights and Shadows

UI designers should use highlights and shadow elements to convey depth and realism to a page. By default, each UI has an ambient light source. You can add shadows to the experience to simulate physical pages on the screen or make a site seem more “real” and three-dimensional.

This, in turn, makes your UI connect more easily with the user and can elevate a site or platform subtly yet noticeably.

Tips For UI Design Concerning White Space

UI designers should use white space logically and wisely. Also called negative space, white space is valuable for visually separating elements or pages. You should use white space to:

• Direct user attention to sections of the UI you want them to focus on
• Associate or dissociate different elements with or away from each other
• Make specific elements stand out by isolating them from others

Stick to Recognizable Icons/Symbols

If your UI calls for symbols for buttons or pages, use well-recognized symbols rather than creating your own. For example, an “X” is almost universally recognized as a proxy for “no.” Therefore, use “X” when offering visitors the option to say no to an offer rather than some other, more confusing symbol.

Tips For UI Design Font

The font you choose for your UI can significantly impact its comfort and ease of use. Font and typography should be legible, simplistic, and stark against the background. Black text against a light or white background is usually ideal. You should also ensure that the font and typography are large enough so viewers don’t strain their eyes when browsing your pages or apps.

Also read: Best Font Combinations To Elevate Your Typography

Be Careful With Dark Themes and Colors

In keeping with the above advice, you should only use dark themes or colors sparingly. Dark-themed UIs can be tricky to use correctly. When in doubt, use your best judgment.

For example, entertainment or gaming user interfaces pair well with dark themes since these activities usually occur in the evening. In contrast, professional or work-related UIs benefit more from bright themes and colors for added visibility and focus. 

Make Any Forms Short

Should your UI call for user submission or response forms, keep them short, simple, and concise. Don’t require users to take multiple actions or respond several times for the same form. The more times a visitor has to complete an action, the greater the likelihood they’ll abandon the form and not fill it out in the first place.

Keep CTAs Brief and Sparing

Calls to action, or CTAs, are significant parts of websites, apps, and other digital experiences. However, it would be best not to inundate your UIs with CTAs. One or two CTAs (at most) are appropriate for most user interfaces/web pages. 

Always Test Your UI

Lastly, test your UI with real people before launching it or giving it to a client. Real-world tests are the only way to ensure your ideas or decisions are practically practical.

Wrap-Up: How To Create A Good User Interface

Creating an exemplary user interface ultimately relies on testing, following tried-and-true practices, and sticking to intuitive, streamlined designs. By following the tips above, you’ll create effective and easy-to-use UIs every time. 

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