Simplicity and Functionality
Design should be purposeful and user-centric — it is not simply art. Simplicity and functionality are valued first for the user.
Design & UX
UX principles that guide product development.
UX Principles
I use the following as guidelines whenever I evaluate a UX solution to a problem:
Be Consistent
Visual hierarchy and standardized styles are meant to ground the user in consistency across the product.
Text is not the solution
Extra text isn't always the solution. If you need a paragraph to explain something, it's probably time to take another look at the structure, information architecture, or visual representations of the screen itself.
Use Data wherever you can
Use data from analytics tools when possible to inform decision making. When that isn't possible, challenge yourself to conduct user research in a defined form.
Users above all
This requires us to define who our user is first when designing. That will ground us across the other principles.
A key inspiration has been Don Norman's book, The Design of Everyday Things.
User Research
Validate your hypotheses with qualitative and quant-based research
- Qualitative research is immensely powerful to establish motivation and user need trends.
- Quantitative research will help further validate trends gained in qualitative research, at scale.
Research briefs should include goals, purpose and context, test details (start date, who, testing method, study size), communication and recruitment strategy, demographics, testing assets, user session script, compensation, and results/takeaways.