The Fundamentals of UI Design – Part 1

Getting exposed to the terms UI, UX, and Artificial Intelligence Technology usually turns out to be confusing for many to figure out the exact differences. But, it’s not at all an alien concept for designers.

Often the expert designers can be even witnessed to be responsible for designing the entire user experience (UX), looking into the detailed user interface (UI) design, and organizing the information architecture (IA) logically.

In this post, we are going to learn how one can design a scalable and consistent user interface. Firstly, let’s understand what strategies can be followed in the user interface design process.

• To develop interface inventories, benchmarking is applied. This makes sure that the user interface is designed in a stable and cohesive environment;
• Based on the interface inventories, the UI pattern libraries are designed. It makes sure that the designing process remains consistent and maintains cost-effectiveness at the same time;
• To interact with the users, animation can be effectively used. It enhances the functionality of the design and delights the user as well.

Ahead, we are going to learn to develop a guided approach to user interface designing, which can be widely used to design a range of scalable projects.

Apart from that, we will be implementing varied learnings from different sources in designing frameworks, which can improve the design and deliver a brilliant version for the end-users.

Strategies To Build An Exceptional UI Design

UI is a very diverse topic, so it won’t be possible to put every detail over here. Just consider it as an overview. Let’s get into the prime strategies that can be put together to build an extraordinary user interface design.

1. Build Interface Inventory

Whether you are working on a new product or starting a re-work on an existing project, you must start with building an interface inventory by defining your UI patterns library.

For instance, the content inventory supports maintaining consistency in the content, in terms of text, images, and variety of content. Likewise, the interface inventory ensures to maintain consistency in the developed user interface within a well-defined and complete framework.

Dedicating a definite time to maintaining the interface inventory can save a lot of time in the long run. The inventory will support maintaining a consistent design system with the whole team. This consistency enables to development of an easily scalable project.

Interface inventory planning helps to dedicate definite time and effort that a specific element requires on priority. It is no less than a style guide, which is having proper and detailed documentation that grows with the product’s growth.

What is an Interface Inventory?

The term ‘Interface Inventory’ was proposed by ‘Brad Frost’. It enlists the ideas of content inventories and integrates them with the user interface design. In simple words, it helps to define all the relevant elements and other details that should be considered in your UI design.

If you are working on a new project, then you might look out for a competitor’s product for reference and analyze their work. This will introduce you to different interface components and help you figure out what elements you can consider.

On the other hand, if you are redesigning the product, then an interface inventory will be like checking out all the components and analyzing their systematic documentation, regardless of their large or small involvement.

Process of Building an Interface Inventory

Stage 1: Initially, take screenshots of every progress you have systematically done in your design. Some might consider it time-consuming, but it is important to maintain uniformity in the UI design.

On the other hand, you might also witness inconsistencies in the design elements, especially when you have a large-sized team.

Your interface inventory will help to quickly identify inconsistencies in the elements that require fixes. The different components considered to build a user interface includes;

Typography

1. 1. Heading and Subheadings
   2. Text Elements or Paragraphs
   3. Lists

Images and Media

1. 1. Logos
   2. Images
   3. Iconography

Forms

1. 1. Text Inputs
   2. Select Menus
   3. Radio Inputs
   4. Checkbox Inputs

Stage 2: Now, the categorization of everything takes place. You need to arrange or put all the screenshots in order to make them organized and meaningful. The screenshots can be organized on various tools, but it is suggested to prefer PowerPoint or Keynote to organize everything. With these organizational tools, it will become easier to present or demonstrate the entire work in a well-formatted method to your team.

After proper organization, it becomes easier to discuss the project details with the team and the client as well. Such an organized mode of discussion can introduce a better understanding of every individual component that is required in the design process.

Such discussions, even lead to keeping all the elements uniform and maintaining efficiency by identifying shared patterns.

2. Build a Pattern Library

After taking care of the interface inventory and organizing all the components, it’s time to identify a common UI pattern and ensure the design around it. The interface inventory will picture all the design inconsistencies. Thus, it is time to address all the inconsistencies and update your UI in a defined manner.

You can also use LEGO tools that help to build highly complicated things by keeping the interface intact. Such a complicated interface can be made up with the help of smaller components. In these components, the pattern libraries are used.

What is Pattern Library?

A pattern library recognizes and classifies design patterns that are recurring solutions to a typical design problem. These might be:

• Breadcrumb Trails
• Carousels
• Calendar Pickers

A UI Pattern Library divides an interface into smaller elements that can be used as a reusable building block.

Benefits of Using Pattern Library in UI Design

• Consistency in DesignTo build a complex user interface, when you prefer smaller and reusable components, then it ensures that all your user interface elements are consistent. Such consistency becomes possible because all the elements are built from simple and similar components.
• Cross-Team Shareable Visual VocabularyThe usage of a pattern library for product designing keeps each team member on the same page. Everyone is using defined UI patterns as a base, instead of designing their customized elements.
• Time Efficient in Designing User InterfaceIt is efficient to maintain the product design as it grows over time because it is built on a core pattern library.

Wrapping Up!

While working on designing your next user interface project, try to implement these strategies and UI design principles. These strategies will help you to create a user-friendly, attractive, and simple-to-use product.

These tactics can be effectively used to get the design right. If the design lacks in any of the aspects then, it can be easily get noticed under this. So, make sure to follow the fundamentals of UI design to build an attractive user interface.

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