The Principles of UX Design You Should Know

How did UX design start?

Well, arguably it started back in 1988 when Donald Norman coined the term “user experience” and published his book: The Design of Everyday Things. At the time, Norman was the lead designer at Apple and wanted people to focus on the complexity of design that is often overlooked. Ever since then, UX design has helped change the way designers approach user-led design.

So, what is UX design?

To break it down, UX is short for “user experience”. UX design is the process designers use to create products and services using fundamental principles to improve the user experience. Design principles form the heart of UX design and include designers needing to have a deep understanding of their users and finding a way to integrate their product through design, usability, and functionality.

If you are a new designer or looking to just learn something new, it is essential to incorporate these guidelines in your work. So let’s take a look at a few of the most important user experience design principles and how to apply them!

1. Always focus on the user.

This is the core principle of UX design because it is about prioritizing the users throughout the design process. It involves thinking carefully about how your users will interact with your website and what they would use it for. By keeping these key concerns in your mind, you will end up with a site that is user-centric.

Applying this principle ultimately depends on the type and size of the organization you work for. It will require plenty of research and there should be a continuous cycle of your design process and feedback as they go hand in hand.

App design for "OffScreen" by Allen Wang that focuses on users and their phone usage.

2. Be Consistent.

Have you ever been to a website that looked different on a phone versus a computer? If you haven’t, that means the designers understand what this principle means. Consistency is about making sure your designs and functionality remain the same across all your pages and products. Many popular and successful applications and websites use similar templates for user interfaces. This helps users have an idea of how things should work and it will help users navigate your pages easily. For example, keeping the same buttons and maintaining a similar “flow” across all platforms allows a seamless user experience.

Webpage and app designs for "Medidations" that show consistent features across both platforms by Cuberto.

3. Hierarchy

Ah yes, an often forgotten core principle of design that needs to be brought into the spotlight! This is about focusing and thinking through all of the functionality and information your website contains and then being able to map them into a structure that demonstrates how your website flows “naturally”.

Hierarchy not only benefits users by allowing them to easily navigate and find what they are looking for in your website, but it will help you, as the designer, to see exactly how your website works.

4. Context is key.

In this sense, context is about paying attention to which devices will be frequently used to access your webpage. You need to ask yourself-- are you designing for someone on the go or for someone who is constantly sitting at a desk? They are many other things to consider such as the devices users are using, the people who influence them, the times they access the website, and many more.

All these factors can help you understand user behavior. The term “emotional design” is a concept that focuses on how users expect web pages and applications to have various emotional “flavors” depending on when, how, and where they access them. By paying attention to these details, they improve the way your designs resonate with your users.

5. Accessibility

Provide equal access by making your designs easy for everyone to use, including those with disabilities. Although it may seem that focusing on providing equal access will require lots of resources that would be better spent in improving other aspects of your pages, both processes are related.

If you are trying to improve the experience for those with visual impairments, you can think about simplifying your visual design. Likewise, if you are trying to improve the experience for those with hearing disabilities, you can think about simplifying the information in your webpage by making it more concise.

There are many other principles of UX design, but these are just a few that have had a huge impact on my work and hopefully will also help improve your future designs!