Most programmers' fear of user interface (UI) programming comes from their fear of doing UI design. They think that UI design is like graphic design—the mysterious process by which creative, latte-drinking, all-black-wearing people produce cool-looking, artistic pieces. Most programmers see themselves as analytic, logical thinkers instead—strong at reasoning, weak on artistic judgment, and incapable of doing UI design. In this brilliantly readable book, author Joel Spolsky proposes simple, logical rules that can be applied without any artistic talent to improve any user interface, from traditional GUI applications to websites to consumer electronics. Spolsky's primary axiom, the importance of bringing the program model in line with the user model, is both rational and simple. In a fun and entertaining way, Spolky makes user interface design easy for programmers to grasp. After reading User Interface Design for Programmers, you'll know how to design interfaces with the user in mind. You'll learn the important principles that underlie all good UI design, and you'll learn how to perform usability testing that works.
Colour is the game-changer that separates the also-ran from the best-of-breed. It is the wow factor. But relatively few product designers are completely comfortable with the practices necessary to take user interfaces to the next level. This book walks you through what you need to know when working with colour, in very easy step-by-step guides. Colour in User Interface Design uses practical examples to simply explain: Colour models, spaces and gamuts Mixing colours accurately using HSL, HSB and HCL Colour relationships and harmonies Creating consistent tints, tones and shades Matching colour luminance and brightness Understanding contrast and context Light and dark modes Colour psychology, meanings and associations How to sue colour to increase conversion rates Step-by-step how to create, test and present a high quality palette Ensuring accessibility compliance With this book, your understanding of how to work with colour will increase dramatically – and that will certainly be reflected in the user interfaces you design, whether you are working with native mobile apps, websites, or desktop software applications. Lavishly illustrated with hundreds of high quality images.
It’s the little things that turn a good digital product into a great one. With this practical book, you’ll learn how to design effective microinteractions: the small details that exist inside and around features. How can users change a setting? How do they turn on mute, or know they have a new email message? Through vivid, real-world examples from today’s devices and applications, author Dan Saffer walks you through a microinteraction’s essential parts, then shows you how to use them in a mobile app, a web widget, and an appliance. You’ll quickly discover how microinteractions can change a product from one that’s tolerated into one that’s treasured. Explore a microinteraction’s structure: triggers, rules, feedback, modes, and loops Learn the types of triggers that initiate a microinteraction Create simple rules that define how your microinteraction can be used Help users understand the rules with feedback, using graphics, sounds, and vibrations Use modes to let users set preferences or modify a microinteraction Extend a microinteraction’s life with loops, such as “Get data every 30 seconds”
Web Design Inspiration at a Glance Volume 2 of The Web Designer’s Idea Book includes more than 650 new websites arranged thematically, so you can easily find inspiration for your work. Author Patrick McNeil, creator of the popular web design blog designmeltdown.com and author of the original bestselling Web Designer’s Idea Book, has cataloged thousands of sites, and showcases the latest and best examples in this book. The web is the most rapidly changing design medium, and this book offers an organized overview of what’s happening right now. Sites are categorized by type, design element, styles and themes, structural styles, and structural elements. This new volume also includes a helpful chapter explaining basic design principles and how they can be applied online. Whether you’re brainstorming with a coworker or explaining your ideas to a client, this book provides a powerful communication tool you can use to jumpstart your next project.
Why attractive things work better and other crucial insights into human-centered design Emotions are inseparable from how we humans think, choose, and act. In Emotional Design, cognitive scientist Don Norman shows how the principles of human psychology apply to the invention and design of new technologies and products. In The Design of Everyday Things, Norman made the definitive case for human-centered design, showing that good design demanded that the user's must take precedence over a designer's aesthetic if anything, from light switches to airplanes, was going to work as the user needed. In this book, he takes his thinking several steps farther, showing that successful design must incorporate not just what users need, but must address our minds by attending to our visceral reactions, to our behavioral choices, and to the stories we want the things in our lives to tell others about ourselves. Good human-centered design isn't just about making effective tools that are straightforward to use; it's about making affective tools that mesh well with our emotions and help us express our identities and support our social lives. From roller coasters to robots, sports cars to smart phones, attractive things work better. Whether designer or consumer, user or inventor, this book is the definitive guide to making Norman's insights work for you.
Voice user interfaces (VUIs) are becoming all the rage today. But how do you build one that people can actually converse with? Whether you’re designing a mobile app, a toy, or a device such as a home assistant, this practical book guides you through basic VUI design principles, helps you choose the right speech recognition engine, and shows you how to measure your VUI’s performance and improve upon it. Author Cathy Pearl also takes product managers, UX designers, and VUI designers into advanced design topics that will help make your VUI not just functional, but great.Understand key VUI design concepts, including command-and-control and conversational systemsDecide if you should use an avatar or other visual representation with your VUIExplore speech recognition technology and its impact on your designTake your VUI above and beyond the basic exchange of informationLearn practical ways to test your VUI application with usersMonitor your app and learn how to quickly improve performanceGet real-world examples of VUIs for home assistants, smartwatches, and car systems
The relationship of visual perception to color expression in art is presented here in clear detail. Photographs of representative paintings, explanatory line drawings, and abstract, geometric color plates supplement the text.
Learn how UX and design thinking can make your site stand out from the rest of the internet. About This Book Learn everything you need to know about UX for your Web Design. Design B2B, B2C websites that stand out from the competitors with this guide Enhance your business by improving customer accessibility and retention. Who This Book Is For If you're a designer, developer, or just someone who has the desire to create websites that are not only beautiful to look at but also easy to use and fully accessible to everyone, including people with special needs, UX for the Web will provide you with the basic building blocks to achieve just that. What You Will Learn Discover the fundamentals of UX and the User-Centered Design (UCD) Process. Learn how UX can enhance your brand and increase user retention Learn how to create the golden thread between your product and the user Use reliable UX methodologies to research and analyze data to create an effective UX strategy Bring your UX strategy to life with wireframes and prototypes Set measurable metrics and conduct user tests to improve digital products Incorporate the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to create accessible digital products In Detail If you want to create web apps that are not only beautiful to look at, but also easy to use and fully accessible to everyone, including people with special needs, this book will provide you with the basic building blocks to achieve just that. The book starts with the basics of UX, the relationship between Human-Centered Design (HCD), Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), and the User-Centered Design (UCD) Process; it gradually takes you through the best practices to create a web app that stands out from your competitors. You'll also learn how to create an emotional connection with the user to increase user interaction and client retention by different means of communication channels. We'll guide you through the steps in developing an effective UX strategy through user research and persona creation and how to bring that UX strategy to life with beautiful, yet functional designs that cater for complex features with micro interactions. Practical UX methodologies such as creating a solid Information Architecture (IA), wireframes, and prototypes will be discussed in detail. We'll also show you how to test your designs with representative users, and ensure that they are usable on different devices, browsers and assistive technologies. Lastly, we'll focus on making your web app fully accessible from a development and design perspective by taking you through the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Style and Approach This is an easy-to-understand step-by-step guide with full of examples to that will help you in creating good UX for your web applications.
This text offers advice on creating user-friendly interface designs - whether they're delivered on the Web, a CD, or a 'smart' device like a cell phone. It presents solutions to common UI design problems as a collection of patterns - each containing concrete examples, recommendations, and warnings.
