Common GUI Design Pitfalls to Avoid

GUI Design PitfallsUI is one of the most important aspects to consider when designing a new device or application. Failure to get this right will dramatically affect the success of the final product. If potential customers deem the app to be frustrating, difficult to navigate, or unsightly, it’s likely they will find an alternative – even if the product or service being marketed is far superior to the competition.

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UI Design from the Audience Perspective

User Interface with tabletMany demographic traits distinguish users. In starting a user interface design analysis, a chief task for the designer is to identify those characteristics most critical to the realization of the specific interface goals.

General Characteristics

General traits are broad identifying variables such as age, gender, work experience, education, and culture. Consider an example of designing tax preparation software for a small business. Try to form initial impressions of some design tactics you might use. Would you use a complex one page data entry form, a tabbed interface, or a step-by-step question Wizard? Or perhaps some combination?

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Meet the Jetsons: UI in the Home

UI in the home - using your smart phoneThe same easy and intuitive UIs you use every day now allow you to operate a wide variety of devices in your home. Being able to run your world with a few taps and swipes is not only very cool, it’s convenient.

Imagine you are watching an intense drama an hour before the kids get home, and the washing machine starts to rumble through the spin cycle. You can’t hear the main character’s big speech and you really need to get dinner started. You reach for your smart phone and call up your home control app. A click on the washer pause icon gets the noise under control. An interactive image from the fridge shows that there are veggies you can give the kids to get them through the afternoon. Click on the oven icon and you see that there is still an hour to go on the roast. In seconds, you are back to your movie, with no worries. Continue reading “Meet the Jetsons: UI in the Home”

UI Design Strategies for a Culturally Diverse Audience

A successful UI designer understands the importance of considering different cultural characteristics, backgrounds, and behaviors during the planning process.GUI Design for Cultural Diversity

Language barriers

An obvious but vital consideration, language barriers impact communication and reading comprehension, frustration levels, and product adoption. Depending on the target audience, it may be essential to provide content in other languages, or at least, some contextual translation tools.

These tools may include mouse over pop-ups, or more extensive online translation solutions. A native language speaker should test and quality check all translated content for accuracy, proper syntax and appropriateness.

Cultural context

Some UI designers may assume levels of user sophistication based on prior experience from a majority culture. If the background experience of the product audience is limited, a resulting naiveté and lack of understanding may affect their use of the product.  Continue reading “UI Design Strategies for a Culturally Diverse Audience”

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