I HAVE FOUND a few interesting articles on the website medium.com about the design principles of UI and UX, and below I will provide a brief summary for each one.
- The first one is ‘Dark Patterns: The Devil in Mobile UI UX Design?’ by Stefano Malachi ( https://medium.muz.li/malachidigest-3cad286bba02 ).
This article explains how companies issue web, UI and UX designers to purposefully make it hard for the user to come across a piece of information or media in order to detract their attention away from it. This is mainly done to prevent and deter people from taking actions like canceling a subscription, contacting a certain person or company, or issuing a complaint, with the main reason for this being so they don’t lose any money or users. This doesn’t mean the information is completely hidden however, it means the process of navigating to it using the UI is harder and less convenient. Examples of ways designers achieve this are;
- Using a combination of confusing colours – makes text harder to read
- ‘Roach Motels’ – the user is able to get into something very easily, usually with a very direct and easy to understand route and method, but is extremely hard to get out of it
- ‘Road Blocks’ – large obstructive adverts that are unrelated to what the user is trying to view for the purpose of interrupting the user
2. The second one is ‘Dear junior UI/UX designer…’ by Dani Andor ( https://blog.prototypr.io/dear-junior-ui-ux-designer-30b1058c73da ).
The second article I read is a starting guide for people who want to get into UI and UX design without having any prior experience. It explains the best ways to be influenced by other designers, how to get your work noticed, and how to enable yourself to understand different practices and terminologies. It also provides many links to resources people may find helpful, like books, online courses and videos, all of which focus on different elements of UI/UX design.
3. The final article is ‘How to write good content as a mediocre UI/UX Designer — [Design Case Study]’ ( https://medium.com/weareevermore/how-to-write-good-content-as-a-mediocre-ui-ux-designer-design-case-study-f299fcdb199d )
In the final article, the writer tells the reader how to make sure your writing in regards to UI and UX design doesn’t waste the time of the reader, or your own time, by writing something that isn’t needed. This is in regards to contacting commissioners and the text content found on the UI itself. It mentions points like;
- Structure: Creating a ‘wireframe’ for the text so what you type makes sense and doesn’t drift from its main point and focus
- Visuals: Adding visual elements to the text to garner attraction, or to prevent people from not paying attention to it
- Topics: Making sure people care about what they are reading/viewing and making sure it is relevant