UI design tools are apps used by designers to create, prototype, and refine user interface design for digital products such as websites, mobile apps, and web apps. These tools facilitate various aspects of the design process, from wireframing and prototyping to creating high-fidelity mockups and interactive designs.

These tools are essential for UI designers as they provide the capabilities needed to create user-friendly and visually appealing interfaces. The choice of tool often depends on the specific needs of the project, team preferences, and workflow integration. Let’s go over the most popular UI design tools.

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UXPin

UXPin is a comprehensive design tool known for its robust real-time collaboration capabilities, allowing multiple users to work simultaneously on the same project.

It excels in supporting design systems, enabling designers to create and manage reusable components and styles efficiently. UXPin’s advanced interactivity features allow for the creation of high-fidelity prototypes using conditional logic and variables.

Despite its powerful capabilities, UXPin has a steeper learning curve, though it provides extensive resources and templates to help users get started.

The tool also facilitates the design handoff process with detailed specifications with HTML and CSS code to copy, and includes functionalities for collecting user feedback through usability testing​ as well as integrations (like the one with testing tool – Fullstory.)

The tool has a Mac app, Windows app, but it also works in the cloud.

UXPin Merge

If you need a single source of truth, UXPin has also another solution — UXPin Merge.

UXPin Merge is a powerful extension of UXPin that allows designers and developers to work with the same components, ensuring consistency and accuracy throughout the design process. This feature is particularly beneficial for collaboration and responsive design.

UXPin Merge excels in supporting design systems by allowing teams to sync components directly from a Git repository, such as those using React. This ensures that the design components used in UXPin are the exact same ones used in the final product, maintaining consistency and reducing the risk of discrepancies.

Figma

Figma is a web-based product design tool, highly regarded for its exceptional collaboration features, allowing real-time multi-user editing and commenting.

It offers strong design system support with shared libraries, UI kits and design tokens that can be easily updated across projects.

While Figma’s interactivity features are sufficient for most UI/UX design needs, they are not as advanced as some other tools. The tool is intuitive and easy for beginners, offering a user-friendly interface and a variety of templates for layouts, user journeys, and more.

Figma supports design handoff through detailed specs and code snippets accessible to developers, and facilitates user feedback collection directly on designs. Although it has limited native support for real data, you can easily find various plugins for this.

Figma also offers a digital whiteboard tool called FigJam that’s perfect for brainstorming, uniting team members and stakeholders with a mutual vision of their design before project kickoff.

Axure

Axure is a powerful prototyping tool known for its advanced prototyping capabilities, supporting detailed interactions and conditional logic. It allows for collaborative work, though it may not be as seamless as tools like Figma.

Axure supports design systems with reusable widgets and styles, but its primary strength lies in its detailed prototyping features. The tool includes features for data-driven prototypes, using variables and datasets, and provides comprehensive design handoff documentation.

Axure has a steeper learning curve but offers robust capabilities for creating complex and interactive prototypes. It also supports user feedback collection through shared prototypes and annotations, making it a versatile UI/UX tool for highly interactive design work​.

Sketch

Sketch is a favorite UI design software among Mac users, offering a powerful set of vector editing tools tailored for UI/UX design. It supports real-time collaboration through Sketch for Teams, although it is limited to macOS users.

Sketch excels in design systems, providing reusable UI kits and shared libraries that can be easily updated. Its prototyping capabilities are basic but can be enhanced with plugins. Sketch integrates well with tools like Zeplin for detailed design handoff processes.

The tool is user-friendly and offers many templates and resources, making it easy to start designing quickly. Sketch supports adding real data through various plugins and facilitates user feedback collection using third-party tools.

Sketch is one of the most cost-effective choice, with prices starting from $10 per month​.

UIzard

UIzard is distinguished by its AI-driven design capabilities which streamlines the design process for low-fidelity and high-fidelity designs.

It provides collaborative features but might lack the depth found in more established tools like Figma. UIzard focuses on AI-driven design systems, which can be useful for quick prototyping but may not offer the same level of customization as the leaders on the market of UI design.

Its reusability features are primarily driven by AI, which can streamline the design process but may require further refinement for more complex UI/UX design projects.

UIzard offers basic feedback features and integrates AI to create interactive elements, although it may not provide the same level of manual control as other tools​ mentioned here.

Marvel

Marvel is known for its simplicity and ease of use, making it an ideal choice for quick design iterations. It offers real-time collaboration and commenting, allowing teams to work together seamlessly.

Marvel supports basic design systems with reusable components and style guides, making it suitable for straightforward projects. The tool provides interactive prototyping features that are good for simple interactions but may lack the depth required for more complex designs.

Marvel facilitates design handoff with specifications and integrates with development tools. It supports basic integration of real data and includes user testing and feedback collection capabilities, making it a well-rounded tool for rapid design and prototyping.​

Justinmind

Justinmind is a versatile prototyping tool that supports advanced interactivity with conditions and events. It allows for collaborative work with version control and commenting, making it suitable for app or web design projects. Justinmind offers design system capabilities with reusable UI elements and templates, enhancing the efficiency of the design process.

The tool provides detailed specifications for design handoff and integrates with tools like JIRA. Justinmind supports real data integration for dynamic interactions, allowing for more realistic user experience design.

It also facilitates user feedback collection through shared prototypes and annotations, making it a comprehensive tool for detailed and interactive design work​.

About InVision and AdobeXD

While both InVision and Adobe XD have been popular tools in the UI/UX design community, they faced significant competition from other tools that offer more advanced features and better integration with modern design workflows.

InVision has been a significant player in the design collaboration space, offering tools that were integral to many design workflows. However, as of 2024, InVision has announced the discontinuation of its design collaboration services, including prototyping and its Design System Manager (DSM), effective by the end of the year.

This decision marks a significant shift in the industry, as InVision was once a frontrunner in providing tools that bridged the gap between designers and developers. The shutdown is attributed to increased competition from other tools like Figma, which have surpassed InVision in terms of functionality and user adoption. As a result, InVision’s focus will shift away from these services, leading to its exclusion from the list of recommended tools for 2024.

Adobe XD, another major tool in the UI/UX design field, is also being discontinued in 2024. Adobe has decided to phase out Adobe XD in favor of focusing on other products within their Creative Cloud suite.

Despite its strong integration with other Adobe products and a comprehensive set of features, Adobe XD has struggled to keep pace with the innovative features and real-time collaboration capabilities offered by its competitors. Consequently, Adobe XD will no longer be available, prompting designers to migrate to other tools that continue to receive support and development.

Which UI design tool will you try?

Among the tools reviewed, Marvel and Sketch are the cheapest options for 2024, with Marvel being particularly accessible due to its free pricing tier. Sketch remains a strong contender for macOS users looking for an affordable, professional-grade tool. Adobe XD and InVision offer competitive pricing but face discontinuation, which may impact their adoption moving forward.

For enterprise teams, UXPin and Figma are the strongest contenders due to their robust collaboration, design system support, and ease of integration with real data and feedback mechanisms. Axure excels in advanced interactivity and detailed prototyping but may have a steeper learning curve and less seamless collaboration compared to the other two UI design tools.

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An art portfolio is a curated collection of an artist’s best work. It promotes the artist’s work and attracts potential employers, clients, galleries, or educational institutions. Most professional artists present their portfolio in form of an artist website and today we’re going to go through a couple of artist portfolios to help you build one.

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What is an art portfolio?

An art portfolio is a collection of an artist’s work that showcases their skills and style. It serves as a professional curation, often used for presenting their work to potential clients, applying for jobs or academic programs, and presenting at exhibitions or galleries.

An art portfolio can be physical or digital, but in the modern context, online art portfolios are more prevalent. Most artists have their own websites that they use to post their work, stay in touch with the art world or even run an online store where people can buy their work.

5 Art Portfolio Website Examples

Julia Plath

Julia Plath’s online art portfolio website effectively showcases her work with a minimalist design that emphasizes the artwork. The site excels in visual presentation and simplicity, making it easy for users to focus on the illustrations, admire the artist’s technical skills, and find contact information.

The website is visually appealing, using a minimalist and clean design. It focuses on the artwork with a white background that highlights the images without distraction. When it comes to typography, simple, sans-serif fonts are used, consistent with the minimalist approach. The text is legible and complements the visual elements without overshadowing the artwork.

A predominantly black-and-white color scheme ensures the artwork stands out. Colors used are minimal and primarily come from the art pieces themselves, drawing attention to them.

The website has intuitive navigation. The menu is clear and accessible at the top of the page, leading to sections like Home, Portfolio, About, and Contact.

While the design is visually appealing, the site could improve on accessibility aspects. For instance, adding more descriptive alt text for images and ensuring text contrast is high enough for readability.

The website has limited interactivity, focusing mainly on viewing the artwork. There is a subtle hover effect on images, enhancing the user interaction without overwhelming the design.

Bonnie White

Bonnie White’s portfolio site showcases a distinct approache to digital portfolio design and brings to mind traditional fine art websites. It’s well-made in terms of SEO, featuring a blog that adds dynamic content to the site, engaging visitors with updates and insights into the visual artist’s process and activities.

Her design portfolio embraces a warm, vibrant aesthetic with a soft color palette that complements her folk art, creating an inviting and personal atmosphere. Artwork is well-organized and displayed with ample spacing. Each piece is accompanied by titles and descriptions, offering context to viewers. The portfolio is accessible directly from the main menu, making it easy to browse.

Fonts are clean and readable, with a mix of serif and sans-serif. The titles use a decorative serif font that adds a personal touch, while body text is in a simple sans-serif, balancing readability with style.

The use of earthy and pastel colors aligns well with the folk art theme. The colors are not overwhelming and help create a cohesive look that reflects the artist’s personality.

The site is fairly accessible with reasonable text contrast and alt text for images. However, some improvements could be made, such as ensuring all text is large enough for readability and enhancing keyboard navigation.

Camille Walala

The art portfolio of Camille Walala has a dynamic and vibrant design that mirrors the artist distinctive graphic design-like style. It uses bold colors and geometric shapes throughout, effectively capturing the essence of her work.

The homepage features full-screen images of her most striking projects, giving a dramatic presentation that immerses the visitor in her world of art. This approach effectively showcases the scale and impact of her installations.

The top navigation menu is straightforward, with clear labels like Work, About, and Contact. This simplicity ensures that users can quickly find what they’re looking for without distraction.

The website design incorporates a vivid color palette, primarily consisting of bright blues, reds, yellows, and blacks. These colors are consistent with Walala’s artistic style and create a cohesive visual experience.

The typography is playful yet clean, featuring bold fonts for headings and simple, sans-serif fonts for body text. This balance maintains readability while adding to the site’s energetic feel.

High-quality images of Walala’s work are prominently displayed. The website effectively uses full-screen images and slideshows to showcase her projects in various settings, making her portfolio visually impactful.

While the site is well-optimized for performance and user experience, there are areas for potential improvement, particularly in accessibility and SEO, which could further enhance its effectiveness and reach.

Timothy Goodman

Timothy Goodman is another visual artists whose online art portfolio is a great example of good web design and a great presentation of visual arts. Based in New York City, Goodman is known for his distinctive graphic style and has created numerous public art installations, illustrations, and typographic works throughout New York and beyond.

Timothy Goodman’s own portfolio successfully captures the essence of his artistic style through its bold, vibrant, and playful design. The intuitive navigation, responsive layout, and engaging visual elements create a positive user experience. The site effectively showcases his diverse body of work while providing clear paths for exploration and interaction.

Hovering over project thumbnails in the Work section triggers visual feedback, such as color changes, zoom effects, or brief overlays with project titles. This interaction invites users to explore and signals that the images are clickable.

Navigation buttons and links change color or style upon hovering, providing a clear indication of their interactivity.

Each project thumbnail is clickable, leading to a dedicated page with detailed images, descriptions, and context for the project. This interaction makes it easy for users to delve deeper into specific works that interest them. Clicking on project links dynamically loads the new content without refreshing the entire page, ensuring a seamless user experience.

Lily Clementine Orset

Lily Clementine Orset uses a unique and unconventional approach to present her art. The web design of this online art portfolio reflects an experimental and DIY aesthetic, aligning with her artistic vision and providing a different experience compared to traditional portfolio websites.

The interface allows users to click and drag elements, enhancing the interactive and hands-on feel of the site.

The use of textured backgrounds and layered images gives the site a tactile, handmade quality that complements the DIY ethos of her work.

The website employs a mix of hand-drawn and digital fonts, contributing to its quirky and artistic vibe. The variety in font styles adds to the visual interest but might affect readability in some areas. Font sizes vary across the site, which adds to the eclectic feel but can create challenges in maintaining a clear visual hierarchy and readability.

The site is designed primarily for desktop use, with the interactive elements best experienced on larger screens. On mobile devices, the navigation and interactions may be less effective or more cumbersome. Elements might not scale well on different screen sizes, potentially affecting the browsing experience on tablets and smaller screens. Having said that, the interactive design invites exploration and encourages users to spend more time on the site, though it may also create some usability challenges.

10 UX and UI tips based on those art portfolios

Effective UX and UI design is crucial for art portfolio websites to showcase the artist’s work, engage visitors, and create a memorable browsing experience. Here are some tips to follow when creating your art portfolio website:

1. Align with Art Style: Ensure the website’s design reflects the artist’s style. Use colors, fonts, and layouts that complement the artwork.
2. Showcase Artwork Effectively: Use high-resolution images that capture the details and colors of the artwork. Include full-screen images, close-ups, and various views to give a comprehensive presentation.
3. Use Neutral Backgrounds: Opt for neutral backgrounds to make artwork stand out. A simple color scheme (e.g., white, black, or gray) ensures the focus remains on the art.
4. Apply Readable Fonts: Use clean and readable fonts. Ensure font sizes and colors provide good readability against the background.
5. Clear Menu Structure: Provide a simple and intuitive navigation menu with clear labels such as Home, Gallery, About, Blog, and Contact. Make sure the menu is accessible from all pages.
6. Breadcrumbs: Use breadcrumbs or a similar mechanism to help users understand their location within the site and easily navigate back to previous pages.
7. Responsive Design: Ensure the website is fully responsive. Design layouts that adjust smoothly across different devices and screen sizes, including desktops, tablets, and smartphones.
8. Interactive Elements: Incorporate subtle hover effects and clickable images to enhance interactivity. Ensure that interactions are intuitive and provide visual feedback, such as highlighting clickable elements or changing colors on hover.
9. Categorize Work: Organize artwork into categories or series. This helps visitors find specific types of work quickly and provides a structured browsing experience.
10. Optimize Performance: Optimize images and code to reduce loading times. Fast performance is crucial for keeping visitors engaged and reducing bounce rates.

Design your own website today

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One of the key design principles, no matter if your designing a mobile app or a desktop one, is to keep your UI consistent. But what does it mean? How do you achieve consistent user interface? Which design decisions you need to make to achieve that? It’s time to explore that.

Good UX design doesn’t come from following UX design best practices. You need to test your product to tell if it offers great UX and fulfills user needs. That’s where prototyping tools come in. With a tool like UXPin, design teams can prototype their product, and then optimize their design through series of iterations and usability testing with real users.

Maintaining consistency between design and development can be challenging, especially in complex projects. UXPin Merge bridges this gap by allowing designers and developers to work with the exact same components. With Merge, your design team can create complex interfaces using the same elements your developers use in production, ensuring that what you design is exactly what gets built. Discover UXPin Merge.

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What Exactly is Design Consistency?

Design consistency is what ties UI elements together with distinguishable and predictable actions, which is key for great product experience and an important thing to consider for UX designers. A way to simplify things is to think of it as a commitment that you make to your users (“whenever you see the light grey button in the pop-up on a homepage, you can assume that it will cancel and the pop-up will close”) so that they can easily interact with your product.

As they become more acquainted and become regular users, they begin to trust the product more and more, which is a reflection of the consistent design. To provide users with a consistent UI, here are UI and UX best practices I’ve found useful for product design.

4 Types of Design Consistency

There are four types of design consistency that comprise visual, functional, internal, and external consistency.

1. Visual Consistency
   • Color Palette: Using a uniform set of colors across the entire design.
   • Typography: Keeping font choices consistent in terms of style, size, and weight.
   • Spacing and Layout: Maintaining uniform margins, padding, and grid systems.
2. Functional Consistency
   • Interactions: Ensuring that similar actions (like clicking buttons or navigating menus) yield similar outcomes.
   • Controls and Components: Using the same design for similar controls and UI components (e.g., buttons, forms) across different sections.
3. Internal Consistency
   • Within a Product: Ensuring all parts of a single product or system look and behave consistently, even across platforms.
4. External Consistency
   • Across Products: Aligning design elements and interactions with other products in the same ecosystem or brand family.

What are the Benefits of Design Consistency?

Design consistency enhances usability by making elements predictable, and it also shortens the learning curve, improves aesthetics, reduces user errors, and strengthens brand recognition by using uniform visual and functional elements.

• Improved Usability – users can predict how elements behave, leading to a smoother and more intuitive experience.
• Faster Learning Curve – users familiar with one part of the system can easily navigate others, reducing the need for extensive learning.
• Enhanced Aesthetics – a cohesive look enhances the visual appeal and professionalism of the design.
• Reduced Errors – predictable interactions minimize user errors and enhance reliability.
• Brand Recognition – consistent use of visual and functional elements strengthens brand identity.

How to Achieve Design Consistency

1. Design Systems and Style Guides – develop and adhere to comprehensive design systems or style guides that outline standards for visual and functional elements.
2. Component Libraries – use component libraries to maintain consistent design elements and interactions.
3. User Testing – Conduct regular user testing to ensure consistency meets user expectations and needs.
4. Documentation and Training – provide documentation and onboarding for new designers and developers to maintain consistency.

9 UI and UX Best Practices for Consistent Design

Start with research

Nothing is more important for a consistent experience than quality research.

This should not be underestimated or hurried. Time and budget are always a necessary consideration in product design. Without either of these, a product would never ship. Although they are important to the process, we can’t lose sight of who actually uses the product, what their customer journey looks like, whether they are desktop or mobile users.

Keep your users top of mind and don’t overlook UX research in the beginning stages of product design planning.

Define user goals

Get into the mindset of a new user. What do they want to accomplish? How will the application help them? List our goals and refer back to these throughout the UI or UX design process.

For example, let’s assume we’re building a travel app. This travel application allows users to select a vacation timeframe and find deals on flights and hotels within their budget. But it’s not just the standard travel site. It connects to your Facebook account, works its magic, and plans the top five vacations based on the content that you’ve shared. The user selects the vacation plan that they like best and all the details are taken care of.

Here are some of the user goals:

• View vacation options within a specified timeframe
• Compare different vacation options
• Select a vacation based on users interests
• Keep within vacation budget

Now that we know the breakdown of goals, we can design to meet user expectations.

Familiarize yourself with common UI patterns

Don’t reinvent the wheel when it comes to established UI patterns. Recurring patterns solve common UX and UI design problems.

Of course, UX designers shouldn’t just “copy” the entire layout of another similar web or mobile app. They need to filter and modify the patterns based on specific user goals.

 A typical pattern in eCommerce is a product grid. With this pattern users can easily browse and see product information.

It’s safe to say that patterns have been evolving and users become aware of standard locations for elements. Most users would agree that when they want to search for something, they look for the search bar in the upper center or right since this is a common placement.

Establish design patterns for product UI and UX design consistency

One of the keys to a successful — and consistent — UI is the user performing tasks with the minimum number of actions is. If a task that takes four steps can easily be completed in two, the UI should always be modified for the shorter task flow. UI patterns can help with this… after all, this efficiency is why they became patterns in the first place.

Design hierarchy

Along with design patterns, having an established visual hierarchy of UI design elements does wonders for UI consistency. Whether users are aware of it or not, they instinctively pay attention to the order and priority of the elements they interact with.

When it comes to visuals and the human eye, some elements take precedence over others (bigger sizes, bright colors, etc.), depending on how “noticeable” they are. Think about your screen visuals in terms of what people will see first, second, third, and so on.

This allows UX designers to ensure users find primary functions faster than others, but they can also present secondary and tertiary functions with the appropriate amount of attention.

UI elements

There is a multitude of design elements that go into an application’s UI, and each makes up the building blocks that form UI patterns. Keep an organized inventory and check that elements are used properly to maintain a consistent experience.

Branding elements

Stay consistent with the overall brand. Typography, logo, correct image styles, brand color schemes, etc. should be reflected in the application, just like the rest of the brand’s properties.

Is the correct logo used? Are branding colors consistent? Does the typeface match the others? Brand consistency helps new projects feel like part of the brand’s family, rather than a black sheep. Style guides usually provide all the information you’ll need.

Making sure colors and typography are on brand gives each of the company’s products a consistent look and feel.

Typography

Elements with the most visual impact like typography should always be “on brand.”

This visual element is especially important, not just for hierarchy, but for the entire UX as well. Changing the sizes, fonts, and arrangement of the text can improve scanability, legibility, readability, and even navigation.

UI components

During user research, become familiar with UI patterns and their components. Knowing how each component behaves, within the pattern and outside it, lets UX designers properly prioritize all elements on the screen without anything slipping through the cracks.

“Components” can refer to any number of elements that make up a pattern, such as:

• Buttons
• Cards
• Forms
• Lists
• Panels
• Progress bars

Let’s say you’re considering adding pagination to long lists so the user doesn’t have to scroll far with long lists.

As you examine the wireframes, you notice that one list has pagination with 20 or more items, while in another part of the application, a list only has pagination with 40 or more items. Which is correct? This example illustrates how making definitive decisions about guidelines is the backbone of UI and UX design consistency.

Templates

If you’re having difficulty standardizing your site or app, try using templates.

Most applications allow them, and because the layout and elements look the same, they streamline UI features across the products. Plus, you can reuse the same UI templates over and over, even years down the line.

Pattern library and design system

It may not be user-facing, but it is one of the keys to consistency. Today, many teams have a pattern library or design system as a point of reference to keep everyone on the same page.  Pattern libraries and design systems are the rulebooks that anyone on the team can reference at any time. For team-wide consistency, they are essential.

A pattern library may not be as robust as a design system since it’s limited to design patterns specifically. A design system has more information all around, including helpful documentation about all the UI patterns and various components. A pattern library can also be a subsection of a design system.

Make actions consistent

Everyone loves when an application is user-friendly. It saves time, avoids headaches, and helps users accomplish their goals by eliminating confusion — all requirements for creating satisfied customers.

Consistent actions remove the need for user discovery and therefore make their task flow run more smoothly. If a user knows how to use the functionality in one section, they know how to use it in all sections (as long as it’s consistent).

Users inherently transfer past knowledge to new contexts as they explore new parts of the application. Consistent actions become second nature and eventually, the user can use the application without even thinking. Furthermore, users bring these expectations into new features or aspects of the product that they haven’t explored yet, minimizing the learning curve.

 “View” placement is not consistent. On most of the cards, it’s toward the top, but on the collection card, it’s at the bottom. This inconsistency might cause the user to pause for a moment to search for the “View” option, not to mention it undermines their own natural habit-forming processes.  

So what, specifically, should you consider when designing your interface? Ask yourself these questions during the entire process:

• Do all parts of the application behave the same way?
• How do interactions work? Are they predictable and consistent?
• How much discovery is needed for a user to understand this interaction?

The example on the left has inconsistent sorting; not all columns have the option to sort. Users may want to sort data in other columns. The example on the right has consistent sorting on all columns.

Review your content

It’s not just about the visual elements, but also the text throughout the application.

Consistent copy — especially consistent terminology — in each place in the application is another key. Using two different words for the same function makes them seem like different functions, causing a momentary pause in the workflow while the user sorts out the discrepancy.

Consistent copy avoids this confusion.

Content structure

Content plays a crucial role in UI elements, whether something as simple as navigation listings or as complex as product documentation. It’s not just the words themselves, but how to copy text is presented visually, such as body copy, list items, table content, etc.

In particular, pay attention to how content is handled in these areas:

• Navigation
• Dropdowns
• Form fields
• Validation messages
• Tooltips
• Charts
• Image captions
• Error messages
• Loading screens
• Confirmation pages
• Product support documentation

Brand consistency in content

You know that feeling when a certain part of an application feels “off.” A lot of times the reason is an inconsistency in the content’s language, for example, if one button says “Logout” and another says “Sign out.”

Even less noticeable inconsistencies can create that “off” feeling.

For the Oxford comma fans out there, something as “minor” as comma usage is picked up subconsciously. After enough of these subconscious flags, the user’s conscious brain starts to notice.

Other writing guidelines such as title case and voice/tone also influence the user’s experience. While title typography is more empirical, voice and tone are a little harder to pin down.  The trouble escalates if most content uses a casual style that clashes with a more formal “brand language.”

Appropriate user defaults

By considering user goals upfront, you can set realistic defaults to reduce the burden on the user.

If the defaults are set to the most popular preferences, the user may not have to make any adjustments at all. Take the date picker on an airline or car rental site. Often the starting default date is sometime in the near future, the most likely choice according to past statistics.

Pay close attention to forms, too; they’re a great opportunity for defaults to reduce the amount of user effort.

Consistent communication

Search results, form submit messages, error windows — every interaction with your user is communication. For an app to be successful, it must speak to the user and keep them informed on what’s happening. And, as with everything else, the way you communicate should be consistent.

Changes in state and helpful information

Users appreciate feedback: a toggle that changes color to indicate “on” or “off,” for example, or a sound effect to verify a completed action.

Your user should never waste time wondering whether an action took place or not. Form field submissions are notorious for this, but it happens in other areas as well. In situations where it may not be clear, a quick success (or error) message is all you need.

Play it safe. Even when it’s apparent that the action was successful, a lot of users still prefer a quick confirmation.

Reduce user frustration

The most common cause of user frustration happens when it’s not clear what to do next. Some tasks are not so self-explanatory, but UI and UX designers are often too close to it to notice. Luckily, some instructional text — even just a line or two — can solve the problem.

For the same reason, error messages are useful too. While users may not like seeing them, they still need to know what happened and how it can be corrected.

Which Design Tools Help in Maintaining Consistency?

There are several tools on the market that help designers and developers keep consistency. We will discuss three of them. If you want to learn about more tools, you can see our article with Design System Management Tools.

UXPin Merge

UXPin with Merge technology allows design teams to build interfaces with production-ready UI components that can be further used to build the end-product. It ensures that the user interface that you design stays consistent and functional with the end-product that gets developed.

This means that design and development teams can be on the same page throughout the full product development process, from early-stage prototyping to creating fully interactive prototypes, eliminating discrepancies and reducing rework by maintaining a single source of truth.

Merge also allows designers to create fully functional prototypes using actual, interactive UI components, leading to more accurate user testing and a seamless handoff to development. Overall, it speeds up the design process by enabling real-time updates and feedback using the latest components, making it easier to maintain consistency and quickly adapt to changes.

Read about dotSource case of using UXPin Merge in their process.

Figma

Figma is a collaborative design tool that allows teams to create, share, and maintain consistent UI design and style guides in real-time. Designers use it to design interfaces of websites, apps, and other digital products that are consistent and easily shareable with other designers.

Read how Porsche uses Figma and UXPin together to create consistent interfaces at scale: Code or Design – Which is a Better Source of Truth?

Storybook

Storybook is a tool for developers that use it to create and maintain UI components, enabling designers and developers to ensure consistency and proper integration of design elements. UXPin integrates with Storybook, so designers and developers can share coded components as a single source of truth.

The integration works by allowing designers and developers to use real UI components from Storybook directly within UXPin. Here’s how:

1. Component Sync: UXPin imports Storybook’s components, enabling designers to drag and drop them into UXPin prototypes.
2. Live Preview: Design changes in UXPin reflect in real-time, using the actual code components from Storybook.
3. Shared Libraries: Both tools use the same source of truth, ensuring that design and development stay aligned and consistent with the latest UI components.

Read more about the integration: Storybook and UXPin integration.

Level up Design Consistency with UXPin

Consistency in UI is a huge undertaking, and it’s easy for some parts to slip through the cracks. The end goal is, of course, a perfectly consistent and in-sync interface, but that’s not always possible right out of the gate.

For startups, you can try an MVP (minimum viable product). Even if the product starts out with some inconsistencies, your team can iron them out one by one over time once you start receiving feedback.

If you’re making updates to an existing product, it can be more difficult to remain consistent. This is where the right prototyping software comes in handy. UXPin allows you to build interactive prototypes fast and keep them in line with your design system. Discover UXPin Merge.

The post Design Consistency Guide UI and UX Best Practices appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

The Double Diamond design process is a widely used methodology for identifying a problem and developing a solution. This outcomes-based framework encourages creativity and innovation while focusing on the core issue and its impact on end-users.

It was introduced by the British Council so that designers could follow a standardized design process and make that process super clear, with visual representation that outlines distinct phases: Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver.

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What is the Double Diamond?

The Double Diamond model is a framework for innovation and design developed by the British Design Council in 2005. The Design Council wanted a simple design process for delivering projects, no matter the methods and tools used.

The design framework features two diamonds:

• a diamond that represents the problem.
• a diamond that stands for the solution.

Designers work within these two diamonds. They help them to truly understand the problem and thoroughly test their solutions.

Once designers identify a core issue in the first diamond, they create a design brief as a foundation for the second. The second diamond focuses on prototyping and testing a solution until its ready for release. 

Why Are There Diamonds in this Process?

The Double Diamond design model was developed as a response to the need for a standardized design process description that could be universally applied across various design disciplines. Before its introduction, there was a lack of a cohesive framework that could describe the entire design process from start to finish, which led to inconsistencies and inefficiencies in design practices.

The Double Diamond we know as a design framework came from the British Design Council, but the inspiration for this process came from Hungarian-American linguist Béla H. Bánáthy’s divergence-convergence model.

Béla’s model looks very similar to the design framework where he used the first diamond to explore an issue widely and deeply (divergent thinking) and then took an appropriate focused action (convergent thinking.)

Diamond One – Discovering and Defining the Problem

The first diamond is about UX research and exploration, often referred to as the “problem space”–similar to the empathize and define stages of the design thinking process. 

Designers start by researching the problem and user needs. This phase might include reviewing analytics and UX artifacts, interviewing end-users, conducting a service safari, and other early-phase research methods.

In phase two, designers use discovery phase research to define the problem and how it impacts users. Design teams may iterate over phases one and two a few times until they get to the core issue. Next, they synthetize all the insights together.

At the end of phase two, designers create a design brief to guide the second half of the design process towards finding an appropriate solution.

Diamond Two – Developing and Delivering the Solution

The second diamond is about ideating, prototyping, and testing to find a suitable solution. 

The develop phase is a busy stage of the Double Diamond framework where teams use various tools and methods, including:

• Workshops and brainstorming: gathering as a team to ideate, hypothesize, conduct experiments, and discuss possible solutions. 
• Low-fidelity design: sketches, wireframes, paper prototypes, and other lo-fi methods designers use to develop and test many ideas quickly.
• Cross-functional collaboration: designers meet with engineers, product owners, and other stakeholders to discuss ideas for feedback on possible challenges and constraints.

The development phase is an iterable process of ideation, prototyping, and testing several ideas until designers identify a single solution with the most potential to:

• Solve the problem
• Align with user needs
• Meet budget and technical constraints

In some circumstances, designers choose a single solution or select their best two or three ideas for high-fidelity prototyping and testing in the deliver phase. The first goal is to eliminate those that don’t work until you arrive at a single solution.

Once designers arrive at a single solution, they conduct further testing to refine the final prototype. During this round of testing, designers focus on usability and user experience to ensure the final result satisfies the design brief and stakeholders.

If designers encounter a problem, they return to the develop phase to find a solution, iterating and testing until they find a solution.

Once prototyping and testing are complete, design teams prepare for the design handoff, including documentation, annotations, assets, and other instructions engineers will use to develop the final product for release.

Lastly, design teams must conduct a UX audit and quality assurance to ensure the final release meets the project’s requirements, business goals, and user needs.

Who follows Double Diamond Design Framework?

The Double Diamond design framework is widely adopted by various organizations and professionals across different industries.

1. IDEO: As a pioneer in design thinking, IDEO incorporates the Double Diamond framework to structure its innovation processes. Tim Brown, co-chair at IDEO, has often highlighted the framework’s value in understanding problems before jumping to solutions​.
2. Design Council: The British Design Council, which developed the Double Diamond model, extensively uses and promotes this framework as a standard for best practices in design​.
3. Google: Google’s design sprints and product development processes often reflect the principles of the Double Diamond, focusing on deep problem understanding and iterative solution development.
4. Microsoft: Microsoft integrates the Double Diamond framework in its user experience and product design processes, particularly in teams focused on user-centered design and innovation.
5. University Design Programs: Many university programs, such as those at Stanford’s d.school and the Royal College of Art, teach the Double Diamond framework as part of their design thinking and innovation curricula. It provides students with a structured approach to tackling complex design challenges.
6. Charities and NGOs: Organizations like the Red Cross and UNICEF use the Double Diamond framework to design and implement programs that effectively address the needs of the communities they serve, ensuring a deep understanding of problems.

4 Phases of the Double Diamond Design Process

The Double Diamond design process comprises two diamonds and four phases (also called the four Ds):

1. Discover
2. Define
3. Develop
4. Deliver

Discover

Objective: To understand the problem space thoroughly by gathering insights and exploring the broader context of the design challenge.

• Activities: This phase involves extensive research, both qualitative and quantitative. Techniques include desk research, field studies, user interviews, focus groups, and observations. The goal is to gather as much relevant information as possible about the problem, the users, and the context in which the problem exists​.
• Outcome: A deep understanding of the problem space, including user needs, pain points, and opportunities for innovation. This phase aims to challenge assumptions and uncover insights that will inform the next phase​.

Define

Objective: To synthesize the insights gathered during the Discover phase into a clear and actionable problem statement.

• Activities: In this phase, designers analyze and organize the data collected. Techniques such as affinity diagrams, root-cause analysis, and the “5 Whys” method are used to identify the core issues and refine the problem definition. Design synthesis helps in distilling complex information into clear insights​.
• Outcome: A well-defined problem statement or design brief that provides a focused direction for developing solutions. This phase sets the stage for ideation and prototyping by clearly articulating what needs to be addressed​.

Develop

Objective: To ideate and prototype multiple potential solutions to the defined problem.

• Activities: This phase involves brainstorming, sketching, and creating prototypes. Tools like personas, wireframes, and Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) are used to visualize and test ideas. The development phase encourages divergent thinking, allowing for the exploration of various solutions and approaches​.
• Outcome: A range of prototypes or preliminary solutions that can be tested and iterated upon. The goal is to explore different ideas and refine them through feedback and testing, ensuring that the solutions are viable and effective​.

Deliver

Objective: To finalize and implement the best solution, and to evaluate its impact.

• Activities: In this phase, the most promising prototypes are refined and developed into final products or solutions. This involves extensive testing, validation, and iteration based on user feedback. Surveys, usability testing, and pilot programs are common methods used to gather final insights before launch.
• Outcome: A polished, user-validated product or solution that addresses the initial problem effectively. The Deliver phase also includes post-launch evaluation and gathering feedback to inform future improvements and iterations​.

How to use Double Diamond Design Process

Here’s a practical example of using a double diamon design process in your workflow.

Phase 1: Discover

1. User Research: Conduct interviews and surveys with target users.
2. Market Research: Study competitors and industry trends.
3. Stakeholder Interviews: Gather insights from stakeholders.
4. Empathy Mapping: Create empathy maps to understand user emotions and motivations.

Phase 2: Define

1. Synthesize Data: Use affinity diagrams to identify patterns.
2. Problem Statement: Develop a clear and concise problem statement.
3. User Journey Mapping: Map user journeys to pinpoint pain points.
4. Design Brief: Draft a brief outlining project goals and constraints.

Phase 3: Develop

1. Ideation: Brainstorm solutions through collaborative workshops.
2. Prototyping: Create wireframes and sketches.
3. User Testing: Test prototypes with real users.
4. Iteration: Refine designs based on feedback.

Phase 4: Deliver

1. High-Fidelity Prototypes: Finalize design details in high-fidelity mockups.
2. Development: Build the site with close collaboration between designers and developers.
3. Quality Assurance: Conduct extensive testing.
4. Launch and Monitor: Launch the site and continuously monitor performance for further improvements.

By following the double diamond design process, you ensure a thorough and user-centered approach to designing a new site, maximizing the chances of its success by deeply understanding user needs, exploring and refining solutions, and effectively implementing and launching the final product.

Try End-to-End UX Design With UXPin

Prototyping and testing are significant in the end-to-end design process, including the Double Diamond framework. Designers must use high-quality prototypes to thoroughly test potential solutions and achieve accurate results.

Unfortunately, high-fidelity prototyping can be slow with certain tools, which isn’t ideal when testing many ideas in the Double Diamond design process.

With fully interactive design from UXPin, designers don’t have to compromise on quality for speed. They can build high-fidelity prototypes that look and function like the final product. Better prototypes yield accurate results during testing, allowing designers to go beyond what’s possible with image-based design tools.

UXPin also comes standard with built-in design libraries, allowing design teams to drag and drop components to build high-fidelity mockups in minutes. In a few clicks, they can add Interactions to create prototypes with code-like functionality, including:

• States: create multiple states for any element, each with separate properties and interactions.
• Variables: capture user inputs and take action based on the data to create dynamic, personalized user experiences during testing.
• Conditional Interactions: create “if-then” and “if-else” rules to execute different reactions to user actions and inputs.
• Expressions: design functions to perform complex operations traditionally only available with code, including form validation, computational components, simulate password authentication, and more.

No matter the framework, UXPin can enhance your design process to create better user experiences for your customers. Sign up for a free trial and discover the possibilities of code-based design with UXPin.

The post Double Diamond Design Process – The Best Framework for a Successful Product Design appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

ChatGPT is a language model developed by OpenAI. It is part of the generative AI tools which utilize deep learning techniques to understand and generate text.

The model works like a chatbot for asking questions or giving prompts, and it generates contextually relevant responses. Designed to handle a variety of natural language understanding and generation tasks, this OpenAI tool is versatile for different applications, including generating UI components from open-source libraries based on prompts.

Try UXPin’s AI Component Creator and generate custom UI components with ChatGPT. Quickly save the components as patterns for future reuse. Explore this and other features that make design 8.6x faster than with other tools. Try UXPin Merge for free.

Design UI with code-backed components.

Use the same components in design as in development. Keep UI consistency at scale.

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What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is a language model developed by OpenAI. It is designed to understand and generate text based on the input it receives. The model has been trained on a diverse range of Internet text, and it can perform various natural language processing tasks. This includes answering questions, engaging in conversations, summarizing text, translating languages, and more.

ChatGPT was created to provide a powerful, versatile, and user-friendly language model that’s capable of addressing various natural language processing challenges. Its broad applicability, combined with the scale of data it was trained on, makes it a significant advancement in the field of conversational AI and language understanding.

It’s one of the most powerful language models, but not the only one. There are also Google’s Bert, T5, Baidu’s ERNIE, Facebook’s Blender Bot or a model named XLNet. ChatGPT 3.5 was the one of the largest language models ever created at the time of its release, with a staggering 175 billion parameters. The training data gave it the power to generate more contextually relevant, coherent and versatile responses compared to smaller models.

Many users implemented ChatGPT into their workflow, built AI tools using its API key, and contributed to its success. An API provided by OpenAI allows developers to integrate the model into their applications, products or services. That’s what we did when we built our AI Component Creator.

How does ChatGPT work?

ChatGPT works by generating a human-like text in response to a prompt it receives from a user. It can generate all types of responses – from a block of text to real conversations and even visuals. Users come into interactions with ChatGPT by typing in what is known as “prompt” into ChatGPT UI.

Prompts are input queries or statements provided to the model to generate responses. The prompt is the command or question that the user gives to the model to elicit the desired output. How users phrase the prompt has an influence on the quality and relevance of what they get in return.

Here are examples of prompts for language models like ChatGPT:

• Conversation: “Tell me about your favorite programming language and why you like it.”
• Instruction: “Provide tips for improving website performance and speed.”
• Creative writing: “Write a short story about an unexpected adventure in a futuristic city.”
• Problem-solving: “I’m having trouble debugging my code. Can you help me identify the issue in this JavaScript function?”
• Education: “Explain the concept of machine learning in simple terms.”
• Opinion: “What’s your opinion on the latest advancements in AI?”
• Scenario for role-playing: “Imagine you are a travel assistant. Plan a weekend getaway itinerary for someone who loves outdoor activities.”
• Comparison: “Compare and contrast the pros and cons of using Python and JavaScript for web development.”
• Task: “Write a Python function to find the factorial of a given number.”
• Explanation: “Explain the functioning of blockchain technology and its applications.”

You can see that those prompts start with an action verb. They provide a cue of what the user wants from ChatGPT, be it an explanation, plan, comparison, answer or mistake spotting. ChatGPT comes up with the best answers to those. You can ask one prompt per conversation or continue a discussion until you are satisfied.

Learn how to write a good prompts for UI design here: Prompt Engineering for UX/UI Designers.

When using prompts, it’s helpful to be specific about the challenges you’re facing or the aspects you want to improve. Providing context and asking for practical advice will get you more tailored and actionable responses from ChatGPT.

The benefits of using ChatGPT in UI design

ChatGPT can increase your productivity, help you refine your skills, and provide answers to your questions. Of course, it’s just a language model, so take its recommendations with a grain of salt and if you’re not sure if the answer is correct, fine-tune it, and try again.

The benefits of using ChatGPT in UI design are as follows:

• No training required — unlike traditional machine learning models that require extensive training on specific datasets, ChatGPT comes pre-trained about various topics, including UI design. This eliminates the need for users to train the model themselves.
• Instant design assistance — ChatGPT provides rapid responses to a query, offering instant guidance, eliminating the need of looking for the answer on the Internet or asking peers.
• Efficient problem-solving — with ChatGPT’s quick and informative responses, designers can maintain a high level of productivity. This model’s efficiency enhances the overall productivity of the design process.

While UX designers use ChatGPT to help them with preliminary user research, building personas, perfecting user flows, UI designers ask ChatGPT to come up with layout, color schemes or typography combinations. When it comes to AI Component Creator, it helps you generate simple or complex UI components, so you can build MVPs or advanced apps faster. Let’s see what you can expect.

How to generate UI components with ChatGPT

Using ChatGPT to generate UI components involves providing clear and detailed prompts to receive the component that you need.

With UXPin Merge, you don’t need to go to OpenAI’s website to get help with UI design. The tool is built in UXPin’s editor. It’s available in the “Quick Tools” bar and it can be quickly launched whenever you need it. And what it does is it generates you UI components based on your prompt that appear directly on your design.

The UI component that’s generated with the ChatGPT integration is the Tailwind UI component. It’s one of a few built-in open-source component libraries available in UXPin Merge. Tailwind is a great resource for building content-first web designs, such as landing pages, documentation hubs, task management apps, employee portals, and more.

You can use the component that has been generated as any other UXPin Merge component in your project. You can resize it, change its position, and more.

How to use ChatGPT integration in UXPin

Do you have a UXPin Merge account? Now, it’s the right time to log in. And if you don’t have an account yet, try UXPin for free, so you can follow along with our tutorial.

The integration requires you to have an OpenAI API. Don’t have it? Write to our support and they will be happy to assist you. Read our help documentation, so you know how to contact our support.

#1: Write the prompt for components

You are in the midst of creating your user interface design and you can’t find a component to go with your design? Let’s generate it. Navigate to the ChatGPT plugin that’s in Quick Tools bar and click the icon labeled “AI” (look at the first screenshot above.)

Now, you will see a modal popping out that looks like this:

Here you can type in your prompt. What will it be? Going back to the section about “How does ChatGPT work?” we’ve seen examples of prompts. They had an action verb (write, provide, identify), some context for the chatbot to grasp what you want, and specific details, such as “responsive,” “gradient,” “customizable,” and more.

Additionally, make sure you specify any requirements and limitations that you have. The requirements may be about the color scheme, such as a specific HEX code for a background color, or accessibility limitations.

Tailwind UI is a great component resource AND component inspiration. So, head to their website to discover what kind of components you can generate. Some suggestions:

• Pricing table — “Generate a pricing table with 3 columns. Column 1: freelancer priced at $19, Column 2: startup and be priced at $39. Column 3: company and be priced $59. Company column should be highlighted and labeled as most popular.”
• Testimonial card — “Create a testimonial card with 5-star rating. The testimonial should be in quotes. Its copy should be “The best tool I’ve ever used” and 5 out of 5 stars should be active. Use #FFD700 for stars and #636363 for text. Add a label long-time customer.”
• CTA section — “Create a CTA section that’s split with an image. An image is on the column on the left and it has a person in front of a whiteboard. The other column is a CTA “Let’s work together” and it has a button “Contact us” that is orange.”

Look at the Tailwind UI site to learn what is possible.

#2: Generate UI components

The component prompt that we will use for the purpose of this tutorial is this:

Please create a contact form with a header “Leave your message”, an email field, a checkbox with text “I accept privacy policy” and a field where a user can type their message. Use color #0000FF for background.

We generated the following component (screenshot below).

It has a blue background, interactive input fields for email address and user input, submit button, and clickable checkbox. The result is pretty nice. There are some things that could be improved, so if you feel like it, write another, more specific prompt.

Check the component place in Pages & Layers Panel. Make sure it is a standalone component and not a part of any other Layer.

#3: Save your components for reuse

Now that you have a component you like, save it to your library in case you want to use it elsewhere or keep it as part of your design documentation. The component is backed with code, and you can export it to your dev’s environment with one click.

Read more about it in our documentation about AI Component Creator.

Resources for writing better prompts

Here are some resources that will help you write better prompts:

• Prompt Engineering Course by OpenAI — Prompting Guidelines by Andrea Valenzuela
• How To Write ChatGPT Prompts (150+ Awesome Prompts Inside) by Emily Gertenbach
• Writing Effective Prompts in ChatGPT by Uxcel

Design with ease with UXPin Merge

Ai Component Creator is a new addition to UXPin and it’s great for getting you a component that is backed with code and fully consistent with the Tailwind UI library. Think of it as an AI-design assistant that generates a UI element based on an instruction.

Get custom nav bars, persona cards, gallery of images, or sidebars that can be easily reused throughout your design. And if you can’t imagine what you can create with Tailwind UI components, go through their website for some inspiration.

UXPin Merge makes it extremely easy for non-designers to build interactive and beautiful UI without having design skills. It works in a drag-and-drop like fashion, so you can take a component from a library and build an interface with it. Aside from Tailwind UI, it has other open-source libraries, such as MUIv5, React Bootstrap, Ant Design which are based in React.

Give it a try. Pick one of the available templates and customize it or start a completely new design. Then, copy the code off your design and bring it straight to a development tool. Try UXPin Merge for free.

The post ChatGPT in UI Design – How UXPin Can Generate UI Components appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Unity in UI design is the cohesive arrangement of different elements within a user interface to create a visually harmonious and coherent experience for the end user. It involves organizing interface components such as buttons, icons, text, images, and other graphical elements in a way that they appear to belong together and form a unified whole.

This unity plays a crucial role in enhancing usability, aesthetics, and user satisfaction by creating a cohesive and well-integrated interface that communicates the intended message and facilitates user interactions.

In 2024, unity still remains to be an important principle of design. The evolution of design software and tools has given designers more flexibility and capabilities to achieve unity in innovative ways. For example, advanced software features allow for more precise control over layout, typography, and color palette, making it easier to maintain unity across various platforms.

Build a unified user interfaces and keep them so between design and development. UXPin is a prototyping tool that’s committed to making user interfaces unified. Use its functionalities to achieve a sense of unity that’s easy to replicate in code. Try UXPin for free.

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What is unity principle of design ?

The unity principle of design is a fundamental concept in graphic and UI design as well as art. It refers to the idea of creating visual harmony and cohesion within the web design or app design. It involves organizing elements of design in a way that they appear to belong together and form a cohesive whole.

By applying the unity principle of design, designers can get a clear message across while keeping the design is visually appealing and easy to understand.

How does unity in design enhance user experience?

A unified interface enhances the overall user experience by making it easier for users to understand and navigate the interface. When elements are cohesive and consistent, users can more intuitively interact with the interface, leading to a smoother and more enjoyable experience.

Think of a webpage that doesn’t follow unity as the principle of design. Its header probably contains a mixture of different fonts, sizes, and colors for the logo, navigation menu, and contact information. The logo design clashes with the rest of the page. The navigation menu items are scattered randomly, with no consistent spacing or alignment. Text blocks vary in font size, color, and alignment, making it difficult for users to follow the content flow.

The website lacks a cohesive visual identity and appears haphazardly thrown together. It overwhelms users with conflicting visual elements, making it difficult to navigate and engage with the content. Users may feel disoriented and frustrated due to the lack of unity in design, ultimately leading to a negative user experience and high bounce rates.

Now, imagine a web design that that effectively follows the principle of unity. The heading features a clean and elegant logo that reflects the brand’s identity, using a simple and cohesive color scheme. A minimalist navigation menu is prominently displayed, with clear and consistent typography and use of white space.

The website embodies a sense of unity and coherence throughout its design, creating a tranquil and inviting user experience. The consistent use of color, typography, imagery, and layout reinforces the website’s theme and brand identity. Users feel immersed in a harmonious environment, enhancing their engagement and enjoyment of the website.

This kind of unity can be achieved through visual unity and conceptual unity. Let’s differentiate between the two.

Conceptual unity vs visual unity

Conceptual unity and visual unity are two aspects of design that play critical roles in creating cohesive and effective compositions, whether in art, graphic design, product design, or digital interfaces. Understanding the differences between these two types of unity can help designers better execute their projects according to the intended message or function.

Conceptual Unity

Conceptual unity refers to the coherence of the ideas behind a design. It focuses on the underlying theme or narrative that ties all elements of the work together. This type of unity is achieved when all parts of the design support a common message or concept, making the overall purpose of the design clear to the viewer.

Characteristics of Conceptual Unity:

• Theme Consistency: All elements support a central theme or idea.
• Message Cohesion: Every part of the design contributes to a unified message, enhancing the communication of a specific concept or story.
• Emotional or Psychological Impact: The design evokes a consistent emotional response or intellectual engagement from the audience, aligned with the intended concept.

For example, in a marketing campaign, conceptual unity might be achieved through consistent messaging that aligns with the brand’s values across different media and platforms, even if the visual presentation varies.

Visual Unity

Visual unity, on the other hand, refers to the visual cohesiveness of elements within a design. It involves arranging the visual components in a way that they all feel part of a whole, usually by using consistent colors, shapes, sizes, or repeating patterns. Visual unity is crucial in guiding the viewer’s eye across the design and creating a sense of harmony and balance.

Characteristics of Visual Unity:

• Repetition: Repeating visual elements like colors, shapes, or textures throughout the design.
• Alignment: Arranging elements in a way that lines up along common axes or follows a specific grid structure.
• Proximity: Grouping related items close together to emphasize their relationship.
• Continuation: Creating a visual flow that leads the viewer’s eye through the design in a deliberate path.

Visual unity can be achieved through the consistent use of color schemes, typography, and layout structures across different pages, ensuring the site feels cohesive and navigable.

How to create unified design

Creating a unified design involves a thoughtful process that combines both conceptual and visual elements to produce a cohesive result.

Step 1: Fill out a design brief.

Detail the purpose, goals, and target audience of your design project. Include any specific messages or emotions you want to convey. Then, specify any necessary elements or constraints, such as branding guidelines, budget limits, or timelines. Remember to address potential challenges upfront to streamline the design process.

Step 2: Conduct a design workshop.

Get all relevant stakeholders involved in a design workshop, a dedicated time to brainstorm ideas and ensure that the expectations are aligned. Use the workshop to generate creative ideas and explore different approaches to the design. The workshop should end with a clear, agreed-upon direction for the visual and conceptual development of the project.

Step 3: Establish a visual style.

Decide on colors, typography, imagery, and overall aesthetic that align with the design brief. This style should visually communicate the intended message and appeal to the target audience. Then, create a style guide that will document these choices to maintain consistency throughout the design process.

Step 4: Gather content.

Before designing a mockup, start with content. Content-first design will help you determine how to create visual hierarchy and visual interest on the webpage or app page. It will also help you decide which elements should have more visual weight than others.

Step 5: Create a mockup.

Create detailed mockups of your design, which may include digital sketches or prototypes. Refine these mockups by continuously applying design principles to enhance visual and conceptual unity. For example, use balance and alignment to create a structured, aesthetically pleasing layout, arrange content to guide the viewer’s attention effectively, using contrast to highlight key areas, and more.

Step 6: Get feedback.

Have team members and stakeholders review the mockups, focusing on how well they meet the design brief and convey the intended message. If possible, gather feedback from potential users or members of your target audience to get insights into the effectiveness and appeal of your design.

Step 7: Hand the design to development.

Share with devs a prototype that contains specifications such as dimensions, behavior, and interactions. Provide comprehensive documentation to support the developers, including style guides and interaction descriptions. Maintain communication throughout the implementation phase to address any issues that may arise and ensure the design integrity is maintained.

Practice using unity in design

Unity in UI design is about organizing interface elements such as buttons, icons, text, and images in a cohesive manner, ultimately leading to improved usability and user satisfaction.

In 2024, unity remains a vital aspect of design, with advancements in design software providing designers with more tools to achieve it creatively. For instance, advanced features in software like precise layout control and color palette management contribute to maintaining unity across various platforms.

Tools like UXPin facilitate the creation of unified user interfaces by offering functionalities that streamline the design-to-development process. By leveraging such tools, designers can ensure that the unity achieved in design translates seamlessly into the final product. Create user interface designs that have a sense of unity. Try UXPin for free.

The post Unity in Design – Basic Design Concepts Revisted appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Little icons have a big job. With limited real estate, they must convey meaning to people who expect to be informed about function or status. Maybe that’s why thousands of icons sets exist, many for free. But there’s nothing quite like making your own.

Project-specific icons help the project to stand apart and convey meaning unique to its functions. For example, most apps or dashboards let you create new records. But fewer systems will let you assign one record to another. That may require a creative symbol that people will come to recognize as they learn your product.

Their role in design systems leaves little room for ambiguity: meaning must remain clear in a variety of surrounding contexts, while fitting into the system’s overall aesthetic.

Unify your design and development team with a single source of truth – coded components shared across UI design and engineering. Bring your design system to the final level of maturity and speed up the entire product development process. Try UXPin Merge.

Reach a new level of prototyping

Design with interactive components coming from your team’s design system.

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What are Icons in Design System?

Icons in a design system are visual symbols that represent ideas, objects, or actions. They are a fundamental element of user interface that helps products have a unique look and feel. Plus, they indicate that an element is clickable. They can provide visual cues where to click or tap to perform actions like saving, editing, sharing, or navigating within the interface.

Examples of icons in design system include:

• navigational icons – aid navigating through the interface, such as menus, home, arrows.
• action icons – help users perform some task like arrow for adding an item.
• media icons – indicate that users can manage media like play button or speed up button.
• utility icons – represent settings, configurations, and other customization mechanisms.
• status icons – show errors, loading, or approval.
• communication icons – such as chat bubble, phone or envelope.

Why Icons are Part of Design System?

Iconography is more than tiny pictures. Together they form an entire family, not unlike a set of typefaces, that reinforce a brand.

They also prevent extra work. When you need an icon, just grab one from the project’s style library, or use the library as inspiration. To that end writing (and drawing) guidelines for new icons is important.

• Make guidelines for icons. Part of your design system should include parameters on what your team can and can’t do with icons.
• Practice style. One of the best ways to develop a visual language is to apply it to new ideas. As you invent icons, make sure they fit the same look — but don’t be afraid to modify that look early in your work.
• Test each iteration. Do your icons make sense? Can people figure out what they mean? Getting stylish while retaining clear meaning requires showing your work to users.

Where to get ideas for icons

Where do icons come from? Your imagination is just the beginning. Seeking inspiration from outside sources can be critical to success.

• Look up synonyms for the word or concept you want to represent.
• Look for styles beyond the obvious. What inspiration might you find from, say, Polynesian symbols or Mandarin letterforms?
• Doodle shapes at random, avoiding backgrounds like circles or squares.
• Use the brand. Does your project’s logo have an eye-catching characteristic you can use? How about the project’s typography?
• Create negative space. How can the interactions of three or four regular geometric shapes overlap to create new and interesting forms?

Base complex forms on the same shapes

Recognizability is the most important aspect of an icon. If people don’t know it at a glance, they may waste precious time deciphering it — or look elsewhere for a shape they associate with the function at hand.

With that in mind we start by defining icons’ silhouettes. But don’t just start drawing lines.

• Use the same geometry. Here we make shapes based entirely on small circles and rectangles. When you base icons on the same general elements, they look like they belong to the same family
• Use the same angles, e.g. 90°, 45°, 30°. Doing so will make them more legible and more consistent.
• Same line weight throughout. Here, basing glyphs on the same few shapes will help keep your icons looking similar without looking derivative.
• Stick to symmetry — or the same asymmetry. Tilting your icons is a great way to make them stand out from other sets. But if you do so, tilt them all at the same angle to reinforce that they’re part of the same family. Otherwise stick to good ol’ right angles.

This example may stick to its base shapes a little too closely for practical design work, but demonstrates how simple geometry can create complex forms that look like they belong together.

Make a consistent color palette

Like using geometry to make icons look like a set, if you plan to use color, then you should use the same color palette. But which colors?

• Seek inspiration from your photos. If you have final art for your project, make the icons look harmonious by sampling colors from that art.
• Borrow from Google’s MDL palette. They’ve done a great job of selecting bright colors that stand out against a variety of backgrounds, yet rarely clash among themselves.
• Make sure the colors work well together. Speaking of clashes, test every combination of your preferred colors to keep them from looking awkward when adjacent to each other.
• Use one color per icon. The contemporary “flat” look works best without shading, shadows, gradients, or other details that detract from their silhouettes.
• Use values. If you must use multiple colors, try to use different shades of the same hues.
• Consider meaning. Should colors imply function? It’s up to you, but remember that many people associate color with actions, like red for “delete,” green for “create,” and faded (usually less opaque) for “disabled.”

How much color is too much? How much is too little? Determine your color palette based on one factor: attention. If your icons need to grab people’s eyes, then make ’em bright. Otherwise aim for consistency.

Remember that symbols have preconceived meanings

People often associate certain “universal” icons with certain functions. The trash can, for example, means “delete.” Hamburger icons, though, aren’t universally understood … yet.

Using microcopy with icons is a good idea. Rely on shapes for quick identification, and text for folks who don’t get it.

Designing a system

Icons must do a lot with a little. In spite of running small, people expect to “get it” at first glance. That’s why silhouettes, consistency, color, and meaning all work together for a great, on-brand icon set.

The post Design a System of Icons With These Techniques appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Figma is a powerful web-based design tool that has become designer’s favorite as it allows to create, collaborate on, and share user interface designs in real-time. Founded in 2012 by Dylan Field and Evan Wallace, Figma has grown to become one of the leading tools in the design industry due to its unique features and capabilities.

Although it offers a great collaborative design experience, Figma is not the best when it comes to interactive prototyping, design handoff, and code-based design. Let’s analyze Figma competitors and analyze what makes this design tool so popular.

Design fully functional prototypes with UXPin Merge. Use the same components in design as you do in development, and create prototypes that can be interacted with and tested with real users. See how. Try UXPin Merge for free.

Design UI with code-backed components.

Use the same components in design as in development. Keep UI consistency at scale.

Try UXPin Merge

What is Figma?

Figma is a web-based design tool that simplifies teamwork and UI design.

Figma’s focus on accessibility, powerful features, and collaborative capabilities has made it a preferred choice for designers and teams worldwide, transforming how digital products are designed and developed.

What is Figma used for?

Figma is best suited for designers with UI and UX design projects that require detailed, UI designs and robust collaboration features.

It is used for:

• Brainstorming — Figma is a great tool for idea generation; it released a complimentary tool FigJam, where team members can create artboards and flowcharts during brainstorming sessions. An alternative to Figma for brainstorming is Miro.
• Prototyping — Figma Figma enables designers to create high-fidelity, interactive prototypes with various transitions and animations​. Figma’s alternative for prototyping are UXPin or Axure.
• UI design — Figma is praised for its design capabilities and it’s used to design the graphical user interfaces of websites, mobile apps, and other digital products. It provides design functionalities to create detailed, high-fidelity mockups. An alternative to Figma in UI design was InVision or Adobe XD. Now, it’s the tools that we will cover in this article.
• Design system — Figma supports the creation and management of design systems, which are collections of design elements and guidelines that ensure consistency across a UI design. It also helps with version control. Figma’s alternative for design systems is Sketch or UXPin.
• Graphic design — Figma provides robust vector editing tools that allow designers to create intricate illustrations and detailed vector graphics. Figma’s alternative for graphic design is Canva.
• Wireframing — Figma is also used for creating wireframes, which are low-fidelity representations of a design’s structure and layout. Wireframes help designers plan the basic structure and flow of a user interface. An alternative for Figma for wireframing is UXPin, Balsamiq, and Axure.

How Figma came to be?

Figma’s backstory is rooted in the vision of its founders, Dylan Field and Evan Wallace, who sought to transform the design industry by creating a more collaborative and accessible tool. Founded in 2012, the idea for Figma emerged from their desire to overcome the limitations of traditional design software, which was often platform-specific and lacked real-time collaboration features. Field’s Thiel Fellowship provided the initial funding and mentorship necessary to bring their idea to life.

The official launch of Figma in 2016 marked a significant shift in the design landscape. As a browser-based tool, it allowed designers to work on any device with internet access, facilitating seamless collaboration akin to Google Docs. This innovation quickly garnered attention, leading to substantial venture capital investments and a growing user base. By 2021, Figma had reached a valuation of $10 billion, reflecting its widespread adoption and impact on the design community.

Figma’s success is also attributed to its focus on community and extensibility. The platform introduced features like plugins, FigJam for whiteboarding, and a vibrant community for sharing resources and ideas. Despite an attempted acquisition by Adobe in 2023, which was ultimately abandoned, Figma has remained independent and continues to innovate, aiming to democratize design and make powerful tools accessible to all designers​.

Figma in numbers

Here are the key numbers associated with Figma.

• User Base: As of March 2024, Figma has over 4 million users, including designers from major companies like Microsoft, Google, and Uber.
• Market Share: The number of designers using Figma as their primary tool rose from 20% in 2018 to 77% in 2021, highlighting its rapid adoption and popularity in the design community​.
• Valuation: Figma’s valuation grew significantly over the years. It reached $2 billion by April 2020 and $10 billion by mid-2021. Despite an acquisition attempt by Adobe that valued Figma at $20 billion falling through, the company remains highly valued at approximately $8.3-9 billion as of late 2023.
• Funding: Figma has raised substantial funding across several rounds, including $25 million in Series B (2018), $40 million in Series C (2019), $50 million in Series D (2020), and $200 million in Series E (2021)​.
• Collaborative Files: Over 3 million Figma files are shared within teams every month, underscoring its collaborative nature and widespread use among design teams​.

Why is Figma so popular?

Figma is a user-friendly design platforms that designers love because of at least 5 features.

• Real-Time Collaboration: Multiple users can work on a single design file simultaneously, providing live feedback and making collaborative design seamless​. All it requires to work is an internet connection, as Figma is a web app.
• Design Systems and Reusable Components: It supports the creation and management of design systems, ensuring consistency and efficiency in large-scale projects​​.
• Comprehensive Toolset: Figma offers a wide array of design tools, from vector graphics and typography to layout and composition, all within an intuitive interface.
• Community: Figma boasts a vibrant community where users can share templates, tips and plugins for streamlining the design process and reducing the learning curve.
• Plugin Ecosystem: Figma has an extensive plugin ecosystem for integrating Figma with other tools, simplifying workflow and enhancing its functionality.

Top Figma competitors

1. UXPin
2. Moqups
3. Framer
4. Sketch
5. Marvel
6. Axure

UXPin

UXPin is a Figma alternative for advanced prototyping. While Figma is a vector-based design tool, UXPin is code-based, meaning that you can set up the most advanced interactions on the components level and then copy the code behind it to use in development. With UXPin, you can create clickable menus, data-rich tables, interactive forms, dynamic content, and more.

It’s an end-to-end design tool, so you don’t need plugins or extra seats to test or hand over the final prototype to development. The specs are available without extra seats. UXPin also helps teams set up code-based design system, keep version control, and collaborate by sharing the design with others for commenting or annotating.

UXPin is also known for its Merge technology. It’s a drag-and-drop technology for using fully coded React or Storybook components to design an interface. It’s perfect for teams with matured design systems (like Porsche) or engineer-driven companies who don’t have enough designers on their team.

Check out other articles that compare UXPin and Figma:

• Figma vs UXPin – Storybook integration
• Figma vs UXPin – Prototyping
• Figma vs UXPin – Design System
• Figma vs UXPin – Components
• Figma vs UXPin – React code export

Moqups

Moqups is a wireframing tool for designing basic wireframes that look like paper prototypes, user flows and basic mockups – three essential steps in the design process. This is a well-loved alternative to Figma’s FigJam, their whiteboarding solution with amazing integrations with Jira and Confluence.

It’s a great collaboration tool that makes project management easy. With enterprise clients on board, such as Microsoft, Sony, Amazon, Moqups seem to be a perfect choice for teams who need a common workspace for brainstorming sessions. The tool is also great for working with freelancers on app or web design.

The tool also allows you to create templates for reuse and share across the team. It has an affordable pricing and works offline.

Framer

Framer is a compelling Figma competitor for web design. It helps create and publish websites without having to write code. It works in a drag-and-drop for creating a layout of blogs, landing pages, forms, and more.

It’s a great Figma alternative if you want to create a website that needs to be live fast. Framer is more than just a design tool. It helps you with SEO, performance, localization, and any other thing that’s in a web master’s scope of expertise.

It’s recently added AI feature that works like this — write a prompt, telling AI what kind of a website you’re building, and in return, get a ready-to-go site. It works like magic!

Framer isn’t great at prototyping because it’s main job is creating websites. It makes collaboration between designers, engineers, and product managers easy, yet if you need to create a high-fidelity prototype for user testing, try a tool like UXPin, Axure or Marvel.

Sketch

Sketch is a Figma competitor for teams that work on Macs — it’s a Mac app. It’s recently revamped it’s product to support interactions, design token export, and more things that make designer-developer handoff frictionless.

Sketch has been around since 2010 when designers used Photoshop to create mockups or wireframes. It’s a real dinosaur but it doesn’t seem like it. It’s a user-friendly prototyping tool that speeds up product development and a great Figma alternative. It has a version control, design system management and history that makes design process easier.

Marvel

Marvel advertises itself as a design tool that even non-designers can use. This might be appealing to small startups who look for a wireframing and mockup solution that everyone on the team can use. It’s used in finance and consulting markets as well as by companies such as BlaBlaCar or Stripe.

The prototyping tool doesn’t compare itself to Figma, but from its Marvel vs Invision landing page, we can learn that it’s a tool for advanced prototyping and design handoff that allows teams to build and handover their designs to the engineering team.

Marvel is praised for having a small learning curve and easy user interface, but the users complain that it is too basic to create advanced prototypes.

Like Figma, it works in artboard mode and it has vector editing tools that help you mimic user interactions to an extent. We recommend you to try Marvel as it has a free version that you may enjoy for creating basic screens.

Axure

Axure is an old-school prototyping tool that’s a great competitor to Figma when it comes to advanced prototyping. It supports interactions, such as conditions, triggers, and actions for creating a prototype that tests user experience. Those interactions can be tricky to set up as the learing curve is rather steep, but it’s all worth it.

Axure works in the cloud now, but it also has a MacOS and Windows apps for those of you who prefer work offline. It’s well loved by user experience designers, product managers, and business analysts at enterprise corporations, and design teams who require robust user feedback before implementing the design.

Which Figma competitor do you want to try?

There are many more Figma competitors on the market, but we decided to outline six of them that you may consider when looking for a Figma alternative or another tool to speed up your design process.

Some of well-loved tools have been sunsetted or they stopped getting new clients, such as Adobe XD (which was a part of Creative Cloud) or InVision that was great for design systems.

Framer is best for web design, Sketch is great for Mac users, Moqups and Marvel come in handy for smaller teams, while Axure and UXPin are great for robust prototyping when you need to use live data. Pick the one that fits your purpose.

If you want to use a prototyping tool that connects design and development, try UXPin Merge. Design production-ready prototypes that don’t need translation from design to code, because you work with coded components from the start. Try UXPin Merge.

The post Top 6 Figma Competitors that Product Teams Use appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Admin UI is a graphical user interface designed for administrators to manage and control a system, application, or website. This interface is distinct from the regular user interface and provides advanced features and controls necessary for overseeing and configuring various aspects of the system.

The Admin UI often includes functionalities such as user management, access control, system configuration, monitoring, and reporting tools. It is designed to be intuitive for administrators and typically requires authentication to access to ensure security.

The specific features and design of an Admin UI can vary depending on the context, such as whether it’s for a web application, server, database, or any other system that requires administrative oversight. Admin UIs are crucial for simplifying complex administrative tasks and ensuring that administrators can efficiently and securely manage the underlying system or application.

Build a React app Admin UI with UXPin Merge — a drag-and-drop UI builder that allows you to create interfaces with React components, and then, export their code with a single click. Try UXPin Merge for free.

Design UI with code-backed components.

Use the same components in design as in development. Keep UI consistency at scale.

Try UXPin Merge

What is Admin UI?

Admin UI (short for Administrative User Interface) is a graphical interface designed for administrators to manage and control system settings, user permissions, and other advanced configurations in a simplified and intuitive manner.

It’s an essential tool that empower app providers, website owners, and system administrators to effectively configure, manage, secure, and monitor their applications and systems, contributing to the smooth operation and success of the digital services they provide.

It provides security against unauthorized access to data, handling backend of an app, website or system, and other things that administrators are tasked with.

What are Admin UI examples?

WordPress Dashboard

Take WordPress. Its admin panel serves as a great example of a high-quality Admin UI design due to its user-friendly UX design, powerful features, and widespread adoption. It’s designed with a focus on user-friendly navigation. The menu structure is intuitive, making it easy for users, including those with limited technical expertise, to find and manage various functionalities.

The WordPress Admin dashboard design provides a comprehensive overview of the site’s key metrics, recent activity, and quick access to essential tasks. This summary allows administrators to grasp the site’s status at a glance.

This admin UI panel is modular, allowing users to rearrange and customize widgets on the dashboard. This flexibility enables administrators to tailor the interface based on their specific needs and preferences. It also incorporates security features, including password strength indicators, user role management, and the ability to enforce two-factor authentication through plugins.

eCommerce Dashboard

Another example of Admin UI is a dashboard that we built to show our users how to use coded components in UXPin. This dashboard features different sales metrics that are essential for the business, a couple of charts, order history, and a quick employee FAQ to help with onboarding.

You can edit this admin dashboard example. See it up close here: Ant Design Dashboard Example.

What should be in an admin dashboard?

App providers, website owners, and system administrators build administrative user interfaces to handle following tasks:

1. System Configuration and Management: Admin UIs provide a dedicated space for configuring and managing various aspects of a system, application, or website. This includes settings related to functionality, user roles, permissions, and system preferences.
2. User Management: Admin UIs allow administrators to manage users efficiently. This includes tasks such as user registration, authentication, role assignment, and user profile management. Admins can also monitor user activity and take appropriate actions.
3. Content and Data Management: Admin UIs enable the management of content and data within an application or website. This involves tasks such as creating, editing, and deleting content, as well as organizing data in a structured manner.
4. Access Control and Security: Admin user interfaces play a crucial role in access control and security management. System administrators can define user roles, permissions, and restrictions to ensure that sensitive information is protected, and only authorized individuals have access to certain features or data.
5. Real-Time Monitoring and Analytics: Such user interfaces often include an admin dashboard for monitoring the performance and usage of the mobile or web app (or website.) This may involve tracking user activity, analyzing system logs, and generating reports to gain insights into how the system is being used.
6. Debugging and Troubleshooting: For system administrators, Admin UIs serve as a valuable tool for debugging and troubleshooting issues. They can view error logs, diagnose problems, and take corrective actions without delving into the technical details of the underlying infrastructure.
7. Updates and Maintenance: Admin UIs facilitate the process of updating and maintaining the application or website. This includes applying patches, installing updates, and managing version control to ensure that the system remains secure and up-to-date.
8. Customization and Configuration: Admin UIs often allow for customization and configuration of the user interface itself. This can include themes, layouts, and other visual elements that suit the preferences of the administrators.
9. Workflow Automation: Admin UIs may include features that enable administrators to automate certain workflows and tasks, streamlining repetitive processes and increasing overall efficiency.
10. Enhanced User Experience for Administrators: By providing a dedicated and user-friendly interface for administrators, an Admin UI ensures that those responsible for managing the system can do so efficiently and with minimal friction. This improves the overall user experience for administrators.

Your admin UI design will depend on the task that you need an admin panel for. For examples, CRM apps need real-time monitoring and analytics dashboard UI, while CMS need a wide range of customizations as well as content and data management.

How to design an Admin UI for a React app?

React Admin UI can be designed pretty fast once you use UI components that come from an open-source React library like the one created by Material Design or Bootstrap teams. Such components will be a foundation of your design system, ensuring that the Admin UI design is consistent and high-quality.

For the purpose of this tutorial, we will show you how to quickly assemble an interactive admin dashboard with MUI components. In our app, you may find an admin dashboard template. We have also UI kits that make React UI design super easy and fast.

Let’s start.

Step 1: Pick UI components.

Material Design offers a rich set of pre-designed components that serve as the foundation for your admin UI. From navigation bars to data tables, Material UI provides a comprehensive suite of components. Identify the components that align with your admin dashboard requirements, ensuring a consistent and professional appearance.

You can preview the components in MUI documentation or jump straight to UXPin to see which components we offer as part of our Merge library. To do that, start a new project, create a new prototype, and pick the Library and Design System icon from the bottom-left corner. Next, search for MUIv5 and preview all the components. If you want to group components together, you may use a responsive flexbox.

We recommend you following UI components for building admin user interface:

• Table – it’s a data display component for building a basic table, data table, dense table, and manage sorting and selecting; more about in official documentation.
• Bar Chart – one of MUI-X chart components for expressing quantities.
• Line Chart– a MUI-X chart component for showing trends.
• Pie Chart – the last MUI-X chart component that we want to highlight here.
• List – a data display component for different types of lists that can be fully interactive.
• Typography – one of the handy data display components for input.
• Select – an input component that allows users to pick an item from a drop-down list; more about how to style it in official docs.
• Menu – a complex navigation component.
• Breadcrumbs – a handy navigation component to add for user-friendly websites.

They all belong to our built-in Merge library, so you can easily find them in UXPin. We also have more input, navigation components, as well as the ones for theming.

Step 2: Arrange UI components and change their properties.

Assemble the chosen components to create the layout of your admin dashboard. MUI’s modular structure allows for easy arrangement and customization. Adjust properties such as colors, typography, and spacing to match your app’s branding and visual identity. This step ensures a cohesive design that resonates with your users.

If you want to learn more about using MUI components in UXPin, watch this part of our mini-course on using UXPin’s library.

Step 3: Set up interactions.

Enhance user experience by adding interactive elements. MUI components in UXPin come with built-in interactivity, but you can further customize or add event handlers to meet specific requirements. Consider incorporating features like collapsible panels, responsive navigation, and tooltips to make your admin UI intuitive and user-friendly.

UXPin’s editor is code-based, so you’re working with a fully coded components, but you also have an option of adding interactions, like clickable menu that leads you to another page, an alert popping up in front of the users or input validation. You can add such interactions with variables, interactions, and expressions. More about them in our docs.

Step 4: Share your admin dashboard with stakeholders for review.

Before moving forward, share your admin dashboard prototype with stakeholders for feedback. Material-UI’s components not only enhance design consistency but also facilitate a quicker review process. Collect input on the layout, usability, and overall aesthetics to ensure alignment with the project’s goals.

UXPin has a Preview mode that allows you to see design as if it was a real thing, and share it with your stakeholders for feedback. This is a great feature, because UXPin’s design’s are fully interactive, and you don’t need to leave a tool for other people to test them by themselves. It helps with stakeholder reviews.

The shortcut for accessing the preview is Command + P.

The preview also contains a sitemap, and for mobile designs, you can use our Mirror App and run an app on hand-held devices.

Step 5: Export React code to develop the app.

Once your admin dashboard design is approved, UXPin simplifies the process of exporting React code off your MUI-based design. This code can be seamlessly integrated into your React app, saving development time and ensuring a smooth transition from design to implementation.

Just go to the Preview mode we discussed earlier, navigate to Spec Mode and then, export the code. You can open the code directly in Stackblitz or just copy it to another dev environment that you’re using.

Design more than Admin UI in UXPin

Designing an Admin UI for a React app becomes a seamless process when utilizing powerful and well-designed UI components. MUI, with its extensive library and flexibility, allows developers to create a consistent, visually appealing, and interactive admin dashboard. By following these steps, you can efficiently design and implement an Admin UI that meets both user and stakeholder expectations.

Ready to explore design in UXPin? With our pre-built templates, trial kits, ready React components, you will become a design wizard instantly. Just drag and drop components on the canvas, adjust their props, and you’re ready for the product development phase. Try UXPin for free.

The post Admin UI — How to Design it Fast for a React App appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Tables are essential components for many enterprise UX projects. UX designers must find the best UX table design solution to visualize and sort data according to user needs.

This article explores table UX design best practices with examples to solve common content and usability issues. We also provide links to resources to help research specific topics further.

Key takeaways:

• Data table UX design involves organizing and presenting data in a way that allows users to easily find, understand, and interact with information.
• Effective data table design involves layout selection, data organization, legibility, and user task functionality.
• Data table designers should prioritize readability, create visual hierarchy, ensure responsiveness, order columns sensibly, and focus on accessibility for a better user experience.

Data table UX design and prototyping are challenging for designers using image-based design tools. These tools lack features to create basic table functionality like sorting, search, scrolling, actions, etc. 

With UXPin Merge, designers can sync a fully functioning data table or use a component library like MUI to design, prototype, and create their own table using live components. Try UXPin Merge for free.

Design UI with code-backed components.

Use the same components in design as in development. Keep UI consistency at scale.

Try UXPin Merge

Data Table UI Design

First, let’s break down the data table anatomy and how these elements fit together so users can visualize information.

• Table Header: The labels for each column in the data table
• Rows: Each entry from the database
• Toolbar: Tools to work with the data (search, edit, delete, settings, etc.)
• Pagination: A UI pattern for displaying multiple pages of data
• Row checkbox: Used to select one or more rows to complete tasks, i.e., delete, copy, process, etc.
• Sorting: Allows users to sort a specific column, i.e., ascending or descending
• Horizontal rule: A horizontal line (the <hr> HTML element) separating each row

What Makes a Good Data Table?

There are four primary ingredients to designing good data tables:

1. Use the correct data table UI for the content you want to display.
2. Prioritize table layout and content correctly.
3. Make content legible.
4. The data table provides users with the functionality to complete tasks.

First and foremost, your table must be sufficient to display all the data users need. UX designers must also prioritize data correctly, with the most crucial information starting from the left.

A good data table has a clear header and description, so users know what they’re viewing. Designers must also use legible typography and adequate spacing between columns and rows to make it easy for users to read and absorb content.

Lastly (and most importantly), your data table must be user-friendly. It must solve users’ needs and be intuitive to use. There should be little or no learning curve, so users can focus on analyzing data rather than learning how to use the data table. 

How to Design User-Friendly Data Tables?

Here are some best practices for designing user-friendly data tables. 

Data Table Readability

Readability is crucial for data table UX. Designers must assess several elements to make data tables readable, including:

• Reduce visual noise: Only display content and UI elements necessary for users to read and manipulate data.
• Use legible fonts: The data table’s typeface, sizing, white space, and letter spacing must be adequate for users to read content–even if this means using a different font from the rest of your application.
• Create separation: Padding, spacing, alignment, and lines can help create separation so users can differentiate and absorb data easily.
• Consistency: Using fonts, spacing, sizing, etc., creates consistency and familiarity so users can scan tables faster to find what they need.
• Fixed headers: Keeps headers visible even when users scroll so they always have context.

Create Visual Hierarchy

Linked to readability is creating a visual hierarchy–where designers use typography, sizing, spacing, and other elements to differentiate data and make tables scannable.

• Use bold and slightly larger font sizes for column and row headers.
• Use shading to differentiate between headers and table content.
• “Zebra stripes” help create divisions between rows, making them easier to read.
• Use a contrasting color for links, so users know what content is clickable.

Data Tables Must be Responsive

UX designers must understand how users use these tables while completing day-to-day tasks to create a consistent and cohesive user experience across the platforms and products.

Data tables must be responsive so users can analyze data anywhere in the business. The sales team might want to access the data from their mobile device on the go, while warehouse employees primarily use tablets.

Order Columns According to Data Relevance

An article from the NN Group recommends, “The default order of the columns should reflect the importance of the data to the user and related columns should be adjacent.”

UX designers must arrange and group columns according to their relevance. For example, location details like address, city, country, and zip code must be together. Placing these apart would create more work for users as they scroll or scan the table to compare columns.

Data Table Accessibility

WebAIM offers several tips for Creating Accessible Tables, including:

• Table Captions: An HTML element <caption> placed after the opening table element provides context for screen readers. While HTML falls on engineers, UX designers must provide the appropriate caption description based on user research and testing.
• Identify Row and Column Headers: UX designers must use appropriate row and column headers so screen readers can identify content correctly.
• Associate the Data Cells with the Appropriate Headers: The scope attribute tells screen readers whether a header belongs to a row or column. For example, <th scope=”col”>Name</th> and <th scope=”row”>Jackie</th>. The scope attribute makes it easy for screen readers to jump around the table like a user would scanning it visually.
• Use Proportional Sizing, Rather than Absolute Sizing: Using percentages rather than fixed pixel cell sizing allows tables to automatically adjust to a screen’s dimensions, making it easier to read for visually impaired users.

More resources for data table accessibility:

• Creating Accessible Tables by WebAIM
• Accessible Tables by the University of Minnesota
• Tables Tutorial by Web Accessibility Initiative

Atomic Design for Complex Data Tables

Smashing Magazine outlines an atomic design approach to designing complex data tables. Atomic design is a technique for designing from the smallest UI element and progressively building to create more complex components, patterns, and entire user interfaces.

Smashing Magazine breaks down data tables UX using this methodology as follows:

• Atoms: Fonts, colors, icons
• Molecules: Cells, headers, and accessories
• Organisms: Rows, columns, pagination, toolbar
• Templates: The entire table

6 Great Tables UX Best Practices in Examples

Here are six examples of tables UX best practices and why they work for users.

Horizontal Scrolling for Large Datasets

Large datasets require horizontal scrolling to accommodate many columns. UX designers must decide which content is most important to users to prioritize what is always visible and what users must scroll to view.

This preference may change across an organization, so allowing users to personalize what’s visible by rearranging the columns is crucial for creating a good user experience.

It’s advisable to place identifiers in the first column and fix it so users always have a reference as they scroll. Allowing users to fix multiple columns can help when comparing different data.

Expandable Rows and Columns

Expandable or resizable columns serve two purposes for users:

1. Allow users to view cells with exessive content
2. Allow users to minimize cell widths for the content they deem less important

UX designers might also consider making rows and columns “hideable” to reduce visual noise and make it easier to read the content that matters most for the task at hand.

Expandable rows allow UX designers to include detailed information only visible when users need it. This example from CodePen shows a series of job cards with a brief description and status. Users can open the accordion to display additional notes and job costs.

Row Focus Data Table

This hover effect allows users to focus on a single row at a time. If you have multiple columns and data points, this effect enables users to highlight a row, making it easier to read. 

Here’s a real-world example of this hover effect. We built a pricing table with React-Bootstrap components. To compare features between the plans, the user can hover over the feature and quickly see what feature they are comparing. Open the preview of this UXPin’s example: Bootstrap Pricing Example.

The same effect is used in our Ant Design table. The hover effect makes the user focus on the employee they want to check. See this effect live at: Ant Design Dashboard Example.

UX designers could also blur the other rows, making picking out a single row easier. 

In a similar example, this data table highlights a specific cell with a raised hover effect.

Infinite Scroll Data Table

Infinite scroll is helpful for tables with lots of data. It’s an excellent alternative to pagination, where instead of having to click, users only have to scroll to see more content.

Column Sorting

Column sorting is essential for users to reorder data according to their preferences. For example, a warehouse manager can sort orders from the earliest first to monitor progress and address issues early. They can also sort by shipping preference and ensure that same-day orders are on track to leave before the deadline.

Inline Filters

Data table filters help users narrow their preferences to only display relevant entries. This data table example allows users to apply multiple filters to find exactly what they need. These inline filters are especially helpful for large datasets where users can eliminate irrelevant content.

How to design a table in UXPin

UXPin is an advanced prototyping tool for building interactive, high-fidelity prototypes. Instead of creating multiple static artboards to simulate one interaction, UXPin enables designers to utilize States, Variables, and Conditions to design functional components using just one artboard (‘Page’).

To insert a table in UXPin, click on the “Search All Assets” search icon (command + F / Ctrl + F), type “table” into the input field, and then click on “Table” under the “Components” heading.

Importing data into a table component

To populate the Table Component with real data, connect it to an external data source such as a JSON file, CSV file, or Google Sheet. It’s best to do this before styling the table to get a better idea of the content that you’ll be designing for.

First, you’ll need to ensure that the Layer names match that of the JSON/CSV/Google Sheet table headers. See the image below to understand how this would work with a Google Sheet.

To sync the data, select the Layers that you’d like to populate, click on the “Fill with Data” icon in the horizontal toolbar, navigate to “JSON / CSV / Sheets”, and then either click on “Browse File…” (to import data from a local JSON or CSV file) or paste a URL to an external JSON, CSV, or published-as-CSV Google Sheets file into the “Import from URL” input field.

After that, the data will appear in the Table Component (if the structure matches up correctly).

Adding sorting functionality to a table component

It’s also possible to make the data sortable using States and Interactions.

First, select all of the Layers that would be different in the new State (which in this case would be all of the Text Layers from a specific column). After that, click on the “Add state” (command + shift + S / ctrl + shift + S) icon in the horizontal toolbar and then give the new State a name using the “Set state” input field.

Next, reorder the table cells (e.g. numerically, alphabetically, or however you want). The best way to do this is by creating an alternative external data source (Google Sheets would be best in this case) and then repeating the previous steps to pull in the new data.

After that, switch back to the original State (which should be called “Base” by default).

Finally, select the relevant table header, click on the “New Interaction” icon (“+”) in the “Properties” panel, choose “Set State”, choose the relevant element under “Element”, and then choose the State that you created under “Set state” (plus any additional settings that you’d like to specify).

Styling the table component

Next, you’ll want to style the Component. It’s already structured and styled in a way that commits to the UX design best practices outlined in this article, however, you can still use the Properties panel to adapt it to your design’s visual aesthetic.

If you’re using Design Systems in UXPin, you can speed up this step by reusing your Design System’s Color Styles and Text Styles. To do this, select the Layer that you’d like to style, navigate to your UXPin Design System Library by clicking on the “Design System Libraries” icon (⌥ + 2/ alt + 2), and then selecting the Style you’d like to apply.

Don’t design from scratch. Use open-source components.

A better way is: import an open-source React components to UXPin or use one of built-in libraries. In UXPin Merge, you can find MUI, Ant design, and Bootstrap data table components. Just take them out of the library and drop them on the canvas.

Then, just import your data, adjust component properties to match your needs, and you’re ready to show your design to stakeholders. It’s done! Since the table is backed with code, you can copy it directly to your development environment like StackBlitz.

Traditionally, UX designers would need programming skills or have to rely on engineers using HTML, CSS, and Javascript to build functioning data tables. Merge puts UX designers in control, and they don’t need to write a single line of code to use components. They can also make changes and iterate without input from engineering teams. Try UXPin Merge for free.

The post Table UX Best Practices – What Makes a Good Data Table? appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Mobile-first design is an approach to designing UIs that prioritizes small-screen experience. Given that different devices need different layouts based on their screen size and orientation, it makes sense to design multiple arrangements for your users. This article will show you how to create a mobile-first prototype of a product and transform it into tablet and desktop screens.

Make your own responsive or adaptive variations right in UXPin. Create a mobile-first design and scale it up for tablet and desktop views in UXPin – an advanced prototyping tool. Go ahead and create a free trial and follow along below.

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What is Mobile-First Approach?

The mobile-first approach is designing for the smallest screen and working your way up. It is one of the best strategies to create either a responsive or adaptive design.

• The mobile-first approach is a tenet of progressive enhancement. It is the ideology that mobile design, as the hardest, should be done first. Once the mobile design questions are answered, designing for other devices will be easier. What it boils down to is that, the smallest of the designs will have only the essential features, so right away you have designed the heart of your UX.
• The opposite approach is graceful degradation. This incorporates all of the complexities right from the start, then strips them away later for smaller devices. The problem with graceful degradation is that when you build the all-inclusive design right from the start, the core and supplementary elements merge and become harder to distinguish and separate. The entire philosophy runs the risk of treating mobile design as more of an afterthought since you’re “cutting down” the experience.

We, along with others, strongly recommend progressive enhancement with a mobile-first approach. In this post, we’ll explain tips & techniques, then finish off with a hands-on lesson in which we build a hypothetical website with the mobile-first workflow.

Mobile-first design is also a response to the realities of modern user behavior and technological advancements, such as increasing mobile usage, future-proofing the design, and more. By prioritizing mobile, designers can ensure a more effective and efficient design process that meets the needs of the majority of users.

Who uses Mobile-First Design?

Mobile-first design has been adopted by numerous organizations across various industries. Here are some notable examples and case studies of companies that successfully implemented mobile-first design.

1. Google

• Context: As a leading technology company, Google recognized the shift toward mobile usage early on.
• Implementation: Google began encouraging a mobile-first approach through initiatives like AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) and mobile-first indexing.
• Outcome: Websites adopting Google’s mobile-first guidelines generally experienced improved mobile performance and search rankings. Google’s emphasis on mobile-friendly designs helped shape industry standards and practices .

2. Dropbox

• Context: Dropbox transitioned from a desktop-centric service to a mobile-friendly platform to meet user demands for accessibility on-the-go.
• Implementation: They adopted a mobile-first approach in redesigning their app, focusing on a simplified, intuitive interface for mobile users first and then scaling up for desktop users.
• Outcome: The redesign led to a more consistent user experience across devices and contributed to increased mobile engagement and user satisfaction .

3. BBC

• Context: The BBC needed to reach a global audience on various devices, particularly mobile phones, given the increasing consumption of news on the go.
• Implementation: They adopted a mobile-first strategy for their website and apps, ensuring content was accessible and optimized for mobile devices.
• Outcome: The BBC saw a significant improvement in mobile traffic and user engagement. Their responsive design approach also made it easier to manage content across multiple platforms .

4. Flipkart

• Context: Flipkart, a major e-commerce company in India, recognized the growing trend of mobile commerce in the region.
• Implementation: They adopted a mobile-first approach to design their app and website, focusing on fast load times, simplified navigation, and a user-friendly interface.
• Outcome: This approach contributed to a surge in mobile transactions, with Flipkart reporting that a large majority of their sales came from mobile devices .

5. Airbnb

• Context: Airbnb aimed to create a seamless experience for travelers and hosts who increasingly relied on mobile devices.
• Implementation: They redesigned their platform with a mobile-first mindset, prioritizing mobile usability and a responsive design that adapted to various screen sizes.
• Outcome: The mobile-first design contributed to higher user satisfaction, increased mobile bookings, and a more consistent user experience across devices .

6. Spotify

• Context: Spotify needed a mobile-friendly design to cater to users who accessed music primarily through mobile devices.
• Implementation: Spotify embraced mobile-first design principles to ensure a seamless, intuitive user interface on mobile devices before adapting it for desktop users.
• Outcome: This approach enhanced user engagement and satisfaction, with the majority of Spotify’s user base accessing the service via mobile devices .

Mobile-First means Content-First

If your site is good on a mobile device, it translates better to the rest of devices, be it tablet, desktop computer or laptop. More important, though, is that a mobile-first approach is also a content-first approach. Mobile has the most limitations, screen size, and bandwidth to name a few, and so designing within these parameters forces you to prioritize content ruthlessly.

The mobile-first approach organically leads to a design that’s more content-focused, and therefore user-focused. The heart of the site is content — that’s what the users are there for.

One caveat, though, is that mobile users sometimes require different content than desktop users. Device-specific content can be gauged by considering context — what, in a given situation and a given environment, will your user appreciate more. The best way to plan ahead for these is by creating user scenarios.

Another advantage to the mobile-first approach is that the small-screen breakpoints can better fit around the content. Again, the alternative is worse: having to squeeze an already plump design into a tiny framework. But with the mobile-first approach, the breakpoints develop naturally around content, so you don’t need any awkward edits.

What is mobile-first design framework?

We’ll describe a process that helps our designers at UXPin.

As usual, wireframing is a recommended early step to most efficiently structure your layout. When wireframing or prototyping, we use the responsive breakpoint menu to streamline the process of moving to different screen sizes, starting with the smallest.

These presets layout the proper screen size for you, so you can wireframe keeping only the content in mind.

Our procedure follows these steps:
1. Content Inventory — This is a spreadsheet or equivalent document containing all the elements you want to include. Learn more about doing an inventory of content.

Source: Maadmob

2. Visual Hierarchy — Prioritize the elements in the content inventory and determine how to display the most important elements prominently. Learn more about visual hierarchy.

3. Design with the smallest breakpoints and then scale up — Build the mobile wireframe first, then use that as the model for larger breakpoints. Expand the screen until there’s too much negative space.

4. Enlarge touch targets — Fingers are much wider than pixel-precise mouse cursors, and so need larger elements on which to tap. At the time of this writing, Apple recommends 44 pixels square for touch targets (read about mobile design for iOS and Android). Give hyperlinks plenty of space, and slightly enlarge buttons, and make sure that there’s enough space around all the interactive elements.

5. Don’t count on hovers — It almost goes without saying, but designers often rely on hover and mouseover effects in their interactive work. If you’re thinking mobile-friendly, don’t do that.

6. Think “app” — Mobile users are accustomed to the motion and a modicum of control in their experience. Think about off-canvas navigation, expandible widgets, AJAX calls, or other elements on the screen with which users can interact without refreshing the page.

7. Avoid large graphics — Landscape photos and complex graphics don’t display well when your screen is only a few inches across. Cater to mobile users with images that are readable on handheld screens.

8. Test it in a real device — Nothing beats discovering for yourself how usable a website is (or isn’t). Step away from your desktop or laptop computer and load up your product on a real phone or tablet. Tap through pages. Is the site easy to navigate? Does it load in a timely fashion? Are the text and graphics easy to read?

This is just a basic outline. For the complete guide to our process, download the free Content Wireframing for Responsive Design.

How to Create Mobile-First Design

We prepared for you a tutorial that will explain how to create a mobile-first design. Our mobile-first design tutorial has four steps.

• Step 1: Set your content priorities.
• Step 2: Design smartphone view.
• Step 3: Work on tablet view.
• Step 4: Create desktop view.

Step 1: Set your content priorities

A “mobile-first approach” differs from “desktop-first” in that we add information to each progressively larger layout rather than cut away as we design smaller. Thinking mobile doesn’t mean eliminating information. It means sorting information into primary, secondary, and tertiary content.

In this example, we know that the home page should have certain elements, like the company’s name and links to products. A blog post wouldn’t hurt either. But like we said, not everything will fit into a smartphone view, so we set priorities based on what will achieve the site’s goal: selling bikes.

1. The newest model bike

2. The best-selling bike

3. “Find your perfect ride” CTA

4. Company name and hero image

5. Navigation

6. Search

7. The second-best-selling bike

8. Gift certificates

9. A testimonial

10. The latest blog post

Based on that ordered list, we can create with the confidence that our work will solve a design problem of getting sales.

Step 2: Design smartphone view

How much do users need?

Thinking mobile-first forces us to think about what’s really important. In this smartphone view, the top-selling bike and newest model will lead directly to sales, so can we leave other items — such as gift certificates, a less-popular model, the latest news — for inside pages. The final call to action is especially prominent and easy to hit with a single tap of the finger.

Step 3: Work on tablet view

As we design for a tablet-sized view, we’re better able to add secondary information like additional products (e.g. “The Capacitor”). We can also expand the navigation at the top of the page and add content that encourages sales without actually leading to them — namely, the testimonial.

Because more options are available, this can be surprisingly more difficult than deciding what to include in a smartphone UI. The difference between secondary and tertiary elements is a blurry line, and temptation is strong to include everything.

Resist the urge. Use the ordered content list. Like smartphones, space is still limited.

Step 4: Create desktop view

Finally, the desktop view can support as much information as you decide is important. This is where the home page can accommodate all of the information you see fit, whether or not it fits. Notice some of the additional content we’ve included:

• Gift certificates
• Customer testimonials
• Blog post exploring the newest Lightning Bolt bike

Design device-appropriate layouts yourself

If you’re using UXPin, it’s fairly easy to create different layouts for these views.

1. Open a UXPin prototype.
2. Tap “Add new adaptive version” at the bottom right of the UXPin editor
3. Choose a preset size or enter your own dimensions.
   
4. You don’t have to recreate everything from scratch. Choose a size from which to copy your design’s elements.
   

And that’s it. Switch between breakpoints by tapping the different sizes above your canvas, and adjust each to suit your needs. If you’d like to try prototyping mobile-first yourself, go ahead. Start a free trial in UXPin.

The post A Hands-On Guide to Mobile-First Responsive Design appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

AI in design, animated icons, cross platform UX are some of the most exciting 2024 UX and UI design trends. Our research has also noticed an interesting UX UI trend toward larger screens, with Instagram improving its desktop experience to accommodate the growing demand.

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Top UX UI Trends in 2024

Trend #1: AI-integrated Design

From brainstorming design solutions, constructing research plan to complex UX design decisions, artificial intelligence is becoming integrated into the design process. ChatGPT took most industries by the storm and design is no different.

In 2023, designers shared prompts left and right and design tools like Framer and other integrated AI processes to help users come up with initial UI to iterate on. We believe that AI-integrated design will be a thing that will help put most repetitive tasks on autopilot. Let’s put our energy into solving complex problems, right?

UXPin is another tool that added AI to its arsenal. Our Merge technology for code-first design has an AI Component Creator built into it. The creator generates a fully-coded Tailwind UI component based on the prompt you write. Check out this to see how it works: ChatGPT in UI design.

Trend #2: Cross-Platform UX

While cross-platform UX isn’t new to most of you, it will be taken to another level in 2024. Last year we reported that apps like Instagram have upgraded their desktop versions to take advantage of large-screen monitors. YouTube, on the other hand, embraced TikTok-like stories format, making it better suited for hand-held devices.

An approaching trend is personalization within cross-platform experience. Apps want to stay relevant and give the users content that they may enjoy to make them stay longer.

Trend #3: Location-Based UX

The buzz around location-based experiences is growing. The apps that offer it will be the epitome of user-centric design next year, as users are starting to value experiences that are both personalized and effortlessly convenient. Picture this: having public transport recommendations more suitable to your lifestyle.

AI takes center stage in shaping the future of location-based experiences. It helps predict user movements and behaviors. Product teams may use AI to anticipate user preferences, intuitively suggesting relevant places, events, or services—often before users actively seek them out.

Trend #4: Animated Icons

Animated icons have officially made their grand entrance into iOS17, injecting life into your Apple apps. Whether you prefer solid icons or lean towards the elegance of outline icons, now is the time to infuse movement into your visual elements.

Get ready to breathe new life into your interface with animated icons that resonate seamlessly with the dynamic spirit of iOS17.

Trend #5: 3D Visual Elements

Are you trying to visualize complex data, building a UX of a VR app or trying to enhance brand recognition? Include 3D elements in your work! Such interfaces are going to be big in 2024.

3D elements help designers draw the user’s eye and add depth and realism that draws users in. We can’t say what originated the trend but some of the designs look like something that was created using Midjourney – another AI tool.

Trend #6: Emotionally Intelligent Design

Emotionally Intelligent Design means creating products, services, or experiences that take into account users’ emotions. It acknowledges and addresses the emotional aspects of human interaction with technology. Examples of emotionally intelligent design might include features like empathetic error messages or interfaces that adapt to users’ moods.

Key aspects of emotionally intelligent design include:

1. Empathy: Understanding and empathizing with users’ needs, desires, and emotions. This involves considering the user’s perspective, emotions, and potential pain points throughout the design process.
2. Anticipation: Predicting and responding to users’ emotions and needs before they explicitly express them. This can involve using data, user research, and intuitive design to anticipate user reactions and proactively address potential issues.
3. Feedback and Communication: Providing clear and supportive feedback to users, acknowledging their actions, and communicating effectively. This includes using language, visuals, and interactions that resonate emotionally with the user.
4. Adaptability: Designing interfaces that can adapt to users’ emotional states or changing needs. This might involve customization options, personalization features, or dynamic content that responds to user behavior.
5. Inclusivity: Recognizing and accommodating a diverse range of users with different emotional responses, cultural backgrounds, and preferences. Inclusive design ensures that products and experiences are emotionally resonant for a broad audience.
6. Ethical Considerations: Ensuring that design decisions consider the ethical implications of the product or service, including potential emotional impact. This involves avoiding manipulative practices and prioritizing the well-being of users.

Trend #7: Focus on Typography

The latest trend in typography for 2024 can be summarized in three words: big, bold, and capitalized. It’s fantastic strategy for UI designers looking to grab users’ attention. Even the global web trends website, Awwwards, uses capitalized bold typography for its homepage H1 and header callout.

UI designers also mix typefaces and styles to emphasize words or draw users’ attention. For example, this hero from Lacoste’s Draw it Yourself campaign uses bold capital styling combined with solid and outlined text for its H1.

Tennis star Venus Williams also uses big, bold, capitalized typography throughout her website design. The font helps reinforce Venus’ status as a strong, dominant world number one.

If you want to stand out and position your brand as a dominant market leader, big, bold, capital typography can help achieve that in 2024! For a softer, calmer approach, you can use thin, condensed, and capitalized lettering–like this example from the Aussi-based creative initiative Hip Opera.

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Improve user testing and get meaningful stakeholder feedback with fully interactive prototypes that look and feel like the final product. Sign up for a free trial to explore UXPin’s advanced prototyping features.

The post 10 UX UI Design Trends that Dominate 2024 appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Modern websites and apps rely on front-end frameworks to develop, maintain, and scale user interfaces. React’s Javascript library is arguably the most popular front-end framework with many component libraries to build digital products.

We’re going to explore the top React UI libraries and how to choose the right one for your next project.

With UXPin Merge, you can sync any React component library and assemble production-ready layouts super fast. Check out the build-in MUI, Ant design, and React Bootstrap components that are available for free in UXPin’s editor. Drag and drop them on the canvas and simplify React UI design. Try UXPin Merge.

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What is React Component library?

A React component library is a collection of pre-built UI components specifically designed for use with React applications. These libraries contain reusable components that cover a wide range of UI elements, such as buttons, forms, modals, navigation bars, cards, and more.

React component libraries aim to streamline the development process by providing ready-made components that adhere to best practices in terms of design, accessibility, and functionality.

What to consider when choosing a React component library

Below are six things to consider when choosing a React library for your next project. This is by no means an exhaustive list, and some of these factors may not apply to the product you’re building. 

1. Popularity

GitHub’s star rating allows you to quickly compare each React UI library’s popularity. The weekly downloads on npm also show how many people use the component library. Generally speaking, a React library’s popularity means it’s well established and serves its purpose.

2. Issues

Like star rating, a library’s GitHub issues can tell you a lot about its popularity and how well it’s maintained. Even if the library has minimal issues, do any of these affect the product you’re trying to build? 

3. Documentation & Support

Documentation is an important consideration when choosing a React UI library. You want to avoid running to Stack Overflow every time you run into trouble or want to know how to use specific components. Good documentation is updated regularly and gives you a comprehensive understanding of the library.

You also want to know if the React library has support directly from the creators or via a dedicated community forum. There are times when you need expert advice to overcome challenges. The ability to reach out for help (even if that means paying) is crucial to get issues sorted quickly and keep the project moving.

4. Customization

One of the downsides to using a component library is its constraints and lack of customization. For some projects, customization isn’t a factor, but if you’re looking to develop a unique UI, the ability to build your own design system is vital.

Explore the library’s documentation to see if they offer instructions for customizing the components and how easily you can achieve your desired results.

5. Browser or Device Compatibility

Depending on the app you’re designing, you’ll want to know the component library’s browser and mobile compatibility. The quickest way to research browser/device compatibility is by searching GitHub’s issues or Stack Overflow.

6. Accessibility

Accessibility is a time-consuming but necessary consideration for digital product design. If a React library hasn’t considered accessibility when designing components, then it’s something you’re going to have to do yourself, which takes us back to points 3 and 4–documentation and customization.

Which is the best React component library?

The best React component library for your project depends on your specific needs and preferences. It’s recommended to evaluate each library based on factors such as documentation quality, community support, active development, and alignment with your project requirements before making a decision.

Comparing the libraries involves assessing various aspects such as design philosophy, component offerings, theming capabilities, documentation, community support, and ecosystem. Take Material-UI (MUI) and Ant Design as examples.

Material-UI provides a comprehensive set of React components following the Material Design system. It includes components like buttons, cards, forms, navigation, and more, with a wide range of customization options.

Ant Design offers a rich collection of components tailored for enterprise applications, including layouts, forms, navigation, data display, and more. It provides components specific to data visualization and business logic.

5 React Component Libraries

These are our five best React UI libraries for 2024.

Note: Information regarding GitHub stars and NPM downloads are accurate as of March 2024.

MUI (Material-UI)

• GitHub Stars: 91.3k
• Weekly NPM Downloads: 3.4M
• Official website: mui.com

MUI is one of the most comprehensive and widely used React component libraries. The library is built on Google’s Material Design UI, one of the most extensive UI kits in the world.

MUI – Components

MUI has a massive component library for designers to build everything from mobile and web applications, websites, and even wearable apps. 

MUI Core features fundamental UI components you see in everyday digital products, while MUI X offers a list of advanced React components for building complex user interfaces, like data tables, data pickers, charts, and more.

For those of you who would like to try design with MUI code components, sign up for a UXPin trial and get 14-day access to UXPin. Read more about MUI 5 Kit in UXPin.

MUI – Theming & Customization

One of MUI’s biggest appeals is the ability to theme and customize components. Designers can use MUI as a foundation to scale designs fast but also adapt the library to build a custom design system for their product or organization.

Designers can also take advantage of Material Design and MUI’s comprehensive guidelines to avoid usability issues when customizing components.

MUI also has a template marketplace to purchase React theme templates for dashboards, eCommerce websites, landing pages, and more.

MUI – Documentation

MUI’s documentation is as detailed and comprehensive as its component library. Its curators have taken great care to provide designers and developers with step-by-step instructions and guidelines for installation, usage, customization, accessibility, and more.

There are also tons of videos on YouTube from MUI’s large community of users and contributors offering best practices, tutorials, tips and tricks, how-to guides, and more.

React-Bootstrap

• GitHub Stars: 22.2k
• Weekly NPM Downloads: 1.3M
• Official website: react-bootstrap.github.io

Founded in 2011, Bootstrap is one of the oldest and most popular open-source CSS frameworks for websites and web applications. Bootstrap was one of the first CSS frameworks to prioritize mobile-first web development, allowing designers to build and scale responsive websites quickly.

React-Bootstrap replaced Bootstrap Javascript while ditching resource-heavy dependencies like JQuery to build a comprehensive but simplistic React component library.

React-Bootstrap – Components

If you’re familiar with Bootstrap, then you’ll instantly recognize React-Bootstrap’s generic-looking component library. Like its CSS predecessor, React-Bootstrap features UI components that favor web design rather than mobile applications.

React-Bootstrap – Theming & Customization

React-Bootstrap is very generic with minimal styling, making it easy for designers to tweak and customize. Bootstrap’s defined classes and variants make it easy to select and customize components using CSS.

Due to Bootstrap’s long history and wide usage, you can find tons of free and premium React-Bootstrap themes and templates for everything from admin dashboards to multiple purpose websites, eCommerce, landing pages, and more.

React-Bootstrap – Documentation

React-Bootstrap has excellent documentation, albeit not as detailed and comprehensive as MUI. React-Bootstrap’s simplicity and naming convention make it one of the easiest React libraries to understand, use, and customize.

Bootstrap is also featured extensively on Stack Overflow, so you’ll likely find answers to most issues. There are also loads of blogs and YouTube videos offering advice, tutorials, design projects, and more.

Semantic UI React

• GitHub Stars: 13.2k
• Weekly NPM Downloads: 253k
• Official website: react.semantic-ui.com

Semantic UI React is a popular alternative to React-Bootstrap. Like React-Bootstrap, Semantic UI started as an open-source CSS framework that its contributors used to build React components.

Semantic UI React – Components

Semantic UI React offers an extensive range of UI components for websites and web applications. The components provide cleaner, more modern styling than Bootstrap while remaining minimalist and simplistic.

Semantic UI React uses the FontAwesome icon set, including over 1,600 free icons and 7,864 Pro (paid).

Semantic UI React – Theming & Customization

Semantic UI uses an intuitive, straightforward naming convention that makes it easy to customize components. The documentation also provides a step-by-step guide for theming with Semantic UI React. Unlike MUI and React-Bootstrap, Semantic has very few template options. 

Semantic UI React – Documentation

Semantic UI React’s interactive documentation provides you with CodeSandbox examples to inspect the code and play around with components. 

The docs also allow you to switch between an example, code, and props to visualize the component from multiple angles.

Ant Design (AntD)

• GitHub Stars: 89.9k
• Weekly NPM Downloads: 1.2M
• Official website: ant.design/docs/react/introduce

Ant Design (AntD) is another popular, widely used React component library developed by Ant Group–parent company to Alibaba, China’s biggest online marketplace. Like MUI, AntD offers a vast component library for both web and mobile applications.

AntD is the only React library featured in this article that uses TypeScript – a form of Javascript.

Ant Design – Components

AntD has a massive component library for desktop and mobile, including UI patterns like infinite scroll and pull-to-refresh for mobile devices. Ant Design ProComponents offers a range of advanced React UI elements ( similar to MUI X) for building complex interfaces.

You can also find a vast library of pre-made templates and scaffolds to kick start your project and build UIs much faster.

Ant Design – Theming & Customization

AntD uses design tokens or variables for devs to customize and theme components. The UI library uses Less and provides a complete list of all AntD variables in GitHub.

Ant Design – Documentation

AntD’s comprehensive documentation provides step-by-step instructions for using and customizing. You can also inspect each component in CodeSandBox, CodePen, or StackBlitz.

Chakra UI

• GitHub Stars: 36.4k
• Weekly NPM Downloads: 523K
• Official website: chakra-ui.com

Chakra UI is a Nigerian-based React component library founded by Segun Adebayo. You can choose between Chakra’s free component library or Chakra UI Pro, which offers pre-made complex UI components to build interfaces faster.

Chakra UI – Components

Chakra UI’s component library caters to web-based applications and websites. The library offers the choice between TypeScript or Javascript React components, depending on your preference. Chakra’s designers follow WAI-ARIA standards, so every element is accessible.

The stylish UI components look similar to Semantic UI, with dark and light options available.

Chakra UI – Theming & Customization

Chakra’s designers created the UI library to be fully customized using variables to meet product and brand requirements. Charka also integrates with Create React App, Framer Motion, React Hook Form, and React Table to extend the library’s usage and customization.

Chakra UI – Documentation

Chakra UI has excellent documentation with guides, video tutorials, examples, FAQs, links to connect with core team members, and an active Discord community. 

Chakra’s users are extremely passionate and enthusiastic about the React library, and there’s always someone to connect with to ask questions.

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The post Top React Component Libraries appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

One of the best things about being a part of the design community is that most designers love to exchange ideas, spread knowledge, and share their experiences regardless of their seniority level. You can be a starting designer or an established thought leader, and it’s almost a given that you find a design conference that may teach you something new.

What’s also great about UX conferences is that not all of them target the UX/UI community, but the people who work with them on a daily basis. Product managers, developers and other professionals who work closely with design can find an event for themselves.

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January 2024 Conferences

 QRCA 2024 Annual Conference

QRCA stands for Qualitative Research Consultants Association. The conference covers research methods, tools, and lessons that will prepare designers for the next era of qualitative research.

• Date: Jan 22-25, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual & Denver
• Audience: UX researchers, marketing researchers
• Common topics: qualitative research, research methods, research tools

UX360 Research Summit 2024

We will welcome the third edition of a conference dedicated entirely to research. The line up includes UX researchers from top companies: Google, Meta, Dropbox, Delivery Hero, and more.

• Date: Jan 30-31, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual
• Audience: UX researchers, UI designers, UX designers
• Common topics: research, design strategy, human-centered design

Design Matters Mexico

Join Design Matters and listen to Mexican designers telling you about local design and the intersection between technology and humanity.

• Date: Jan 31-Feb 1, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: Mexico City
• Audience: UX researchers, UI designers, UX designers
• Common topics: inclusivity, design future, technology

February 2024 Conferences

What about the second month of the year? We’ve found a couple of conferences that may catch your eye. Let’s see them.

AXE CON 2024

Sign up to attend a virtual accessibility conference focused on building, testing, and maintaining accessible digital experiences.

• Date: Feb 20-22, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual
• Audience: designers
• Common topics: accessibility, UX

Product World [Hybrid]

Product conference that concerns itself with sharing the product success stories from tech product professionals at Silicon Valley’s top tech companies.

• Date: Feb 21-29, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual and San Francisco Bay Area
• Audience: product managers, developers, product designers
• Common topics: collaboration, leadership, growth

ConveyUX 2024 [Hybrid]

Learn about what is going on in the world of user experience in this AI-driven era. 

• Date: Feb 27-29, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual and Seattle, US
• Audience: product managers, developers, product designers
• Common topics: design process, design future, AI

HUCCAP 2024

At the same time as ConveyUX, there’s a Human-Computer Interaction Conference hosted in Rome, Italy. Join to discuss HCI matters in an interdisciplinary environment.

• Date: Feb 27-29, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual and Seattle, US
• Audience: product managers, developers, product designers
• Common topics: human-computer interaction.

March 2024 Conferences

DDX Dubai

A great meeting place for people interested in discussing the impact technology has on our daily lives and UX meaning.

• Date: March 2, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Dubai
• Audience: UX designers and product managers
• Common topics: artificial innovation, innovation, design process

Leading Design New York

One of the design conferences by Clearleft will be hosted in New York.

• Date: Mar 20-21, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: New York, US
• Audience: UX designers
• Common topics: career, leadership, future of design

UX Copenhagen [Hybrid]

It’s the 10th edition of annual “Human Experience” conference. This year it will examine overconsumption and tackle de-growth.

• Date: Mar 20-21, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual & Copenhagen, Denmark
• Audience: UX designers, UX researchers
• Common topics: UX design, leadership, future

ACM IUI 2024

Interested in AI for design? If so, you can’t miss out on this conference! It focuses on the advances at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).

• Date: Mar 18-21, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Sydney, Australia 
• Audience: product designers, researchers
• Common topics: information architecture, artificial intelligence

April 2024 Conferences

AI in Web Design Conference’24

Join other professionals who design websites and web apps and learn about weaving artificial intelligence into the process beyond using ChatGPT in UI design.

• Date: Apr 2-3, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual 
• Audience: product designers, researchers, product managers
• Common topics: design process, artificial intelligence

Web Con

Who said university conferences are for students only? Join an online 2-day event organized by University of Illinois.

• Date: Apr 4-5, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual 
• Audience: UX designers, UI designers, product managers
• Common topics: design process, artificial intelligence

Information Architecture Conference

It’s one of the leading conferences for information architects, designers, and others who create and manage UI and information environments. This year theme is to examine the impact of AI on information architecture.

• Date: Apr 9-13, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual 
• Audience: product designers, researchers, product managers
• Common topics: information architecture, artificial intelligence

UX Research Festival [Hybrid]

Being a brainchild of UXInsights, the largest UX research communities in Europe, UX Research Festival invites you to Breda (in the Netherlands) to hear out amazing talks about UX research.

• Date: Apr 15-17, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual and Breda, Netherlands
• Audience: researchers, designers
• Common topics: UX research, artificial intelligence

Prompt UX

April is full of AI conferences and Prompt UX is one of it! Travel to Berlin and discuss the impact of artifical intelligence yet again this month.

• Date: Apr 17-18, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Berlin, Germany
• Audience: UX designers
• Common topics: design process, artificial intelligence

May 2024 Conferences

DDX Conference Munich

If you’re interested in subjects such as sustainability, future-oriented design, ethical design, this conference will be your cup of tea. Discuss innovative ideas and solutions during 1-day stay in Munich.

• Date: May 11, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Munich
• Audience: UX designers and product managers
• Common topics: artificial innovation, innovation, design process

CHI 2024 [Hybrid]

This year’s annual ACM Computer Human Interaction conference is hosted in beautiful Hawaii. It embraces the theme of Surfing the World – which means reflecting the focus on pushing forth the wave of cutting-edge technology and riding the tide of new developments in human-computer interaction. 

• Date: May 11-16, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual & Honolulu, Hawaii
• Audience: researchers
• Common topics: research tools, research methods

UXDX Community USA [Hybrid]

UXDX is a popular conference for UX designers, developers and product people around the world, sharing with them collaboration ideas.

• Date: May 15-17, 2024
• Free: Yes
• Where: Virtual and on site
• Audience: UX designers, UX researchers, developers and product managers
• Common topics: leadership, collaboration, design system

UXLx

Join fellow designers in sunny Lisbon. Soak up UX knowledge, network with like-minded individual, and hone your design skills.

• Date: May 21-24, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Lisbon, Portugal
• Audience: designers
• Common topics: UX, design process

UXistanbul

Organized by UXServices, this conference is a place for gathering Web3 enthusiasts and designers interested in the field. Come and join them online on Discord.

• Date: May 21-23, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual 
• Audience: product designers, researchers, product managers
• Common topics: NFT, metaverse

From Business to Buttons 2024

Spend one day in Stockholm to discuss user experience and customer expaerience. Great conference for business-savvy designers.

• Date: May 24, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Stockholm, Sweden
• Audience: designers, product managers
• Common topics: design process, design impact, leadership

WebExpo

Travel to Prague, an extraordinary European city, to join fellow web designers, developers, marketers, and more discussing innovations in web design and development.

• Date: May 29-31, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Prague, Czechia
• Audience: designers, developers, product managers
• Common topics: web design, front-end design, UX

June 2024 Conferences

UX Sofia

Travel to sunny Bulgaria to discuss topics connected to strategy, career growth and more.

• Date: Jun 5-7, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Sofia, Bulgaria
• Audience: product designers, researchers
• Common topics: strategy, UX design, UX research

ACE!

This Polish conference has two tracks: Agile Software Development and Product Design & Management. Yet, there will be a lot of content for product designers, too.

• Date: Jun 13-14, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Kraków, Poland
• Audience: product managers, developers, product designers
• Common topics: leadership, product strategy, product growth

Pixel Pioneers

It may be just a day-long, but the Pixel Pioneers is fully-packed with inspirational presentations from leading UX/UI designers and front-end developers.

• Date: Jun 14, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Bristol, UK
• Audience: product designers, developers, researchers
• Common topics: human-centered design, inclusive design, future of design

DRS 2024 BOSTON

Hosted by Design Research Society, this conference is about 4 Rs: resistance, recovery, reflection, and reimagination, which we’re sure are relevant to the state of design in 2024.

• Date: Jun 24-28, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Boston, US
• Audience: design research
• Common topics: research, leadership, future of design

UXPA 2024

At the same time, visit sunny San Diego and join the UXPA conference may be your cup of tea. It is a design conference in the USA.

• Date: Jun 24-27, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: San Diego, US
• Audience: product designers, researchers
• Common topics: human-centered design, leadership, research

HCI INTERNATIONAL 2024

That international conference on human-computer interaction that is usually held in Gothenburg, Sweden, but this year it will be hosted in the USA. We highly recommend to attend. It’s a great treat for the interaction designers.

• Date: Jun 29-July 4, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Washington, DC, USA
• Audience: product designers, researchers
• Common topics: human-centered design, research, leadership

August 2024 Conferences

UXDX APAC 2024

It’s yet another UXDX event, but this one is an Audio-Pacific version. It’s dedicated to Product, UX, Design and Development teams that want to find a way of working together.

• Date: Aug 13-15, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: San Diego, USA
• Audience: product managers, developers, product designers
• Common topics: product direction, scaling design, validation, product growth

UX Nordic [Hybrid]

Sharpen your skills and nurture your growth as a UX researcher, designer or writer. Meet other design professionals and explore your interests.

• Date: Aug 28-29, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual & Aarhus, Norway
• Audience: UX researchers, UX designers, UX writers
• Common topics: design process, leadership

UX Australia [Hybrid]

It’s the 16th edition of UX Australia. The conference focuses on UX, product and service design, and the surrounding disciplines of research, content, operations, management, and more.

• Date: Aug 27-30, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual & Melbourne, Australia
• Audience: UX researchers, product managers, product designers
• Common topics: research operations, leadership, research methods, research tools

September 2024 Conferences

SmashingConf Freiburg 2024

Are you a UX Architect, UI Developer, or a Product Designer that needs to work a lot with engineers? You can’t miss this UX design conference that oh-so-smoothly merges development and design.

• Date: Sep 9-11, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Freiburg, Germany
• Audience: product designers, developers
• Common topics: accessibility, web development, design process

October 2024 Conferences

World Usability Conference

Let’s meet in Austria and discuss usability with other UX professionals and participate in talks and masterclasses where handpicked speakers share meaningful hands-on insights.

• Date: Oct 15-17, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Graz, Austria
• Audience: product designers, UX researchers
• Common topics: design process, usability, sustainability

Design Matters Copenhagen [Hybrid]

This well-known design conference advertises itself as, “Made for designers, by designers.” And it truly is so! We highly recommend you attend it.

• Date: Oct 23-25, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Copenhagen, Denmark
• Audience: product designers, UX researchers
• Common topics: tutorials, design process, leadership

November 2024 Conferences

Leading Design London

Let’s meet in London to discuss design.

• Date: Nov 6-7, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: London, UK
• Audience: UX designers
• Common topics: career, leadership, future of design

Push UX 2024

From Lisbon travel to a lovely Munich to meet like-minded UX professionals that will discuss design research, presentation, and other aspects of daily UX designer’s activities.

• Date: Nov 7-8, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Munich, Germany
• Audience: product designers, UX researchers
• Common topics: design process, design leadership, product growth

Web Summit Lisbon

Come to a sunny Lisbon to participate in lively discussions on web design and development.

• Date: Nov 11-14, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Lisbon, Portugal
• Audience: product managers, developers, product designers
• Common topics: web design, web development

Wey Wey Web

Creating UI for the web? Then, you must show up at this conference. Located in a beatiful Spanish city of Malaga, the conference blends the topics of accessibility, UI, UX, and front-end development.

• Date: Nov 27-29, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Malaga, Spain
• Audience: developers, product designers
• Common topics: web design, web development

December 2024 Conferences

TBD

Which Design Conferences Are You Attending in 2024?

It seems as if 2024 is going to be full of inspiring and educational content coming from the best speakers in design and product management. Have you found a conference for you? We will definitely keep you posted if any new event comes our way.

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The post Best Design Conferences in 2024 appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

A blog layout refers to the structure and organization of content on a blog — a webpage that features various types of content, from paragraphs of text to high-quality images or eye catching graphics. Blog content can be about company updates, how-to manuals, personal stories, and more.

From a design perspective, a blog is often optimized for readability and navigation, with features such as categories, tags, archives, and search functionality to help users find content of interest. Additionally, blogs often incorporate images, videos, and animations to make user experience more enjoyable and unique.

In this article, we will go through the most important elements of the blog layout and we will show you a list of best blog designs that you can copy.

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What is a blog?

A blog is a type of website or section of a website that is regularly updated with new content, typically in the form of articles, posts, or entries. These entries are often displayed in reverse chronological order, with the newest content appearing first.

Blogs can cover a wide range of topics and purposes, including personal journals, professional insights, news updates, tutorials, reviews, and more. They often provide a platform for individuals or organizations to share their thoughts, expertise, or experiences with an audience.

Overall, blogs play a significant role in web design as they provide a dynamic and engaging way for creators to connect with their audience and share content online.

What to include in a blog layout?

A blog layout can have various design elements that influence navigation and user experience. Le’s go through some of them.

Header

The header is situated on the top of the page. It usually contains the blog title or logo, along with navigation menu that features links to other pages of the blog, such as blog homepage, about page, contact page, and blog categories.

By appearing at the top of the page, the header provides a consistent visual element throughout the blog. This consistency helps users orient themselves and reinforces the blog’s brand identity across all pages.

Additionally, the header is often the first thing visitors see when they land on the blog. A well-designed header creates a positive first impression, drawing visitors in and encouraging them to explore further.

Blog content area

This is where the blog articles are displayed. Each post typically includes a title, the author’s name, publication date, content (text, images, videos), and social sharing buttons.

A well-designed content area enhances the overall user experience by making it easy for visitors to read and engage with the blog posts. Clear typography, appropriate use of white space, and sufficient contrast between text and background contribute to readability.

Moreover, content areas are important for boosting search engine optimization. Including relevant keywords in the content areas, such as in the body text, subheadings, and meta descriptions, helps search engines understand the topic of the blog post. This increases the likelihood of the blog post appearing in search engine results pages (SERPs) when users search for those keywords.

Search engines prioritize content that provides value to users and is well-organized. Content areas that offer insightful, informative, and well-structured content are more likely to rank higher in search results. Additionally, well-organized content makes it easier for search engine crawlers to index and understand the content, which can positively impact SEO.

Sidebar

The sidebar is located either on the left or right side of the main content area and often contains additional elements such as:

• Search bar — Allows users to search for specific content within the blog.
• Blog categories and tags — Help users navigate and filter content based on topics or themes.
• Recent articles — Lists links to the most recent blog posts.
• Featured articles — Highlights links to the blog’s most popular or trending content.
• Call to action links — Allows users to perform an action that’s desired by the blog owner, such as subscribe to the blog’s RSS feed or email newsletter, located here to maximize conversions.
• Social media links — Links to the blog’s social media profiles for users to follow or share content.

Footer

The footer typically contains links to important pages, such as the privacy policy, terms of service, copyright information, and contact details. It may also include additional navigation links or widgets.

Footers contribute to the overall design consistency of the blog by providing a uniform layout and visual style across all pages. Consistent placement of elements such as navigation links, copyright information, and links to other pages reinforces the blog’s brand identity and professionalism.

5 Examples of blog layouts

We gathered a collection of successful blog designs to show you how to create your own blog design.

Animalz

A perfect example of a minimalist design a business blog of content marketing agency — Animalz. With a black and white color scheme, this blog is structured like an online newspaper (matrix web structure). It has a prominent blog post with a featured image at the center of the page, and the rest of the articles are positioned as cards.

You can use MUI components that are built-in UXPin if you want to create a similar blog. Take a menu component and put it on the canvas, then arrange a couple of cards in responsive layout structure.

Zen habits

This is a lifestyle blog example that knows well its target audience — individuals interested in personal development, mindfulness, simplicity, productivity, and minimalism. Zen Habits, founded by Leo Babauta, focuses on helping people cultivate habits and lifestyles that promote mindfulness, and overall well-being.

The blog structure reflects those values. With an ample use of white space, elegant typography, and minimalist color scheme, the website design evokes the feelings of serenity, focus, and peace.

Our trial kit contains a similar blog card template that you may use as a landing page of your blog. Like in Zen habits, it features the most recent article. You can quickly add a button with a call to action at the end that makes readers see more articles from the author.

Huberman Lab

A blog can also feature a list of podcasts and Huberman’s Lab is a great example of that. Andrew Huberman is a neuroscientist and professor at Stanford University who is known for his work on brain plasticity, neuroscience, and optimizing human performance.

Besides its minimalistic color palette, you should note an excellent search option on this blog. It’s very user-friendly and helps you find the right information without scrolling through the entire archive. The blog has also well-thought-out categories to make the target audience focus on the topics they’re interested in.

Travelfloss

People write travel blogs for various reasons, often driven by personal passion, professional interests, or a combination of both. That’s why we included a well-known travel blog in this article. Travelfloss is a blog with travel tips and gear reviews. It’s a great blog for anyone who wants to learn about real travel experience.

They have a well-made navigation menu that features their social media accounts and a great footer with the best links that make the site easy to consume. Every blog entry has lots of eye-catching photographs that make reading more enjoyable.

What also stands out as a design element are tags that also aid navigation. Travelfloss is easy to replicate if you’re looking for a user-friendly blog template.

Sixteen Ventures

Here’s another example of a business blog. Lincoln Murphy, the author behind Sixteen Ventures is a Customer Success expert who consults the teams wanting to improve their customer experience. At first, his blog looks like any other WordPress theme, but it a well-designed sidebar that we haven’t seen so far.

If you want to advertise other ventures to your audience, a sidebar is a great solution. You can promote your newsletter there, invite people to listen to a podcast or sign up for your course.

Blog layout best practices

Here are seven best practices for blog layout design:

1. Clear and intuitive navigation: Make sure that visitors can easily find their way around your blog. Use a clear and intuitive navigation menu that prominently displays categories, tags, and other important sections.
2. Mobile responsiveness: With an increasing number of users accessing websites from mobile devices, it’s crucial to ensure that your blog layout is responsive and looks good on smartphones and tablets. Opt for a responsive design that adjusts seamlessly to different screen sizes and orientations.
3. Readable typography: Choose a legible font for your blog posts, headings, and navigation elements. Pay attention to font size, line spacing, and contrast to ensure optimal readability, especially on smaller screens. Aim for a font size of at least 16 pixels for body text.
4. Visual hierarchy: Use visual cues such as headings, subheadings, bold text, and bullet points to create a clear hierarchy of information. This helps readers scan your content quickly and find the most important points. Employ whitespace generously to enhance readability and create a sense of balance.
5. Engaging multimedia content: Incorporate multimedia elements such as images, videos, infographics, and interactive widgets to enhance your blog posts and make them more engaging. Visual content can break up long blocks of text, illustrate concepts, and capture readers’ attention.
6. Consistent branding: Maintain a consistent visual identity across your blog, including colors, typography, imagery, and logo placement. Consistent branding helps reinforce your blog’s identity and makes it easier for visitors to recognize and remember your brand.
7. Optimized loading speed: Optimize your blog layout for fast loading times to provide a smooth user experience. Minimize unnecessary elements, use efficient coding practices, and optimize images and multimedia files to reduce page load times. A fast-loading blog not only improves user satisfaction but also contributes to better search engine rankings.

By following these best practices, you can create a blog layout that not only looks appealing but also provides a user-friendly experience, encourages engagement, and supports your blogging goals.

Create a blog layout in UXPin

A well-designed blog prioritizes readability and navigation, offering features like categories, tags, and search functionality to guide users seamlessly through the content. By incorporating multimedia elements such as images, videos, and animations, blogs enhance the overall user experience, making it both enjoyable and engaging.

For those looking to streamline the design process, tools like UXPin Merge offer intuitive drag-and-drop functionality, allowing you to create custom UI designs with ease. With the ability to select components, arrange them on the canvas, and customize their properties, UXPin Merge empowers you to bring your vision to life effortlessly.

Begin your journey towards a well-optimized and user-friendly blog layout today with UXPin Merge. Try it for free.

The post 5 Amazing Blog Layouts for a Beautiful Blog Design appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Google has always recommended responsive web design (RWD), especially after rolling out a big update on 4/21/15 which ranked mobile-friendly sites higher.

It doesn’t specify in the update that you must use responsive design though, just that a site be accessible on mobile, with good UX and performance.

With that in mind, let’s examine the pros and cons of adaptive and responsive design with regards to performance and UX design.

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What’s the difference between adaptive and responsive design?

So first up, what are the key differences between responsive and adaptive design?

Responsive vs Adaptive Website Design

Responsive web design is fluid and adapts to the size of the screen no matter what the target device. It uses CSS media queries to change styles based on the target device such as display type, width, height, etc., and only one of these is necessary for the responsive website to adapt to different screen sizes.

Adaptive web design, on the other hand, uses static layouts based on breakpoints that don’t respond once they’re initially loaded.

Adaptive works to detect the screen size and load the appropriate layout for it – generally you would design an adaptive site for six common screen widths:

• 320
• 480
• 760
• 960
• 1200
• 1600.

On the surface, it appears that adaptive requires more work as you have to design layouts for a minimum of six widths. However, responsiveness can be more complex as improper use of media queries (or indeed not using them at all) can make for display and performance issues.

The latter in particular has created a lot of discussion over the past few years as it’s been the case that many sites deliver the full desktop model which, even if it’s not loading on the mobile device, slows sites down considerably. To get around this, you can use media queries–but there will be a few tradeoffs since a responsive site is never going to be as quick as a dedicated mobile site.

How do you tell if a website is responsive or adaptive?

Responsive design offers a more fluid and flexible approach that dynamically adjusts to different screen sizes, while adaptive design provides predefined layouts tailored to specific devices or screen sizes through server-side detection.

To recognize an adaptive website, you might notice that the layout changes abruptly when accessing the site from different devices or screen sizes, as it’s loading predefined layouts rather than fluidly adjusting to the screen size.

Responsive websites use fluid grids, so to identify a responsive website, you can simply resize your browser window or view the site on different devices and observe how the layout and content rearrange themselves to fit the screen size.

Why use adaptive web design?

Adaptive is useful for retrofitting an existing site in order to make it more suitable for mobile phones. This allows you to take control of the design and web development for specific, multiple viewports.

The number of viewports that you choose to design for is entirely up to you, your company, and your overall budget. It does, however, afford you a certain amount of control (for example over content and layout) that you won’t necessarily have using responsive design.

Generally, you would begin by designing for a low-resolution viewport and work your way up to ensure that the UI design doesn’t become constrained by the content, and that usability isn’t lost.

As mentioned previously, it’s standard to design for six resolutions. However, you can make a more informed decision by looking at your web analytics for the most commonly used devices and then designing for those viewports.

If you want to design an adaptive website from scratch, that’s OK too. Start again by designing for the lowest resolution and work your way up. You can then use media queries to expand the layout for higher resolution viewports. However, if you do UI design for different screen sizes, you may find that this causes the layout to ‘jump’ when resizing a window to a smaller or bigger device screen.

It can be extra work designing and developing a site with adaptive for multiple viewports so it’s usually used for retrofitting.

3 examples of adaptive web design

When looking for examples of sites using adaptive web design, you’ll likely find them on the websites of large companies and corporations. Since many of these organizations have been around since before the advent of mobile, it is far easier (and cheaper) for them to retrofit their enormous websites with adaptive web designs rather than more complex responsive re-design options. 

Here, we look at how some of the world’s biggest companies have employed adaptive web design solutions in giving their websites the contemporary design elements they need to meet Google’s mobile-friendly rankings factors.

Amazon

The eCommerce titan Amazon quickly found that its website needed an adaptive design overhaul. This would help them ensure that its global customer base would enjoy faster page load speeds (a critical Google rankings factor) and a consistent UX, no matter which device they were accessing the site from. 

Amazon’s adaptive web design approach aligns the full-site experience with its branded apps, allowing users to switch between the two and enjoy the same functionality and workflow arrangement, irrespective of the aesthetic web and app design differences. Powered by adaptive design templates that ensure this consistency across all devices, users get to browse, shop, and checkout without having to learn how to navigate differently. 

This approach allows Amazon to ensure that page load speeds are optimized and that users are just as likely to access the eCommerce platform from a desktop website as a mobile. With elements like the all-important search bar remaining the focal point of the design layout across all formats, despite various other features optimized for mobile, Amazon’s adaptive design approach is a successful example of how to keep things efficient and consistent.

USA Today

When America’s favorite daily newspaper chose to revamp its website to ensure that its online news source remained prominent, USA Today took a tech-savvy adaptive web design approach – one that responsive web design simply couldn’t replicate. 

The newspaper adopted a technology that allows its website and applications to identify the device, operating system, and screen size being used, and adapts the content accordingly. This innovative approach allowed developers to create an experience that isn’t limited to the six common screen widths, ensuring that users received a unique experience.

IHG

When considering adaptive web design approaches, hospitality companies wouldn’t usually be top of mind.

But once IHG realized that its customers were looking for a faster web and app booking experience that allowed them to make reservations faster, irrespective of whether they were doing it on mobile or their PCs, the hotel chain responded accordingly.

IHG employed an adaptive web design approach that took advantage of accessible GPS data and location services – features you find on nearly all mobile devices. This allowed the group to develop an adaptive website interface that encourages on-the-go booking with local hotels, allowing users to review reservations and access available offers quickly and with ease.

Why use responsive web design?

The majority of new sites now use responsive, which has been made easier for less experienced designers and developers, thanks to the availability of themes accessible through CMS systems such as WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal.

Responsive design doesn’t offer as much control as adaptive, but takes much less work to both build and maintain. Responsive layouts are also fluid, and whilst adaptive can and do use percentages to give a more fluid feel when scaling, these can again cause a jump when a window is resized. For example, in the image below, which shows a fluid layout, the designer is using percentage widths so that the view will be adjusted for each user.

Photo credit: Smashing Magazine

With responsive, you will be designing with all layouts in mind and this, of course, can confuse the process and make it quite complex. This means that you should focus on creating a viewport for mid-resolution and you can then use media queries to adjust for low and high resolutions later on.

So in essence, it’s usually better to use responsive for new projects, and adaptive for retrofits.

Check out how to make your design responsive: 8 Steps to Responsive Design.

3 examples of responsive web design

Responsive web design is the go-to for newer sites that demand a more fluid experience among users or for Google to pay more attention to. It is also the design approach of choice for many of the leading technology and design firms around the world, owing to the ease with which developers and designers can create and maintain responsive sites. 

Next, we look at some of the best examples of responsive web design-based sites and how they affect their sites’ performance and UX. All while delivering on the demands of big brands operating within the eCommerce and messaging space.

Slack

One of the biggest reasons for Slack’s surging popularity among businesses is the ease with which users can adopt and use the messaging app. Boasting a straightforward interface coupled with a raft of integration and optimization features, Slack’s simplicity and ‘human’ feel are reflected in its impressive responsive web design.

The app’s famous adaptability between desktop and mobile is highlighted by how seamlessly the display transitions and rearranges its layout. By using a Flexbox and CSS Grid Layout, Slack’s responsive interface is a step above. 

All this means that Slack’s website needs to match the app, allowing users to experience the same simplicity and ease of use on their mobile devices as they do on their work laptops and PCs.

Shopify

Shopify has taken a different route to its responsive web design. It took the website and app in different directions and chose device-choice optimization over a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach.

Designers at Shopify felt that no matter the screen size, their design elements should match the screen the user was using. So, in order to ensure that all users enjoy a consistent UX (even if that meant changing things up), Shopify designed their site to respond according to the device’s screen size. It also delivered different CTAs and illustrations in different sizes and at different locations on the page. 

While PCs and tablets display Shopify CTAs and images to the right of the form, on mobile, you’ll find those elements below it and in the center. This responsive design approach allows users to enjoy a more divergent UX while still being able to experience optimized interaction capabilities, no matter the size of their screen.

Dribbble

Anyone who uses creative design hub Dribbble will likely agree that the self-promotion and social networking platform has aced its responsive web design. The platform’s website represents an excellent example of a flexible space that enhances the browsing experience by actively responding to the device on which it is being viewed. 

Dribbble’s website employs a flexible grid layout that works in concert with the screen dimensions. It actively responds to the user’s interactions by adapting the layout into grid columns that shift according to the device. This means that designers can adjust the items displayed on the grid to optimize for visibility and item count. As a result, users can enjoy a balanced experience that doesn’t appear cluttered or disorganized. 

Users accessing the site on a 13” laptop or PC screen will see a 4×3 grid configuration, while those using a smaller screen will be able to see the same portfolio presented in a single-column format.

Adaptive vs. Responsive? Consider Site Speed, Content, and UX

As discussed earlier, responsive sites can suffer when it comes to site speed (if they aren’t properly implemented).

Responsive also requires more in the way of coding in order to ensure that the site fits each and every screen that accesses it. However, the extra work is debatable (compared to adaptive design) since adaptive design requires that you develop and maintain separate HTML and CSS code for each layout. Modifying adaptive sites is also more complex since it’s likely you’ll have to ensure that everything is still working sitewide (such as SEO, content, and links) when it’s time for implementation.

You should, of course, also consider the user experience. Because responsive essentially shuffles the content around in order to fluidly fit the device window, you will need to pay particular attention to the visual hierarchy of the design as it shifts around.

According to Nielsen Norman Group, “Responsive design often turns into solving a puzzle — how to reorganize elements on larger pages to fit skinnier, longer pages or vice versa. However, ensuring that elements fit within a page is not enough. For a responsive design to be successful, the design must also be usable at all screen resolutions and sizes.”

So there are no shortcuts to whichever technique you decide to use – both require the work that comes with creating a site that’s essentially one-size-fits-all. Responsive has a slight edge, as you won’t, going forward, need to spend an awful lot of time in site maintenance.

Which is Better: Responsive or Adaptive Design?

When it comes down to it, the key is to consider your audience first and foremost no matter what design technique you adopt. Once you know exactly who they are and what types of devices they tend to access the site on, then it’s easier to design with them in mind when it comes to different layouts, content, and so on.

When it comes down to it, the key is to consider your audience first and foremost no matter what design technique you adopt. Once you know exactly who they are and what types of devices they tend to access the site on, then it’s easier to design with them in mind when it comes to different layouts, content, and so on.

It will also depend largely on whether you have an existing site to work with or you’re starting from scratch. Responsive design has become the go-to design technique and it’s thought that around 1/8 websites now use responsive (while there’s little to no data on how many use adaptive). Adoption rates for responsive are growing quickly too and have almost reached the same level as standalone mobile sites.

With all of that in mind, it’s safe to say that responsive is usually the preferred technique if only because of the ongoing work that adaptive design demands.

However, if a client or company has the budget, then adaptive might be a better choice, according to a test carried out by Catchpoint. They built two web pages in WordPress, one using the standard WP TwentyFourteen responsive theme and the other using a plugin called Wiziapp.

The plugin serves a mobile theme to users depending on the device they’re accessing the web pages from and also offers advanced configuration options so that you can further streamline the process.

The results in load time speak for themselves:

It should be pointed out that no optimization was carried out at all, but this does show that the responsive site is downloading everything that is required for the desktop computer. So right out of the box, the theme doesn’t offer a very good performance at all.

Again, this can be overcome using media queries, but the above serves as a good example of why responsive UX design – whilst being a popular choice – is not always the best for smartphones. Until something better comes along though, it’s difficult to know what we can do about it other than learn how to properly code and implement a great responsive site.

So the conclusion?

Responsive design will remain popular, but that might be because we have not yet found a decent solution to the heavy maintenance that adaptive demands. Adaptive web design hasn’t died out though, despite the web’s apparent love of responsive, so it’s possible – in theory at least – that we’ll see some improvements emerge yet that will blow responsive web design out of the water.

Responsive vs Adaptive Website Design – Common Mistakes 

Design is an iterative process, requiring some degree of trial and error before figuring out what works – and what doesn’t. But that doesn’t mean that mastering the responsive vs adaptive web design field requires designers to endure painful failures before nailing it. 

We can still count on avoiding some of the most common mistakes that tend to slow the process.

Too much focus on desktop versions

Mobile design is fast hauling in its desktop-based counterpart, delivering an optimized UX on smaller devices that oftentimes beats out design choices seen on PCs and laptops. But most things online began as desktop-based sites, with mobile versions only coming along later. This has left many platforms, tools, and sites leaning towards desktop origins, and mobile seen as a supplementary need.

Designers need to start adapting to a mobile-first work approach, moving away from their desktop-focused mentality and focusing on the potential that design has to work for mobile and how much more of an impact this can have on the evolution of design thinking. 

This means transitioning towards an approach rooted in designing for multiple screen sizes, uncoupled from the conventional six that have been touted as the most likely to require a dedicated design, and targeting percentages rather than fixed ratios. This doesn’t mean discounting desktop design altogether, but rather balancing it with mobile.

Not considering gestures 

With most of today’s mobile devices boasting touch functionality, it is only a matter of time before users can navigate a website without making contact with any hardware or surfaces. Gestures are an often overlooked responsive web design element with massive potential. 

From using gestures to zoom, swipe, scroll, and return to delivering instructions and executing complex commands, responsive design is fertile ground for taking these movements to the next level. Yet designers continue to bypass this potentially revolutionary aspect of design. Primarily, due to the complexity of developing a gesture architecture that allows for consistent navigation across all devices. 

One possible solution would be to ensure that a website follows a uniform structure that replicates on other devices and provides ease of use and accuracy.

Buttons are too small 

Anybody who has ever dealt with an app that has buttons too small to hit accurately will agree that this is one of the most frustrating design issues on mobile. While desktop versions enjoy the benefit of accurate mouse cursors, thumbs and fingers have a habit of missing their mark on smaller screens and mobile devices. 

Sometimes responsive design looking to optimize layouts and available space will tend to bunch clickable elements together or shrink them down as they scale with smaller screens. This can cause frustration among users and even cause a site’s accuracy, navigability, and UX to degrade.  

Developers must pay attention to how buttons will be affected by their responsive design approach, considering that not all thumbs, fingers and eyes were created equal.

Putting design over functionality 

While a website that looks good on both desktop and mobile is important, a website should, first and foremost, work. Users who access an attractive site will naturally assume that an equivalent amount of effort has been invested in its utility. So, one can imagine the anger at a website that doesn’t work as well as it looks. Anger that can lead to significant drops in traffic and reputation.

The same goes for the level of functionality between desktop and mobile. A desktop site that sets a benchmark for good design and operability only to fail miserably on the mobile front would be better off not even bothering with mobile at all. 

Go beyond developer perceptions by testing with different niches and using effective prototyping to ensure that the design matches its functionality.

Having a separate URL for mobile 

Making use of separate URLs between desktop and mobile website versions is a design killer, wasting precious time and damaging your search rankings. Aside from frustrating users by ferrying them back and forth between each version, using multiple URLs goes against SEO best practices and are often unnecessary.

In some cases, however, using multiple URLs can allow developers to create lightweight mobile versions of websites that perform better on mobile devices, though only in instances where the desktop version is very anti-mobile.

Not accounting for future maintenance and development costs

Development costs money, and oftentimes, design decisions are taken based on short-term financial considerations without thinking about what the future holds.

While adaptive web design requires higher upfront investment owing to the labor-intensive nature of its development, AWD maintenance costs generally remain stable down the line. 

Responsive web design, on the other hand, can lead to unexpected cost implications. However, the rewards stemming from an improved UX may offset those financial risks.

Design UI in UXPin

If you’d like to start mocking up your own adaptive user interface design, you can do so with UXPin. The collaborative platform comes with pre-set and custom breakpoints. Once you’re done, activate Spec Mode to automate your design handoff to developers.

Use UXPin to build prototypes for mobiles, desktops, and everything in between. Try various interactive prototyping features and make your design easy to understand for stakeholders and engineers. Start a free trial.

The post Responsive Design vs. Adaptive Design: What’s the Best Choice for Designers? appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Web design isn’t always cheap. But of all web design costs to the designer, we should first consider the user’s costs.

Mobile users often pay for every byte they download (and upload) away from wifi. HTML and CSS files, while getting larger every year, aren’t as large as hefty JPG, PNGs and animated GIFs. Conscientious designers know that best practice includes making websites and apps that download as quickly as possible. It’s like trimming out extra adverbs from copy, or extra div elements from markup.

If users don’t need pixels, don’t send them.

As we’ve seen, thinking “responsive” is more than slapping media queries into our code. Responsive images have their own set of challenges that designers must overcome. To make sites that work well and look great on a variety of screens, they need a smart strategy for images from the beginning.

Difficult? Perhaps. Worth the effort? Yes. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but if it weighs a million bytes, then users may give up before the picture downloads.

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Choosing the right format for UI

JPG, SVG, GIF and PNG (and PNG-24) — anyone new to web design may confuse the three. That’s not surprising when even seasoned veterans opt for JPG when a SVG would do, or default for PNG-24 instead of PNG-8.

JPG

Or JPEG, short for Joint Photographic Experts Group, was developed in 1991 and published in 1992 as a means to standardize pictures transmitted over the internet. Bandwidth was at a premium, so users prefered files that showed more picture for fewer bytes.

The JPG format uses lossy compression, meaning that once applied, an image can never be fully decompressed back to the original quality. It trades smaller files for reduced quality on a scale of 0 – 100. Oddly, files with 100% JPG compression have the highest quality and the worst file size. 0% compression yields the smallest files with the worst quality.

Artifacts are parts of an image that JPG compression changes for the sake of file size. They resemble blocks of homogenous color, when visible, as if herding colors into areas about 20 pixels square. Hard edges in images are the first victims of artifacts. That, and because JPG compression can look natural on complex images, means that this format is ideal for photos.

Bottom line: JPG compression works well for complicated images with lots of detail, like photos.

PNG (8-bit)

Unlike JPG, Portable Network Graphics files use lossless compression that doesn’t compound as the file is opened and resaved. Instead, PNG-8 files include a list of every unique color they use.

And by unique, I mean unique as in #FFFFFF is not #FFFFFE, although to the unaided human eye they’re indistinguishable. Each pixel is assigned to a color in the file’s list, reducing the need for identical pixels to waste precious bytes reproducing what’s already been said.

If the first hundred pixels use RGB(255,255,255), there’s no need to say so — just state that pixels 1–500 belong to color #1. For this reason the PNG format is great at compressing images with perfectly flat colors.

Bottom line: The PNG-8 format can hold up to 256 unique colors in its list, called a color table. It can also make pixels fully transparent. These facts make PNG-8 ideal for today’s trendy “flat color” look.

PNG (24-bit)

Files that use PNG’s other variety, PNG-24, look great because they use no compression. Nor do they use a color table. Every detail is preserved when saving PNG-24 files … and that’s the problem.

Opacity is another problem. While pixels in PNG-8’s images can be transparent, it’s all or nothing. Either you see them or you don’t.

Bottom line: Pixels in PNG-24 files can have partial opacity, meaning they tint elements behind them. Again, at the expense of file size.

GIF

Graphical Interchange Format, or GIF, resembles PNG-8 in many ways.

It’s universally accepted by every browser. It’s established, having been around since 1987 (somewhat younger, PNG debuted in 1996). GIF uses color tables. It’s compression is slightly less efficient, on average, than PNG. And it can make its pixels completely transparent.

Where GIFs shine is their ability to hold more than one “image” per file, and show them sequentially. That is, GIF supports animation. Animated GIF files usually find their way into content more than design, as their animations can’t be started and stopped — they’re not truly interactive. That and their slightly-higher file sizes mean that designers often prefer PNG over GIF for flat-color images.

Bottom line: If you need simple animations, GIF is the way to go. Otherwise you’re probably better off with PNG-8’s slightly more efficient compression scheme for simple images (like flat-color illustrations) or JPEG for complicated images (like photos).

Squeezing Every Byte

Compressing image files — the act of reducing file size by eliminating redundant data or altering the image for easier downloads — is crucial to making websites load quickly. Fast websites, in turn, earn more users.

Most image editors like Photoshop, Sketch and Pixelmator export compressed, web-friendly files without fuss. But they’re not always ideal. Other tools can help compress images even further.

Compression Services

1. Compress JPEG

As the name implies, this free, online service takes extra bytes out of any JPG file without sacrificing quality.

Compress JPG slimmed down the above image, saved in Photoshop at 70%, from 217KB to a svelte 160KB. Quality remains untouched.

2. TinyPNG

Another free service squeezes 8-bit and 24-bit PNG files for faster load times.

TinyPNG reduced the above image from 16KB to 12KB by eliminating nearly redundant colors in its color table — without affecting its quality.

How much is too much … or too little?

Although it varies per image, our goal is to get the best quality image in as few bytes as possible. At some point, we trim too much out.

But how much? Is there a sweet spot for compression?

For JPGs

To find out, we saved the crowd photo above with increments of JPG compression. Results ranged from 45KB at 0% compression to 479KB at 100%. Contrary to what the term suggests, remember that the highest compressed JPGs have the highest quality (and largest file size).

This chart shows a dramatic decrease in the higher compression ranges. Just dropping the quality from 100% to 70% reduced the file size by almost half — a real bargain. The lower compression percentages, though, didn’t see as much of a difference. Although bytes fell from 0 – 20%, we saw quality drop too quickly to be worth the savings.

The image was 45KB at 0% compression (left) and 94KB at 30% compression (right). Although it halved the file size, the increase in artifacts, or blocky areas where JPG compression takes effect, wasn’t worth the savings.

Best practice: Don’t compress JPG files higher than 70%, or lower than 20%. This is a guideline rather than a hard rule, but we’ve found it the 20–70 range covers most cases.

For PNGs

The story gets more complicated when we look at PNG files. We ran the same experiment on this graphic:

Notice that these colors aren’t strictly flat. There’s a fine gradient over the entire composition. To account for that, we need dithering: a pattern of dots that simulate subtle gradients.

Unlike JPG, the PNG format doesn’t use percentages. The number of colors in its color table determine its quality and, to an extent, its file size. With 88% dithering, the results were, well …

In general we saw a relationship between the number of colors and file size. But not much. Photoshop struggled to find the best patterns with limited color tables. In fact, 40 colors had about the same number of bytes as 25, meaning the same file size but with much higher quality.

Best practice: For best results when squeezing every byte out of a PNG, the best approach is to experiment with different color tables. Unfortunately the right amount is a subjective matter that varies per image. When it looks “right” is up to you.

SVG

Scalable Vector Graphics, or SVG, use lines instead of pixels — vectors instead of raster images — to display line art. SVGs are actually a form of XML, easily created in programs like Inkscape and Adobe Illustrator.

SVG files can generate gradients without dithering, and scale up to fit containers of any size from older smartphones to widescreen TVs. They don’t lose resolution because, as vectors, browsers connect the dots on the fly. They can be animated with JavaScript. And instead of files that must be downloaded separately, which ties up time and server power, SVG can be embedded right in HTML documents.

Above: vector art (left) scales up well. On the other hand, raster art (right) looks blocky and pixelated.

But like PNGs and GIFs, SVGs suffer as images become more complex. They’re terrible for photos and grow quickly in file size as they gain points and curves.

Best practice: If you’re looking for the flat 2.0 look, with its sharp lines and gentle gradients, and aim for recent browsers (IE8 is out of luck), SVGs are the way to go.

Code Considerations

Aside from image files themselves, we can do lots with code to make pixels respond well to different situations.

Essential CSS Properties

One of the most common — and most reliable — solutions is to set a bit of CSS:

img { max-width: 100%; }

This selector and property makes most images fit into their containers. For example, if a media query sets a wrapper to 300 pixels in width, then no image inside that wrapper will exceed 300 pixels. This technique has excellent support across modern browsers, which is why you’ll find it in many responsive websites today.

Future HTML Image Elements

Today we’re limited to background images with CSS and the <img> element. But when (and if) implemented, a new technology will go a long way to making images as responsive as page layouts in responsive web design.

The experimental <picture> element contains one or more <source> child element that uses media queries to declare when they should load. Browsers replace the src attribute of an <img> element within <picture> with the relevant source, if any.

For example:

<picture alt=”Descriptive text fallback”>

 <img src=”sample-default.png”>

 <source srcset=”sample-large.png” media=”(min-width: 640px)”>

 <source srcset=”sample-small.png” media=”(max-width: 639px)”>

</picture>

The code above would replace sample-default.png with either a large or small variation, depending on the image’s container’s width.

As a bonus, browsers that don’t support <picture> will still read the default <img> element as normal. That’s good news because, at the time of this writing, these elements are not universally accepted — in fact, few modern browsers support them today. But support for <picture> and <source> is growing, and smart designers will keep an eye out for their usage in the future.

Browser rendering

Sometimes the best image is none at all. Modern browsers are capable of rendering their own graphics, including gradients, animations, bezier vectors, shadows and geometric shapes. With a little creativity, we can even make stripes.

Creating images in browsers puts the burden of visuals on the user’s end. It doesn’t require downloading any image files, which saves bandwidth and time. But it does require the browser to have certain capabilities.

Best practice: Use browser rendering for aesthetics, like background colors and fancy borders, but don’t rely on it for content. Always test your designs for readability without fancy CSS3 tricks, or even without CSS at all, to see how gracefully it degrades on less-capable browsers.

Implications for UI Design

From icons to backgrounds to content, there’s no doubt that images are crucial for good user interfaces. But responsive images face many challenges including bandwidth concerns and sizing issues.

In a perfect world we’d have the ability to either crop an image for smaller viewports, focusing on the most important parts, or the ability to upload different images for different breakpoints. It is possible to do so. Workarounds exist, and we look forward to <picture> and srcset. Until then the best-practice approach is to test your images at various sizes to make sure they’re readable on various devices and browsers.

Designers concerned with responsive web design must consider images in their work. Using the right file format, optimizing compression (but not too much) and watching future technologies go a long way to making websites load quickly and look great on screens of any size, resolution or orientation.

It all comes down to one question: what serves the user best. Create UIs with images, videos, and GIFs that come from your design library. Try UXPin, all-in-one design solution for code-first UI design. Build UIs 8.6x faster and copy production-ready code without translating vectors to code. Try UXPin for free.

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Good design isn’t about many years of practice and thousands of hours spent in graphic editor tools. The beauty of this craft is that it’s accessible to all, given that they have a surface level understanding of its principles and the basic design elements.

Luckily, hundreds of years of work with paintings and graphics have provided us with a series of vital rules that guide designers to this day. 

In today’s article, we’ll take a closer look at these rules, along with the building blocks of design that will help you create great products with little effort or experience.

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What is Design? 

An essential first step on the journey towards good design is understanding what it is at its core. We often mistakenly believe that it has a decorative function — it’s meant to make things pretty and appealing. However, its spirit is much more pragmatic. 

Design isn’t art per se. Some designers go as far as to insist that there’s pretty much no overlap between the two. While there’s a lot to debate in this viewpoint, one thing is for sure — the purpose of design is to solve problems. Furthermore, it can often be done to the detriment of beauty. 

A design’s end goal is to find an innovative solution; this solution’s prettification is a secondary matter. 

Therefore, it’s safe to say that design is the arrangement of visual elements that aims to solve a real-world problem. As designs become more complex, they evoke feelings that form experiences. Fundamentally, it helps us shape the world we live in and impact the way we perceive reality.

Basic Design Elements

Before we dive into the central principles of design, let’s explore its basic elements. 

Lines

Lines are the most seamless and most powerful elements of design. They have a vast spectrum of functions and purposes. We use them to separate and organize space, outline and contour objects, emphasize certain elements, draw attention, and so forth. 

It’s interesting how such a simple element can yield such a strong effect on our attention and have such a complex meaning in the modern visual grammar. 

More importantly, we can curve and combine them to create rich meaning through different shapes and patterns due to how fundamentally simple lines are. 

Lines can be thin and thick, horizontal, vertical, and diagonal, curved and zigzagged, dashed, and dotted — all of them can be used to convey meaning and shape experiences. 

Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/abstract-architect-architectural-design-art-323645/ 

Shapes

Everything is made of shapes which, in turn, are made of lines. We can deconstruct the world we live in into a series of basic geometric and natural forms. 

Human cognition is odd. In our daily lives, we tend to forget that shapes surround us. Too often we fail to notice how they influence us too. Their effect on our psyche is partly due to our evolutionary upbringing — some shapes instill comfort, others make us cautious. 

Rounder shapes like circles and ovals are generally associated with safety and children — throughout evolution, few round things could harm us. 

On the other hand, pointier shapes make us think of danger. Throughout the early days of human evolution, they’ve forced us to direct our attention towards them. 

A few million years forward, we’ve started using various shapes in typography and art. Human perception has fine-tuned the meaning of every kind of shape in part. Here’s a rough overview of a few of them. 

• Squares and rectangles — they make us think of stability and safety. They’re balanced and mathematically sound;
• Triangles — often associated with power and energy. They often make us think of action, tension, and even aggression;
• Circles and ovals — typically associated with harmony, life, and permanence;
• Spirals — associated with nature, birth, evolution, and growth;

Color

Colors are equally mysterious. At their core, they’re nothing but electromagnetic radiation at different frequencies, yet they still have a very powerful effect on the human mind. 

At the same time, it’s important to underline that there’s a lot of subjectivity to color perception. Our opinion on a certain color can be affected by various cultural, religious, geographical, and professional factors, along with plain personal preference.  

Fortunately, we can outline how certain color groups affect the majority of people. 

• Warm colors (red, yellow, orange) typically instill a series of emotions ranging from calm and warmth to aggression and anger;
• Cool colors (blue, green, purple) can instill a range of feelings ranging from calm to sadness; 

Plus, every color in part has its connotation and can evoke a complex spectrum of emotions. The most commonly used colors in modern design are:

• Blue — it’s extremely popular in web design and digital interfaces in general. It’s the predominant color on the web’s most trafficked websites. It’s twice as popular as yellow and red;
• Red — while not as popular as blue, red has a very clear function — push us towards action. This is precisely why it’s among the most used colors in calls to action on the internet;
• Yellow — can be perceived as cheerful and pessimistic, depending on the tone and hue;
• Green — mostly associated with nature and fertility. However, it can also be associated with money and greed;

Typography

Fonts are multifaceted. They communicate meaning through words and a mood through its characteristics. 

When it comes to spoken language, we typically use a variety of factors to convey how we feel — rhythm, pitch, tone, gestures, and so forth. Typography also has a diverse set of characteristics that modulate the feelings that a text can evoke  — size, weight, kerning, position, and so forth. 

Due to how long we’ve been exposed to different typefaces, we’ve formed individual impressions about fonts. Some convey seriousness; others feel silly and unpresumptuous. 

We use typographic differences to establish a visual hierarchy and outline the differences between kinds of information in design.  

Source: https://www.typewolf.com/site-of-the-day/medium-2020 

Larger, heavier fonts are often used for headlines. They set the tone for the text that will follow below. They aim to entice the reader by offering them a short glimpse of what they’re about to read. 

Given that it’s common to keep headlines short, the fonts used for them will sometimes have more ornaments. Body text is meant to be slightly simpler to ensure legibility. 

The rightness and wrongness of a type

There’s a myriad of things that you should consider when choosing the right font for your design. 

Fundamentally, your choice should be guided by the message, the medium, and the audience you’re writing for. 

Start with minimal diversity and gradually introduce the smallest amount of typographic contrasts necessary to guide a person through the classes of the information displayed. 

Excessive complexity and lack of expressivity can make your design bland, unappealing, and illegible. 

Bear in mind that your goal is to create unity through design. You’re on a mission to find the golden mean — the path between consistency and emphasis. 

The Central Principles of Design

Now that we’ve gone through the basic design elements, we need to look at the principles that shape their relationship in a medium. 

These principles differ based on their purpose and function. Things like contrast, repetition, and rhythm will help certain elements and components draw a person’s attention to them. Balance and variety are essential when it comes to creating designs that appeal to our senses.

More importantly, it’s essential to point out that all of these principles are tightly related to one another. Your goal as a designer is to achieve their harmonious coexistence. 

It’s important to underline that you shouldn’t necessarily include all the principles in a design. However, using at least a few will guide you towards a more coherent and cohesive end-product.

Unity

Unity is a quality that a designer achieves once the product is finished. It’s important to point out that there are two kinds of unity — conceptual and visual. 

The former is extremely important during wireframing. Conceptual unity is all about combining information for the user’s comfort and ensuring that they have to perform as little interactions while going from point A to point B. 

The latter has to do with how things look. The idea behind it is to ensure the harmonious use of elements, colors, shapes, sizes, and so forth. Equally important design elements should have the same size or color and vice versa. A unified design allows to establish consistency and a clear visual hierarchy.

Contrast and similarity

Designers use these two principles to guide a person’s attention. Similarity is a powerful tool that allows us to create relationships between elements. Let’s take a quick look at a famous example of the similarity principle visualized by the Nielsen Norman Group.

According to the Gestalt principles in design, we tend to group things together based on their appearance. That is why people typically perceive the above image as four columns rather than three rows. We unify the sequences of triangles and circles in their own groups. 

As a designer, you can use this principle to signify relationships between objects based on their shared features. 

We generally use contrast to make things stand out. Our brains are hardwired to observe things that are out of place. These visual or structural outliers pique our interest and draw our attention. 

Given that designs are created by people, we can immediately conclude that an existing contrast is there for a reason. 

There are lots of basic ways you can create contrast. Here are a few of them: 

• Texture — rough and smooth;
• Shapes — organic and geometric, rounded and sharp edges;
• Colors — difference in warmth, hue, and intensity;
• Scale and size — large and small objects; 

Balance

Balance triggers a certain kind of satisfaction in us. It just “feels right.” It creates a sense of stability and composure. However, balance isn’t just one thing. There are a few kinds of balance that designers make use of — symmetrical, asymmetrical, mosaic, and radial. Each of them has a variety of subtypes. 

A lack of balance can cause multiple issues — it can misguide the user, causing them to feel disoriented or trigger a sense of visual discomfort. Therefore, a visually unbalanced composition will inevitably create unnecessary friction between the user and the medium. 

As a result, a poorly balanced design will cause a scattered interaction with the product, causing some of the information to go unnoticed. 

Hierarchy and emphasis

The main idea behind hierarchy is to ensure that a person follows a right order while processing the information in a design. Its purpose is to make sure that the elements presented in a medium are structured rationally, allowing the person to reach their final goal. 

Hierarchy can be established by using a variety of visual parameters. Here are a few of them:

• Size — larger things are typically easier to notice. Therefore, they are considered more important;
• Color — things that have a brighter color stand out compared to the paler ones;
• Contrast — contrasting colors are more captivating;
• Alignment — misaligned elements are more eye-catching than the ones that are in order;
• Repetition — similar element features may indicate that they are related;
• Proximity — things that are placed close to one another typically seem related;
• White space — the more isolated elements are, the more attention they draw;
• Texture — complex textures typically draw more attention than the simpler ones;

A series of objects that lack prioritization will have too many accents. As a result, this can cause a rippled perception of the design. This chaotic quality feels irritating and frustrating. On the other hand, a lack of clearly emphasized elements may cause a design to seem dull and unappealing. 

Rhythm and flow

Compositional flow determines how the eye is led through a design: where it looks first, where it looks next, where the eye pauses, and how long it stays.

Interaction layouts

To ensure that your design has a coherent flow, it’s essential to look into a couple of traditional layouts.

• The Gutenberg diagram — This layout is used applicable to cultures that read left to right. According to this pattern, reading gravity moves our attention from the top-left corner of a plain towards the lower-right corner. As a result, the other two corners get considerably less attention — they’re called fallow areas. 

• The F-pattern — widely used in design for digital interfaces. Here, the eye movement starts at the top and moves from left to right. Then it moves onto the next line of text and continues its rightward movement. However, because modern users tend to skim over text, the lower lines vary in length, creating an F-shaped pattern. 

• The Z-pattern — The logic behind this layout is that our eyes move in a Z-shaped pattern when exploring a visual medium. We sweep from left to right on the upper side of the plain, then make a diagonal transition to the bottom-left side, and finish by moving to the lower-right side.

However, these principles apply mostly to text-heavy designs. Once you start adding various graphical elements, the relevance of these patterns will gradually wither away. 

Compositional flow

In order to guide our users in a scenario that isn’t covered by the layouts above, we need to make use of a variety of directional cues to guide our users. Here are a few of them:

• Repetition of elements
• Rhythm
• Implied action
• Diagonal lines
• Gestural lines
• Directional lines
• Perspective
• Subject matter of elements
• Gradation

These objects can be used to imply direction and guide a user’s movement. 

Rhythm and repetition

Without repetition, there is no rhythm. Our brains are hardwired to seek patterns and similarities in our surroundings. In design, we can also use alteration and gradation to trigger pattern-like thinking. 

There are three general kinds of rhythm:

• Regular — occurs when the size of the elements or the size of the space between them is predictable.
• Flowing — this rhythm is similar to the regular one yet does not imply an even size or distance between elements. Instead, it has to do with patterns we consider organic, similar to the patterns you’d see on a tiger.
• Progressive — occurs when an action’s progress is represented through continuous change in shape, color, etc. 

White space

White space isn’t necessarily white; it can be of any color, texture, and so forth. Simply put, it’s the area that surrounds one or more elements of your design. 

It’s a vital component for enhancing your text’s legibility and reducing cognitive fatigue and friction between the beholder and your design. 

White space has become especially relevant in the last 15 years, as designers started moving away from extremely crammed and disorienting interfaces. 

Please take a look at Arngren, an old version of a Norwegian classified site that immediately throws us back into the ’90s (not in a good way). It’s a perfect example of a near-total lack of white space. Take a second to think about how it makes you feel:

Now, compare it to Apple’s 2020 homepage:

Why use white space?

The effective use of white space has a wide array of benefits. First off, it directs a person’s attention towards a specific object. It’s another way of establishing a visual hierarchy. It allows us to guide a person through a design and direct their attention to its most essential elements. 

Secondly, it increases the chances that a person will interact with it. At the end of the day, that’s why we design things — we want people to use them to solve important problems. 

Thirdly, a lack of white space can take its toll on the eyes and brain. Let’s go back to Arngren and Apple for a second — imagine you’re looking for something on the first site; a microwave oven, for instance. Try to be mindful of how complicated this task appears. Furthermore, pay attention to how tiring this experience is to the eye. 

Last but not least, white space ensures legibility. By not cramming your text in a tiny area, you’ll make it significantly more accessible for people to read it. 

Here’s an example of text that has very little white space:

And an example of text that has plenty of it:

Variety

Variety is a vital part of design that aims to arouse visual interest. Designers typically use it to counteract excessive unity — when things are too monotonous and bland. An uninteresting design will often fail to communicate which elements are more important and deserve a person’s attention.

There are many ways we can use variety to liven things up:

• Lines — varying weight, angle, or length
• Shapes — changing up the kind of shape (i.e., amorphous or geometric) as well as the size, color, orientation, texture, etc.
• Colors — using diversity in the hue, value, or saturation
• Values — varying the lightness or darkness
• Textures — is it rough or is it smooth?

Use Principles of Design in Prototyping

On the surface, design is in continuous change — it never stays the same. However, its principles and elements are timeless. 

More importantly, it’s a good idea to think of them as parts of a large system. Improving on variety might harm balance. Making a design too unified, might cause it to seem dull and unappealing.  

One thing is for sure — by continuously taking them into account, you’ll be able to create well-thought-out designs, whether you’re a beginner or a pro.

Create prototypes that are as interactive as the end-product. No code required. Use UXPin and dive into the world of advanced prototyping. Try for free.

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Buttons are essential components in any digital product. While there are many ways to design a button, designers must follow principles and best practices to create familiar and intuitive user experiences.

Button design is more than choosing a shape and color. Designers must consider a button’s states, placement, size, responsiveness, consistency, icon usage, suitable text/labels, and more.

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What is a Button?

A button in UI and UX design is a graphical element typically appearing as a clickable area on a digital interface. Its primary purpose is to convey a specific call to action (CTA), thereby directing user interaction within the system.

Buttons serve as interactive cues informing users that an action will occur upon activation. Through various visual cues such as color, text, and states, including disabled states when applicable, buttons effectively communicate with users, guiding them through the interface and facilitating desired interactions.

Despite its seemingly straightforward nature, the strategic implementation of buttons is crucial for ensuring intuitive and efficient user experiences across digital platforms.

Buttons vs links

Many digital products and websites use buttons and links incorrectly. There is a simple rule to follow when deciding between a button or link: Links are for navigation, and buttons are for performing actions.

Types of button UI

There are four types of buttons, and each button conveys a different message to users:

• Contained Button: Often used as the primary button for CTAs and important actions. Contained buttons use a background color with contrasting text.
• Outlined Button: Also referred to as a secondary or ghost button, and often placed next to a primary button as an alternative action, like “Cancel” instead of “Submit.” Outlined buttons use a transparent background with a contrasting border and text.
• Text Button: Also called a flat button and often used for low important actions, like date pickers. Text buttons have no background or border, with only the label colored and visible.
• Toggle Button: Designers use toggle buttons for two or more related actions–like switching dark/light mode on an app or bold, italic, and underline in word processors. Designers use states to indicate which option is active.

Modern mobile apps also use a floating action button (FAB) for important actions. Designers often place FABs at the bottom of the screen so that it’s a thumb’s reach from the user.

The basics of button UI design

Designers and engineers can modify several button properties:

• Background – The background of a button refers to the color or image that fills the area behind the button’s content. It’s essential for providing visual contrast and emphasis, helping the button stand out against the surrounding interface elements.
• Label – The label of a button is the text or symbol displayed on its surface, conveying the action or function associated with the button. A clear and concise label ensures users understand the purpose of the button and encourages interaction.
• Icon – An icon is a graphical symbol or representation often used alongside or instead of text in a button. Icons can enhance visual communication, particularly for actions with universally recognized symbols, and contribute to a clean and minimalist design.
• Padding – Padding refers to the space between the content of a button (such as text or icon) and its edges. Adequate padding ensures that the button’s content is visually separated from its border, improving readability and touchability on both desktop and mobile devices.
• Margin – Margin is the space around the outside of a button, separating it from neighboring elements. Proper margin helps maintain visual balance and prevents overcrowding, allowing users to interact with buttons without accidental touches or clicks.
• Border – The border of a button is the visible line or stroke that outlines its shape. Borders can be solid or dashed, and they contribute to the button’s visual appearance and hierarchy within the interface.
• Border radius – Border radius refers to the curvature of the button’s corners. Applying a border radius creates rounded corners, softening the button’s appearance and adding a touch of visual elegance to the design.
• Drop shadow – A drop shadow is a visual effect that creates the illusion of depth by adding a shadow beneath the button. This effect helps lift the button from the background, making it appear more prominent and tactile. Drop shadows can enhance the overall aesthetics and usability of a button in UI design.

What are typical button UI states?

Designers use states to provide context and communicate with users. There are six types of button states. We explain them briefly here, but if you want to read about them at length, we have a dedicated article about button states.

1. Default: How a button looks without any state. A default button could be contained, outlined, or flat, depending on your UI design and design system
2. Active: Tells the user they have pressed the button
3. Hover: Activated when a mouse cursor hovers over a button. Hover tells the user this is a clickable element
4. Focus: Used to indicate selection when using the keyboard or assistive technologies
5. Disabled: Indicates the user can’t click the button until completing another task
6. Loading: Communicates the system is processing the user’s action

What are the best practices for designing button UI?

Designers must follow certain principles for designing buttons and user interfaces. Use these button design best practices to guide your next project.

Button Hierarchy and Placement

Designers must consider button hierarchy and placement to provide users with clarity and highlight the most important action. Google’s Material Design recommends designers must create emphasis through color:

• High emphasis (Primary): Use a bright color, preferably a contained button, to show this button is most important. Avoid using more than one high-emphasis button on a single screen.
• Medium emphasis (Secondary): Use a lighter shade of your high-emphasis color to signify this button is less important. 
• Low emphasis (Tertiary): Use a text button or outlined button with a transparent background to show users its low importance.

By applying button hierarchy principles, users can complete important actions without much thought. If you use a single button for every action, users will have to examine each to determine which one they must press.

Correct button placement is also essential to guide users through a digital product. If you place two buttons side-by-side, always use a contained button as the primary action and outlined or text button for the secondary action. 

For example, if you have “Save” and “Cancel” at the bottom of a form, “Save” would be the primary action with the higher emphasis.

Button Consistency

Designers must use buttons consistently throughout a digital product. If you use a contained button for a primary action on one screen, repeat this choice throughout.

Designers must also be consistent with button sizes, fonts, icons, colors, border radius, whitespace, and other properties to create a familiar user experience that’s easy to navigate.

Button Sizing & Spacing

Size matters when it comes to buttons, especially on mobile applications where users use their fingers. Designers must use appropriate button size and spacing to ensure users don’t accidentally hit another element. 

Designer Taras Bakusevych recommends making UI elements a minimum of 48×48 pixels to avoid touch target errors. 

Button Labels

Labels should be as short and meaningful as possible. Designers must also keep labels on a single line for legibility. 

Button text language is also critical for conveying the correct message and action to users. For example, if you’re removing a song from a playlist, the correct phrasing would be “Remove” instead of “Delete.” Delete might confuse the user into thinking they’re deleting the song from their device or application.

Capitalization is also a critical factor designers must consider. Google Material Design recommends using uppercase for languages that allow it, while UX Movement says to use sentence-style capitalization.

The argument for sentence-style capitalization is better for users with reading disabilities like dyslexia. Google reasons that uppercase “is to distinguish the text label from surrounding text.”

The best option is to test your product with users. Color, contrast, size, UI layout, and many factors impact legibility, so there is no one-size-fits-all for capitalization.

Button Accessibility

Accessibility is a critical factor in modern UX design and product development. Designers must test UIs using tools and diverse usability participants to ensure buttons and other UI elements meet accessibility standards.

The color contrast between the label and background is one of the biggest considerations for button accessibility. With UXPin’s built-in accessibility features, designers can test color blindness and contrast on the fly–keeping them focused in UXPin rather than turning to external tools.

Label size, spacing, and padding can also impact accessibility. These properties are harder to test using tools, so designers must use usability testing to get meaningful results.

Devices & Screen Sizes

Recognizing how buttons look across different devices and screen sizes is crucial for designers. For example, dialog boxes look completely different on Apple devices compared to Android. The floating action button also looks different on iOS vs. Android.

Designers also need to consider how buttons will appear across multiple screen widths. For example, a button with a long label might not look the same on mobile vs. desktop.

Designing Buttons in UXPin

Designing buttons using an image-based design tool can be challenging. The static nature of image-based tools means buttons lack interactivity, functionality, and fidelity.

With UXPin’s code-based design tool, designers can create authentic user experiences with components that look and function like code. Here are some of UXPin’s advanced features to enhance your button design.

Components

Designers can build buttons from scratch and save them as Components to reuse throughout the design. Designers can also share these components through a shared design system to maintain consistency throughout the team.

States

UXPin States allow designers to create multiple states for a single UI component, like a button. For example, you can design the six-button states mentioned above, each with different properties that change according to user and system actions.

Designers can also use UXPin’s States for other components like carousels, dropdown navigation, accordions, and more.

Interactions

Create code-like interactivity using UXPin’s Interactions. Designers can choose from an extensive list of triggers and actions for desktop and mobile interactions. 

UXPin takes interactivity one step further with Conditional Interactions, allowing you to create dynamic, unique experiences based on user and system actions.

Variables & Expressions

With Variables and Expressions, designers can build high-fidelity prototypes with interactivity mirroring code.

For example, using UXPin Variables, designers can create a dynamic pay button that displays a variable total from a shopping cart, “Pay $25.”

You can also use Variables to create a personalized user experience during testing, like a welcome message with the name from user input or populating a profile page.

With Expressions, designers can validate form fields, like emails and passwords, and even disable a button until the user completes a form’s required fields.

With UXPin’s advanced prototyping features, the possibilities are endless. Designers can design prototypes that look and function like code, saving countless hours developing an identical prototype simply for testing purposes.

Sign up for a free trial and start building your first UXPin prototype immediately. Install one of UXPin’s free example apps to see how to create working buttons and other UI components.

The post Button Design – Get Site Visitors to Actually Click Your Buttons appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Visual communication is exceptionally complicated. It’s diverse, boundless, and relentless. A design language establishes principles and constraints that induce the clarity, consistency, and cohesion necessary for designers to communicate with end users.

Developing this design language is a time-consuming undertaking requiring feedback and collaboration from multiple departments and stakeholders.

The final result will allow an organization to create convergent and coherent experiences, significantly decrease spending, and set a high design standard that’s easy to follow.

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What is design language?

Design language is the collection of visual and interactive elements designers use to communicate with users. It ensures that designers create cohesive and consistent user experiences across platforms, products, user interfaces, and features.

The design language typically relates to the company’s brand values and identity–allowing people to recognize a brand through its designs and content.

There are two perspectives of design language: internal and external.

• Internal: ensures that every team follows the same rules and methodologies using a set of reference points and coordinates, making the design process efficient and free of confusion.
• External: facilitates familiar, intuitive user experiences for customers across multiple platforms and products.

By blending these two perspectives, companies create more efficient design processes, craft a memorable brand identity, and enhance usability.

What goes into a design language?

A design language covers many facets of a product, such as

• Colors
• Fonts
• Icons
• Sounds
• Spacing and layouts
• Copy
• Graphic design and illustrations
• Data visualizations
• States

What’s the difference between design language and design system?

A design language typically exists within a design system or style guide, providing product teams with guidelines, usage, and instructions. In a 2017 article, UXPin founder Marcin Treder made the argument that design systems are a language:

“A design system is a dynamic dictionary that describes the ever-changing current state of the language, prescribes the proper usage of it, and invites all the users of the language to extend it.” – Marcin Treder.

If you aim to build a design system, defining your visual language first will help guide the development of your UI components and pattern library.

Why is having a design language important?

A design language is a set of rules and principles that guide an organization’s visual identity, ensuring designs have a sense of continuity.

A well-defined design language offers many benefits, including:

• Ensuring design teams deliver consistent and coherent results, no matter who works on the project
• Streamlines onboarding and handovers by providing new team members with instructions and guidelines
• Creates brand consistency which helps develop a strong brand identity and trust
• Makes digital products more intuitive by providing users with a familiar and consistent user experience
• Provides a foundation for scalability because product teams make fewer design decisions, increasing efficiency and productivity

Design Language Examples

There are two organizations many designers use as models for developing their design language and building a design system:

• IBM
• Airbnb

IBM Design Language

Part of IBM’s design philosophy is to create instantly recognizable designs. Users must be able to identify an IBM product by its design characteristics rather than the logo itself.

A distinguishable visual identity is vital for building brand recall and user fidelity. One of the ways IBM achieves that is by engineering its grid systems like the 2x Grid.

“Precise use of the grid, along with consistent shapes, angles, and radii, help define a particular aesthetic that’s critical in expressing the “IBMness” of our illustrations and reveals a well-considered and systematic approach” – IBM.

Airbnb’s Visual Language

Airbnb’s Visual Language aims to achieve similar results but with the flexibility to scale. The company’s design language prioritizes speed and growth while preserving Airbnb’s strong brand identity.

“Here’s the simple truth: you can’t innovate on products without first innovating the way you build them.” – Alex Schleifer, VP of Design at Airbnb.

Airbnb’s language makes communication between designers and stakeholders much easier and standardizes practices across platforms and devices.

How to Create a Design Language

Developing a design language is arduous and time-consuming but well worth the effort. The earlier you start, the less work you’ll have, and the sooner your teams will start reaping the rewards.

Start with UI audit

It’s often best to complete a UI audit before developing your design language. An audit will allow you to identify issues, inconsistencies, or design decisions that don’t align with your principles or values.

Create a vocabulary

A vocabulary should contain and clearly define a product’s visual elements. The aim is to include a systematized pattern library and UI components accompanied by a style guide.

Your style guide must provide directions for each element’s purpose and how they promote consistency and clarity–for example:

“This [design element] from the [library] allows us to express [purpose].”

Keeping these directions (principles) succinct, easy to understand, and implement is crucial. For example, Shopify Polaris, used by thousands of designers worldwide, articulates its design principles in fewer than 100 words:

• “Fresh visual style: A clean, simple style makes things feel approachable and efficient.
• Faster performance: Elegant code and lightweight assets means pages load more quickly.
• Future-friendliness: Built for flexibility, design tokens and new infrastructure let us iterate easily across experiences.
• Purposeful brand presence: Being intentional about when the Shopify brand comes forward, and when it takes a backseat, directs the focus to where it matters most.
• Familiarity across experiences: Defined patterns and guidelines help us design a wide variety of experiences that still always feel like Shopify.”

Polaris uses this simplified approach across its documentation.

This simplification enables organizations to establish the meaningful constraints mentioned above while allowing designers to streamline decision-making. For example, here’s how Atlassian explains the logic behind their color palettes:

“Our primary palette is comprised of neutrals, white, and blue to bring boldness to our brand and is used in logical ways throughout product and marketing to guide the eye and highlight the important bits. We pepper warmer, secondary palette colors throughout to soften the experience and to impart confidence and optimism.” – Atlassian Design System.

Defining your design principles

The principles behind a product’s design philosophy are a litmus test for evaluating a design’s quality and purpose. It allows an organization to assess whether prototypes adhere to its general guidelines.

Some key points to consider include:

• Consistency
• Clarity
• Simplicity
• Usability
• Accessibility

For example, Airbnb’s design principles prioritize accessibility and functionality. They aim to create “unified, universal, iconic, and conversational” designs.

IBM’s principles aim to create “carefully considered, uniquely unified, expertly executed, and positively progressive” designs.

Set the rules

Principles define what your organization’s values are, while the rules guide teams on how to achieve them. These rules are essential for creating consistent workflows and outcomes to deliver great user experiences.

The rigidity of your rules will vary–some will be strict, while others will promote creativity and flexibility to innovate. You might not recognize these differences from the beginning, so it is crucial to encourage feedback from team members.

Facilitate growth

Your design language and system are ever-evolving organisms adapting to product, market, and technological changes. The design system team must adjust to these changes while encouraging users to contribute.

“A unified design language shouldn’t be just a set of static rules and individual atoms; it should be an evolving ecosystem.” – Karri Saarinen, Principal Designer at Airbnb.

Here are three ways to remain flexible and update your design language:

• Follow market trends and adjust to ensure your design language stays relevant to users.
• Keep personas up-to-date so that your design language aligns with the people your products serve.
• Monitor your competitive landscape to explore strategic design opportunities and create a distinct visual identity.

Who’s Responsible for Creating a Design Language?

While designers are responsible for developing an organization’s design language, it’s a collaborative effort requiring input from multiple departments and stakeholders. This collaboration increases adoption and ownership across the organization.

Here are some key departments and specialists you’ll want to include when developing a design language:

• UX/UI Designers: responsible for the visual components of the language.
• Accessibility specialists: ensure that the language abides by accessibility standards.
• UX writers or Content strategists: responsible for the tone of voice guidelines and brand spokesperson parameters.
• Researchers: provide valuable insight into the needs of the end-users.
• Front-end developers: instrumental in writing efficient programming syntax and assisting with documentation.
• Stakeholders: ensure that the language aligns with the organization’s goals and identity.

Unify Design Language With UXPin Merge

UXPin Merge is a technology for syncing a product’s UI library with UXPin’s design editor. By bridging the gap, Merge enables designers to use the same components during the UX design process as engineers use to develop the final product.

This single source of truth eliminates design drift and enhances designer/developer collaboration with built-in properties, principles, and constraints.

Instead of designing from scratch, designers use these components like building blocks and create prototypes for user testing. Because engineers already have the same UI library, design handoffs are smoother, almost non-existent, thus reducing time-to-market with minimal errors and debt.

Unify your product development process with a single source of truth from UXPin Merge. Visit our Merge page for more details and how to request access.

The post What Actually Constitutes Design Language? appeared first on Studio by UXPin.