Find out everything there is to know about the 17 core principles of UX Design and how to use them in practice.
If you’re thinking about launching a career in UX design, you might be wondering about the skills and knowledge you need if you’re going to succeed in this rewarding industry. One of the key elements of every UX designer’s education is learning and putting into practice the principles of UX design. These best practices and guidelines are the foundation of the discipline and will assist you greatly when navigating different projects and challenges.
In this article, we’re going to begin with a definition of UX design principles, before running you through the essential principles of UX design that you need to know. We’ll also be providing hands-on guidance for applying these important guidelines and values in your UX practice.With this knowledge under your belt, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a UX design expert.
Here’s a clickable list of everything we’ll be covering in the article, so you can jump to the section that interests you the most.
- What are UX design principles?
- The user comes first
- Prioritise usability
- Know which stage in the design process you’re in
- Understanding-and testing-accessibility
- Implement clear hierarchies
- Consistency is key
- Always be aware of context
- Less is more
- Be mindful of typography
- Feedback is king
- Confirm, confirm, confirm
- Information Architecture (IA)
- Storytelling
- Add some personality!
- Keep the language simple and relatable
- Understand the difference in designing for web-based and mobile products
- Make use of UX design patterns
Let’s get started!
What are UX design principles?
UX principles are defined by The Interaction Design Foundation as “fundamental points of advice for making easy-to-use, pleasurable designs as we select, create, and organise elements and features in our work.” UX design principles provide the backbone to the discipline and are therefore crucial for new designers to both onboard and align their UX practice with.
UX principles are focused around the following themes:
- Usability
- Visual hierarchy
- Accessibility
- Consistency
- Context
- User control
- Familiarity
1. The user comes first
It should come as no surprise that putting the user first is the most important of all the UX design principles; after all, it’s called user experience design for a reason. The user, their needs, preferences, wants, challenges, and behaviour should be the focus throughout every stage of the UX design process , and the job of the designer is to improve the user’s experience with the product or service at every available opportunity.
In order to put the user first, a designer must place all assumptions to one side and interact with users in the real world. They can do this through in-depth user research, user testing, and taking every piece of feedback onboard.
Here is an example of a group of AND’s UX learners doing just that, in their Diploma course User Research project, where the brief was that their city had hired them to design a system to motivate people to spend more time outdoors by using local parks.
2. Prioritise usability
As we know, the purpose of UX design is to solve the user’s problems and enhance their experience with a brand in order to transform them into loyal and returning customers. For this reason, usability is an absolutely essential UX design principle.
“Usability” is defined by the Nielsen Norman Group as: “A quality attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use. The word “usability” also refers to methods for improving ease-of-use during the design process.”
They identify the following five quality components as essential to the definition:
- Learnability
- Efficiency
- Memorability
- Errors
- Satisfaction
What’s clear from this principle is that, irrespective of how beautiful your design is, the ease with which it can be used will ultimately determine its success. A designer needs to be focused on clarity, context, uncluttered design, and prominent, familiar-looking icons in familiar locations. This means drawing a user’s attention to the useful elements on a page, with every aspect of the design serving a clear purpose. Usability can be ensured via usability testing, which tests style, font, text, and clarity with end users.
3. Know which stage in the design process you’re in
For those new to UX design, the design process is a lot to take in. Made up of multiple phases, such as user testing and prototyping, the process requires the designer to be aware of what’s gone before, what’s coming next, and the optimal outcomes required of each stage in order for the team to move forward.
When you start working as a UX designer, you’ll need to be clear about exactly where you are in this process in order to know the right questions to ask end users, the right elements to test or prioritise, and the correct tools to use to get the best results.
4. Understanding and testing accessibility
Awareness around accessibility in design has gained increasing importance in recent years, and rightly so. Rather than focusing solely on the average user, designers need to be able to create designs which enable everyone access to and enjoyment of their work, irrespective of any disabilities or access limitations. While enabling access to products or services for those with disabilities was in the past considered more of a ‘nice to have’, these days it’s absolutely imperative.
Elements that UX designers should consider when conducting accessibility testing include:
- The readability of on-page and blog text
- Contrasting elements and colours that aid visibility
- Using colours that everyone is able to see
5. Implement clear hierarchies
There are two types of hierarchy that a UX designer is expected to have in their designs: the first to consider is the primary hierarchy, which is the hierarchy concerned with the organisation of information throughout a website or application. You can identify this by looking at the sitemap, which contains primary and secondary menus for all the information that’s on the website or application pages.
In addition to the primary hierarchy is the visual hierarchy. This hierarchy is concerned with how users navigate within a page or section. Content needs to be prioritised visually on the page in an order that matches the user’s primary needs. Important information needs to be prominent and eye-catching, less important information might be lower down on the page, in smaller font, and in less bold colours.
6. Consistency is key
Although every designer longs to make their own mark on a brand’s content and output, the truth is that users seek familiarity and consistency when navigating websites, applications, and products. Why do they do this? Because when actions, icons, and navigation are familiar to a user they can reach their desired goal much more quickly, without having to onboard any additional learning. The faster the user can get to know your website, the better their experience of it is (even if this might seem boring to you, as the designer!).
7. Always be aware of context
Context is a great teacher for UX designers; it points them to the key factors that impact the end user as well as what is influencing the problem the designer is trying to solve. It’s also the environment within which the solution is going to be used. For a UX designer to be aware of context, they need to think about what sort of devices the user typically enjoys using, the reasons a user may use a product or service, and any additional clues as to how the solution will be implemented.
Context also plays a key role for users. It enables users to get to grips with a brand before diving into the details of a product or service, and it helps them to navigate obstacles on a new interface. The right context also improves communication between a brand and its users as it ensures the right message is getting across.
8. Less is more
It’s easy for a designer to get carried away with the creativity or uniqueness of a design when their focus moves away from enhancing the usability of a product. That’s where the “less is more” principle comes in. To avoid accidentally cluttering or over-filling an interface, this principle is a reminder to the designer to focus on simplicity and intuitivity over elaborate but unnecessary decoration that actually hinders, rather than assists, the user when trying to reach their goal.
9. Be mindful of typography
A typography hierarchy is the visual organisation of the page’s content in terms of each element’s relative importance. Simply put, this is how we organise the text, headers, subheads, paragraphs, and call to actions on each page to signal their importance to the overall message. Typography, and typography hierarchies, hold a lot of sway in the mind of the user when browsing a company’s webpages by boosting or suppressing messages and enhancing or hindering readability. It’s also important to recognise the huge impact that typography can have on accessibility and usability.
The following sites provide examples of great typography:
- Rally Interactive
- Hix Snedeker Companies
- The Next Rembrandt
10. Feedback is king
Whether as a part of user research, user testing, or within the design itself, feedback plays a key role in the UX design process. As part of the user research stage, feedback from end users will inform the purpose of the design by telling the designer which fundamental needs should be addressed, while feedback during the user testing phase will inform the necessary improvements and additions needed to make the design intuitive, easy to navigate, and delightful for users.
When using the product itself, feedback also plays a role; users expect a response or “feedback” from the page when they perform an action in order to know when that action has been successful or unsuccessful. A button might change colour when clicked, or a message might appear when an order has been successfully placed, for example.
Here’s another User Research project by a group of AND’s UX learners, where they sought extensive feedback on behalf of a startup - Farms of India - to understand users’ awareness levels about organic farming, learn about their pain points and unearth other consumer insights.
11. Confirm, confirm, confirm
We’re all human, which means we sometimes make mistakes when trying to complete a task. This scenario is even more common if we’re interacting with an unfamiliar interface. A UX designer should always be designing with this in mind, offering the user the opportunity to confirm the choice they’ve made or correct an error before it becomes permanent or irreversible. You may have noticed this when you buy flights; you’ll be asked to check your itinerary a final time before pressing the ‘Buy Flights’ button. This improves the user experience profoundly which is why it’s an essential UX design principle to get into the practice of implementing.
12. Information Architecture (IA)
Information architecture is the principle of organising, structuring, and labelling content in order to enhance its findability and usability for users. This is typically implemented on a website or within an app, but the process can also be used to structure data within multiple types of systems. The objective of information architecture is to help users find what they’re seeking and complete their tasks or meet their goals easily and intuitively with minimal barriers. To do this, the UX designer will use clear content labelling and structuring, in doing so providing users with a clear view of where they are on the site and the actions they need to take to complete their desired action.
13. Storytelling
Users are naturally drawn to stories and are more likely to have a lasting impression of a product or service when a story has been built around it. In fact, products and services that tell inspirational stories sell more than those which don’t.
The pace with which the narrative is revealed and the rhythm the narrative takes on will play key roles in the storytelling design and will need to match the branding and messaging already established by the business while still holding the user’s interest. A designer will use photographs, illustrations, videos, animation as well as text to convey a story that brings about an emotional response in the user. Different stories can be implemented for the release of new features or products, or for particular advertising or marketing campaigns.
14. Add some personality!
For all its rules and best practices, great UX design isn’t without personality. By showcasing some personality in your design, you’re more likely to peak the user’s interest, attract new audiences, and provide a connection point between the brand and the user that can sometimes be lost in a design that has failed to incorporate the human touch. Adding in some personality or character is also an effective way of clearly differentiating your product or service from those of your competitors; giving users a reason to return to your site rather than that of a similar company that doesn’t speak so directly to them.
15. Keep the language simple and relatable
If you fancy yourself as a bit of a poet, it can be tempting to wax lyrical in your landing page text. However, trying to impress your readers with your broad vocabulary and elegant turn of phrase can often fall flat as users tend to avoid technical or overly-complicated language. Remember, users are typically short on time and are often completing multiple tasks at once. This means that they are looking for clear messaging that guides them towards their goal as seamlessly as possible. Try to keep the voice of your target user in mind and, when writing, seek to emulate the language you think they themselves would use and understand. Avoid jargon at all costs.
Consistency of terminology is also key in UX writing; don’t use different terms for the same thing, and keep in mind the information the user already has and what they may need reminding of.
16. Understand the difference in designing for web-based and mobile products
A natural part of every UX designer's learning journey is understanding the very big difference between designing for web-based and mobile products. Screen size affects visual hierarchy, information architecture, and how intuitively a user can navigate their way through the design. Streamlining a design originally meant for the web to fit its mobile equivalent will be crucial here, as will providing additional context and navigation tools to prevent users from getting lost or confused. Conducting user testing will also enable you to quickly see what other changes you’ll need to make to adapt a web design to mobile.
17. Make use of UX design patterns
It’s not uncommon for a designer to come across the same problem again and again in software design or development. When this is the case, design patterns are proven solutions that can be used to address these common problems. These solutions are an effective route out of a sticky spot that has been used by multiple other designers and has likely been tweaked and improved over the years to make them even more efficient. By adopting UX design patterns, a UX designer can speed up the whole UX design process and therefore move to the next stage of the process even sooner.
Summary
In this article, we’ve run through the fundamental UX design principles you need to know when working in the field of UX. If you’d like to learn more about each of these principles and how to apply them in your work, it’s worth considering furthering your UX education with a training course or specialised boot camp led by UX professionals. Other learning methods to top up your knowledge include books, blogs, social media, and podcasts, while taking on small-scale voluntary projects can be a great practical way to boost your skills and build on your knowledge.
At this stage, if you’d like some support to learn the essential skills and industry knowledge needed to succeed as a UX designer, here are some useful resources you could explore:
Next Steps
- Watch this session by Shiva Viswanathan, Design Head of Ogilvy Pennywise, and Naman Singh, Product Experience Designer at RED.
- Talk to a course advisor to discuss how you can transform your career with one of our courses.
- Pursue our UI UX Design courses - all courses are taught through live, interactive classes by industry experts, and some even offer a Job Guarantee.
- Take advantage of the scholarship and funding options to overcome any financial hurdle on the path of your career transformation.
In case you think you need further assistance, here are some of our resources you can consider:
Note: All information and/or data from external sources is believed to be accurate as of the date of publication.
