Elements Of Good GUI Design II

In part one we reviewed three fundamental elements of GUI design that every successful designer must consider :

1. Consider The User – always “play to your audience”. While clever programming tricks entertain the “technogeek”, it may not be useful in conveying the message.
2. Start Out Simple – If the first window or home web page is too complex or loads too slowly, the user will loose interest and bypass it completely. Create simple, attractive, “first looks”. Menus should be elementary at this point, only containing the key areas of interest to the user for navigation. Avoid animation and movies on initial windows because of the tremendous resources involved in rendering.
3. Convey The Message – whether you are a commercial programmer or designing a personal web page the mantra is the same. Show the user your message up front, in a clear and concise way. Start with simple and clear imagery that speaks to the user. Allow the user to feel at ease and confident entering the site.

From these three keys we can continue to build skills that make good GUI design a part of your skill set.

Make Active Elements Intuitive

In this aspect, one should not forget the intuition is from the user. It is the user who must be able to navigate by intuition, not the programmer or graphic designer. Active elements should indicate by word or avatar what will happen when clicked. Too often the user is baffled as to what to do with strange “buzz words” and symbols. Not every link needs a graphical interface. Use them when appropriate and it will make the page interesting to navigate. Mouse-over events that change active links are a good way to emphasize a graphical link.

Aesthetics Can Be Useful

Users are very much more comfortable when your designs are well balanced and color coordinated. Unless there is a particular point to make, keep designs symmetrical and choose well behaved colors. Clashing and vivid or electric colors should be used sparingly (and then only for minor emphasis). The use of very detailed (busy) backgrounds should definitely be avoided as these tend to distract from the message content of the foreground.

Use The Language Of The User

Designing for another user base beside the computer industry may mean learning a whole new parlance. Some interest groups have their own “buzz words” that should be used instead of “technogeek”. Industry terms and phrases make the specialized interest user more comfortable and gives intuitive knowledge to the user. This is also true for abbreviations for industry related terms. The GUI designer should be very familiar with accepted abbreviations within a specific interest group (e.g. “Assy.” not “Ass”, etc.). Using industry professionals to review and test the demo will give the designer considerable knowledge of what the potential user expects (that is if you listen to what the tester says).

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