How I conduct UI projects
An overview of the steps I take to create UI and final designs.
UI design is a process turn a list of features into delightful and usable solutions
Before doing UI you need to qualify the feature request
Everything that is not requested might need a complete redesign to be integrated
The job of the designer at this point could be reduced to trying to make things look good. Yet everything could go wrong, it is the role of the UI designer to organise and emphasise the information by its importance. You need to to make sure that everything is readable, accessible and usable. I have found one of the biggest challenges is to know beforehand all the features that need to be part of the screen everything that is missed require often complete overhaul of the organisation. And that is why we should always have strong UX research to back things up.
UI goal:
Design is done to create a universe that would represent both the business and its customers
Visuals need to be coherent with a brand or a mood
Designs almost never come on their own, or if they do idea usually comes together as a disperse jigsaw or overlapped collage of incoherent styles. It is just the way our brain work, jumping from ideas to another. In order to make a design consistent, I always start by building a focused base or Moodboard. Mood board, brand guide or pre-established design systems are a great way to channel productivity and focus on what matters.
Light themed moodboard
Daily UI: #001 ; #064 ; #066
Dark themed moodboard
Daily UI: #031 ; #037 ; #041
In design, importance and organisation is key
They are a thousand ways to build a calculator, yet we all agree functions are of several different types and importance. Finding the right balance is one of the missions of the UI designer. balance is something I thrive in design by understanding the relations between elements.
Great visuals never come first hands
Simply because everything in designing is to create something for other people to use. It is impossible to get the input of everyone on the first run. There are only so many things you can do and so far that you can go with any given amount of time. The tale is that even here I would like to spend more hours into refining this screen. What I have found is the best way to work is to start making iteration fast to quickly get testing and improvements done.
Collaboration with developers is a key to product feasibility
Developers are hidden designers in an organisation, while they might not enjoy the interviews, creativity or user testing. They work within a framework made to create a tool consistent, robust and accessible to every type of user. I have found working with developers a great resource for resistance and scalability proofing of my designs. In return, we come as designers with a framework and set of tool to help build a better component-based code.
Learnings & outcomes
UI gives the final renders and allows for an identity to be built
User Interface design is the part of my being a designer that I enjoy the most and where I feel am the strongest. But I have learned to realise the key to its success is to arrive with a solid basis of feature list and tight collaboration with multiple teams within the company. From product owners who gives direction, marketing that check if things are on brand and developers who will be in charge of the final step of production.
