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Rules for developers to design beautiful UIs without a designer

refactoringui.com

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Re: Rules for developers to design beautiful UIs without a designer

#131

Post by falcolas »

threatofrain wrote: post #115
Uehreka wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Design is how it works, not how it looks. After over a decade of people jumping into these discussions with this line, I’ve gotta push back: Design is also how things look, and how things look can be important. Consumers care about how things look. If we dismiss presentation and drive people towards UX stuff every time it comes up, then the people we talk to are going to end up having good ideas that no one buys be…

I'd also note that despite Jakob Nielsen's prominence nobody designs like he suggests. We should be open to the idea that beauty and delight may be more important than usability or features.

Respectfully, fuck that. Beauty matters the first time you use it, whereas functionality matters every single time.

Or, in business terms, beauty has terrible ROI.

Re: Rules for developers to design beautiful UIs without a designer

#132

Post by goodlinks »

epolanski wrote: post #121
lambdasquirrel wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People tend to take care of things that are both well put together and beautiful.

I think this era of thinking is over. People judge apps by how they look more than how they work. If it looks professional and good looking they give it more credit and chances than it deserves. If UX is good but looks are not airbnb/apple wannabe they tend to distrust it.

I hold out hope that when the tool is in a market that delivers actual value functionality and usability still tend to win out.

I think that a lot of software is inherently low (or even negative) value and thats why shiny wins.

Could easily be dreaming tho

Re: Rules for developers to design beautiful UIs without a designer

#133

Post by sprkwd »

pazimzadeh wrote: post #49

Design is how it works, not how it looks. This article seems to mainly be talking about the "polish" of a design. There are more important principles which don't have anything to do with polish, such as not putting the Cancel button next to the Ok button. More like this: https://lawsofux.com https://asktog.com/atc/principles-of-interaction-design/ https://www.nngroup.com/articles I recommend prototyping the flow/feel…

Form follows function.

Re: Rules for developers to design beautiful UIs without a designer

#134

Post by adventured »

Uehreka wrote: post #109
pazimzadeh wrote: post #49

Design is how it works, not how it looks. This article seems to mainly be talking about the "polish" of a design. There are more important principles which don't have anything to do with polish, such as not putting the Cancel button next to the Ok button. More like this: https://lawsofux.com https://asktog.com/atc/principles-of-interaction-design/ https://www.nngroup.com/articles I recommend prototyping the flow/feel…

> Design is how it works, not how it looks. After over a decade of people jumping into these discussions with this line, I’ve gotta push back: Design is also how things look, and how things look can be important. Consumers care about how things look. If we dismiss presentation and drive people towards UX stuff every time it comes up, then the people we talk to are going to end up having good ideas that no one buys be…

More specifically there can be no separation between how something looks and how it works, they're bonded (and for good reason). There is no scenario where you can actually fully break the two apart. Any attempt to try harms one side or the other or both sides. How it works and how it looks go in tandem in all cases, they heavily influence eachother, either making the whole better or worse depending on how you go about creating for that reality.

Anybody telling you different is arguing from a pretty severe bias. If you're designing on the basis of how something works, and not also on how it looks at the same time, you're going to create a subpar outcome.

Re: Rules for developers to design beautiful UIs without a designer

#135

Post by actionfromafar »

threatofrain wrote: post #115
Uehreka wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Design is how it works, not how it looks. After over a decade of people jumping into these discussions with this line, I’ve gotta push back: Design is also how things look, and how things look can be important. Consumers care about how things look. If we dismiss presentation and drive people towards UX stuff every time it comes up, then the people we talk to are going to end up having good ideas that no one buys be…

I'd also note that despite Jakob Nielsen's prominence nobody designs like he suggests. We should be open to the idea that beauty and delight may be more important than usability or features.

It was a long time I looked in that book but I hated it. Not because it was ugly, I like ugly. But the advice didn’t make sense. It’s been years sincy I thought of Nielsen, maybe I should give at a peek again.

Re: Rules for developers to design beautiful UIs without a designer

#136

Post by kungfufrog »

I must be a philistine because with the primary example used on the landing page I actually prefer the bordered version. It seems clearer/cleaner to me. Maybe it's a vestige of growing up in the 90's writing Access applications on the side for dosh when I was a teenager?

Re: Rules for developers to design beautiful UIs without a designer

#137

Post by actionfromafar »

goodlinks wrote: post #132
epolanski wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this era of thinking is over. People judge apps by how they look more than how they work. If it looks professional and good looking they give it more credit and chances than it deserves. If UX is good but looks are not airbnb/apple wannabe they tend to distrust it.

I hold out hope that when the tool is in a market that delivers actual value functionality and usability still tend to win out. I think that a lot of software is inherently low (or even negative) value and thats why shiny wins. Could easily be dreaming tho

There is a market for good things anyways, but not sure how niche. I’m on your team tho

Re: Rules for developers to design beautiful UIs without a designer

#138

Post by pelagic_sky »

izacus wrote: post #43
clumsysmurf wrote: post #7

Often the bad designs come from the designers themselves. Just as software developers often fall prey to "NIH", many designers feel the established design systems like Material are insufficient for some reason. That is OK, if you know the rules you can break them, but often they don't know the rules either (grid system, typography, color for accessibility) and want to make "their own mark" with some new creation that…

Honestly, I'd just once like to work with a designer that has heard of words longer than 5 letters. Every. Single. Darn. Design I get completely ignores the fact that the texts inside them won't be built from nice little short words with EXACTLY the correct letter counts (especially when localized). Which results in shit UIs like one I've just seen on Android where (in my language) the button literally just says "Tap…

You need to work with designers who are used to supporting localization. Try making a UI using Deutsch and tell me about spacing issues. :D

Re: Rules for developers to design beautiful UIs without a designer

#139

Post by pelagic_sky »

asoneth wrote: post #19
clumsysmurf wrote: post #7

Often the bad designs come from the designers themselves. Just as software developers often fall prey to "NIH", many designers feel the established design systems like Material are insufficient for some reason. That is OK, if you know the rules you can break them, but often they don't know the rules either (grid system, typography, color for accessibility) and want to make "their own mark" with some new creation that…

I think you deal with bad designers the same way you deal with bad developers. Try not to hire them in the first place, fire them if you can, and if you're stuck with them try to make sure they are occupied with tasks that will not cause too much overall damage.

The horror stories I hear are usually when a Graphic Designer is given the role of a UX/UI designer. There is nothing that is going to quickly fix that situation other than getting them some much needed education and mentorship.

Re: Rules for developers to design beautiful UIs without a designer

#140

Post by stonemetal12 »

creativenolo wrote: post #83
petilon wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Design is how it works, not how it looks. No, it is not. If you're Steve Jobs then yes, but otherwise how it looks and how it works are usually two different job functions. People who are good at visual design are not usually knowledgeable enough to do functional design, and people who are good at functional design are not necessarily good at visual design.

> No, it is not. Bold statement for something subjective. I think you are confusing design and art (from your own experience or misfortune). The processes of visual design have informed (or formalised) the design as a process in other fields. Artists have a style as a function. Designers (visual or not) have process. No one is great at everything. Mediocre designers are either too visual or not at all (especially the…

The dictionary says it means "a plan or drawing produced to show the look and function or workings of a building, garment, or other object before it is built or made."

So it is both "Look" and "function". Claiming looks aren't part of it is incorrect.

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