UI/UX Articles And Interesting Tidbits Of The Week
December//13//2019
Here are some interesting finds on UI/UX of the week!
1.
Designing for Design Systems. I’ve previously listed articles focused on Design Systems. This particular article, provides insights on how to organize, structure a Design System, across a plethora of variables, including Typography, Color, Link Styles, Button styles. While not the most comprehensive article on this topic, it provides some interesting call outs, worth noting. Highlight of the article includes:
“The most important benefit of separating skins from components is that it creates a clear contract between design and development. Designers can focus on good-looking color combos. Developers can focus on implementing the concept of skins. People can focus on their specialties, yet everybody’s speaking the same language. Treating this as a contained system also has maintainability benefits. New skins can be added. Existing skins can be modified. Contrast-based accessibility issues can be fixed in one place. Results can be verified on a single page. Maybe you could even enable designers to edit skins?”
2.
Accessibility. Great article hailing from Fast Company, on the topic of Accessibility. It’s pertinent, with content substantiated by relevant metrics. I’ve listed Accessibility articles in the past, but I’ll reinstate some common factors to consider on this topic, namely: writing descriptive code, clear forms, contrasting colors, plenty of white space, supportive text, including orientation cues, keyboard accessibility/compatibility, big text, to name but a few. Well worth a read. Highlight of the article includes:
“There are nearly 61 million Americans living with some sort of disability, and the majority of these individuals are likely using computers, shopping online, and eagerly consuming digital content. In order to enable full, barrier-free access to information and services for individuals who are blind or visually impaired, those who are hearing impaired, those with learning or cognitive disabilities, those who struggle with epilepsy or other seizure-related disorders, and those with limited mobility in the hands and arms, special considerations must be taken into account by designers and developers of digital content and functionality. Providing this for your customers is required by law, in the ADA.”
3.
Usability Metrics. Very interesting article from the Maze blog, on the topic of Usability and the metrics associated with this important quantitative research method and source of information. Some of the metrics include completion, duration, errors and satisfaction (keeping in mind that when doing usability testing, the factors to register include learnability, memorability, satisfaction, efficiency and errors). Well worth a read. Highlight of the article includes:
“This category of metrics relates to the time users to take to complete a task or the time they spend on a particular screen in the design. Time spent is an essential indicator of usability as more time might mean users are having a hard time finding what they need on a page, are lost in the flow, or don’t understand how to use the product.”
