The Ten Best UX Design Practices

As someone who used to work as a UX Designer and has since transitioned into the Product Designer space due to my passion for research, I have gained valuable insights about the importance of user experience in the product design process. Creating products that are intuitive, easy to use, and deliver a great user experience is crucial for their success. With this in mind, I will be sharing the ten best UX design practices that I have learned from my experience.

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1. Understand Your Users: The first step in creating a great user experience is understanding your users. Conduct user research, create user personas, and analyze user feedback to get insights into your target audience. This will help you design a product that meets their needs and expectations.

2. Keep It Simple: Simplicity is key when it comes to UX design. A simple and intuitive design will make it easier for users to navigate and understand your product. Avoid cluttered interfaces and unnecessary features.

3. Create a Consistent Design: Consistency is important in UX design. Make sure your design is consistent across all pages and features. This will help users feel comfortable using your product and will make it easier for them to navigate.

4. Prioritize Accessibility: Accessibility is a crucial aspect of UX design. Make sure your product is accessible to everyone, including those with disabilities. Design for different screen sizes, color contrasts, and font sizes to ensure that all users can use your product.

5. Use Visual Hierarchy: Visual hierarchy helps users navigate and understand your product. Use size, color, and placement to guide users through the most important features of your product.

6. Test Your Design: Testing is essential in UX design. Conduct user testing to see how users interact with your product. This will help you identify any usability issues and improve your design.

7. Use White Space: White space is an important design element in UX design. It helps create a clean and uncluttered interface that is easy to navigate. Use white space to highlight important features and create a more visually appealing design.

8. Use Clear and Concise Language: Clear and concise language is important in UX design. Use simple and easy-to-understand language to communicate your message. Avoid using jargon or technical terms that may confuse users.

9. Use Intuitive Navigation: Intuitive navigation is crucial in UX design. Make it easy for users to navigate your product by using clear and consistent navigation throughout your product.

10. Iterate and Improve: UX design is an iterative process. Continuously improve your design by collecting feedback from users and making changes based on their feedback. This will help you create a better user experience over time.

11.09.2019

Lifeview

Meredith Davis 

We are here to contribute in a meaningful way. The purpose of life is to love God first, and to love others, but also to reach one’s potential, learn, grow continually and contribute to greater good. Relationships between individuals and others are meant for learning, understanding and experiencing love and fulfillment. Good is kindness, loving others and yourself; evil opposes these. Our emotions control the lens of our perceptions and understanding of ourselves and others. Joy’s role is to bring happiness to others and self. Sorrow’s role is to reduce judgement bias, increase perseverance and promote generosity.

06.20.2019

Ira Keller Fountain 

Topic: Water
Medium: Fountain
Designer: Lawrence Halprin, Angela Danadjieva
Scale: Portland, Oregon 
Era: 1970 - Present

Lawrence Halprin was a great architect who pushed the design of America’s urban spaces in new directions after World War II. He is best known for crafting the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C.  Halprin had a profound influence on the revival of Portland after World War II, when many American families transitioned into the suburbs. Halprin became interested in the way users move through public space after marrying Anna Schuman, an accomplished dancer. The Forecourt Fountain, later named the Ira Keller Fountain was designed in 1968 and constructed in 1970 in Portland, Oregon by Lawrence Halprin, and Angela Danadjieva, a designer at the Lawrence Halprin & Associates. The two visionary landscape architects brought modern design to land.

The fountain introduced a new style to an urban environment by bringing an interactive natural waterfall-like structure into the city, creating an urban refuge and gathering place for the community. The complex is made up of eight blocks that interconnect with urban corridors. The fountain pools are made of reinforced concrete that contain 280,000 liters of water. In Danadjieva and Halprin’s design, geometric shapes were utilized to mimic the nearby Cascade Mountains. The square, rectangular, deep and shallow pools made from concrete overlap, offering proximity to the water without saturating the viewer. The low protective wall under the waterfalls create secret stepping stones on each side of the cascade, generating a unique experience for the viewer. The fountain is a paradox, both urban and natural. Considering postwar American architecture, Halprin’s work made a vital contribution to landscape design, urban planning, street architecture, and infrastructure design by incorporating environmental aspects, eventually helping shape an era.

CITATION 

Friedberg, Eva Jessica. "Action Architecture: Lawrence Halprin's Experiments in Landscape 

Design, Urbanism, and the Creative Process." Order No. 3371639 University of California, Irvine, 2009. Ann Arbor: ProQuest. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.

"Halprin Landscape Conservancy". Halprin Landscape Conservancy. Web. Mar. 27. 2016.

Kaplan, R., 1983. The role of nature in the urban context. In: I. Altman and J.F. Wohl- will (Editors), Behavior and the Natural Environment. Plenum, New York, NY, pp.127-162. Web. 26 Mar. 2016.

"Ira Keller Fountain, Portland, OR - Best Of Portland (Ep. 6)." YouTube. The Chawman Channel, 2013. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.

Waldheim, Charles. The Landscape Urbanism Reader. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2006. Web. 27 March 2016. 

"Walt Lockley." Walt Lockley. Web. 30 Mar. 2016.

06.12.2019

Lifeview

Meredith Davis 

We are here to contribute in a meaningful way. The purpose of life is to love God first, and to love others, but also to reach one’s potential, learn, grow continually and contribute to greater good. Relationships between individuals and others are meant for learning, understanding and experiencing love and fulfillment. Good is kindness, loving others and yourself; evil opposes these. Our emotions control the lens of our perceptions and understanding of ourselves and others. Joy’s role is to bring happiness to others and self. Sorrow’s role is to reduce judgement bias, increase perseverance and promote generosity.

06.11.2018

Innovation and the Education System

Since 1971, an innovation plateau has been reached and progress has stalled with the invention of tangible objects. In the 20th century, Post-it notes, BIC pen, zippers, pushpins, calculators and the paper clip, to name a few, items so essential to our everyday lives, were invented.

Progress is impossible without change, and to progress, we must encourage revolutionary change in education.

“The principal goal of education is to create individuals who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done - individuals who are creative, inventive and discovers.”  In doing so, rigid institutions must accommodate change into their curriculum and design of their school, in hopes of creating, and inspiring new, innovative ideas. 

There’s a feeling you get when you enter a well-designed environment; a happy, almost-inspiring and exciting feeling. The dim-lighted hallways and odd-shaped rooms are the innovation gyms for the leaders of our future. Students should be learning in aesthetically pleasing, open environments where creativity and ingenuity consciously manipulate users and encourage a more meaningful and satisfying experience. 

The environment in education is the “third teacher” because space influences the user’s physical, mental, and emotional state, and how we feel influences how we learn, work, and perform. 

Education is vital to advancing our future, and ultimately, the progress of humanity. 

Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash