Principles of Interaction Design
The 10 major principles of interaction design are as following:
- Consistency: As we discussed in the previous section, consistency simply means keeping design elements uniform throughout the design. We can create a consistent design by making sure that the elements we are using in the design look and behave in the same way compared to other elements of the design.
- Minimalism: By Minimalism we mean that the design should be simple and should not include any blingy or unnecessary elements that do not serve any purpose but are there for the visuals. We can make our design Minimal by keeping it simple, clear and concise.
- Discoverability: Discoverability means that all the design elements that are important for the user are visible and easily accessible. Discoverability is very important to make any design interactive. While creating Interaction Design, we must make sure that the interactions are easily discoverable for the user.
- Learnability: By Learnability we mean that the interaction should be easy to learn and remember for the user without facing issues to use it again. If the user comes to our website once and uses a particular feature, he or she must feel comfortable to come again and use the feature easily without having to go though any form of guide.
- Conceptual and Mental Models: Conceptual and Mental Models are they are extremely important in order to make a design discoverable and easier to understand. A mental model explains how a person thinks about what is going on in this world.
- Feedback: The design should provide a real response to each action taken by the user. If the user doesn’t get feedback of the actions he or she has performed, it would confuse the user whether his or her task is done or not. Lack of Feedback to user leads to a poor design.
- Mapping: In design, Mapping is a relationship between two set of things. Mapping represents which control is connected to what action on the product.
- Visual Hierarchy: Visual Hierarchy is a way of convey the user that which of the information is more important and grab the user’s attention on that information or element of design. If you want your user to put their attention on a particular information then you can highlight it with the help of certain colors or with the help of typography.
- Affordances and Signifiers: Affordance basically means telling the users what actions he or she can take on a particular element. Signifier while on the other hand tells the user what affordances objects they have.
- Constraints: We would not want user to do anything and everything with the features we create because this may create confusion in the mind of the user. Constraints is restricting the possibilities of user interaction to make sure that only specific things are visible to user. This is done to take some control from the user and give it to the designers.
How Interaction Design Enhances UI/UX?
In this day and age where the designs are coming closer to the users and emotionally appealing to the users, making a design conversational is a must. This means that the design should be able to convey to the user that taking a particular action would lead to what result. Because of this user can perform their task easily. This is why Interaction Design became popular.
In this article, we will discuss What Interaction Design is. How Interaction Design Enhances UI/UX and Principles for Creating Good Interaction Design.