Specification for traffic lights and design

Specification for traffic lights and design

When crossing the road suddenly noticed the traffic lights, just the latest new traffic rules are also in full swing, on the homeopathic spit trough on "design norms" thinking.

Mention of design norms, many people feel that is a very virtual, not pragmatic performance engineering, many enterprises for the design of norms and design norms, to shoot the head to set the rules, put energy into, face up, and finally died. Before also very reluctant to make design specifications, experience a number of terminal design pain, gradually understand the design of the norms "exist is reasonable" meaning.

The revelation of the traffic lights

Before we go back to the traffic lights, let's get to the light:

This is the most common traffic lights. When the industrialization of urbanization reached a certain degree, the emergence of vehicles such as Water Dragon Ma complex traffic, traffic lights have emerged. Here, the traffic lights to play is the role of norms, passers-by, drivers reached a consensus: red stop, green light to go. Everything in order. Without it, crossing the road will become thrilling.

This is a simple common sense, but the same thinking migrating to design can lead to a lot of interesting thinking.

Often see the product design team often on the navigation, feedback and other interactive issues are hotly discussed, although multiple collisions is a good thing, but once the system began to be huge, the problem will be revealed: team members have creative pursuit, especially as the creative life of the designer, the pursuit of the rules of innovation more prominent, if the team is missing "red light Stop Green" Such a consensus, lack of design constraints, will lead to a disorderly superposition of rules, making the software's overall interaction becomes messy and complex.

Three Sins of design code

1. The timing of the norm-setting is too early/too late

The road of a small village does not need a traffic light, because it is not necessary, the existence of traffic lights instead restricts people's freedom to move around. But there are such a kind of company, in the early product savage growth, the scale is still small, early design specifications, spend great effort, but no one accepted, difficult to implement. As opposed to premature, too late is not appropriate, big companies will make such a mistake, such as google,android before 4.0 out of a fairly rough, with and without the same specification, wait until the system runs a lot of long iphone-like app, only to find the problem is serious.

2. The specification is too detailed

The traffic light is a particularly simple "constraint", red Stop, green light to go, as to how to stop, how to go, to a B-C to decide their own. The makers of IPhone design guideline are very prescient, and when they write specifications, they choose a broad presentation that does not define how big the "click button" should be, and the "Back button" must be long in the upper left corner, Do not define the deletion must have a throw in the trash the animation ... The more detailed the statement, the greater the limit will become the chain of design team innovation.

3. The standard is invariable

The early traffic lights only two color replacement, but still will encounter a certain danger, after continuous improvement to appear by the red and yellow-green three-color signal lamp and has been used so far (recently someone out to the yellow light to deny). Traffic lights are also not a simple color replacement, but a complete set of signaling systems, sidewalks, lanes, directional instructions ... Design specifications The same is true, when the product becomes complex, as large as a colossus such as QQ, micro-letter, in order to ensure the consistency of experience, the norms will gradually improve and clear. The establishment of norms is a long-term process, the broad design guidelines should keep pace with the times.

Big Guide, Small spec

On the specification of the discussion, before this has been a lot of predecessors have carried out a variety of thinking and debate, as for the implementation of the team because of the project and the difference.

Take the iphone's product design For example, Apple's official IOS Human Interface guidelines (formerly called "IPhone Human Interface Guidelines") compares the system, Many product designs refer directly to this document to build their own app, and the only design specification in the product lifecycle is the ready-made reference. In addition to the official design guidelines for the basic reference, but also according to the needs of the project will be the design specification refinement, to 1+1 (Platform specification and Application Specification) of the way to organize the software cumbersome interactive details.

Canonical Case (i): Information system

Hint system as a small point in software design, many teams do not care, in the past we have a relatively complete information system, will be prompted into four categories:

3.0 in the design process we have once again optimized the whole system of hints, completely remove toast tips, and will banner tips Unified as a style, directly next to the navigation bar below.

Canonical Case (ii): Menu system

menu is another common interactive system in software design, our first version just came out with a vague way (horizontal sliding) design menu, after several versions of the evolution of the menu appears more direct, easier to expand, and the operation of the exception provides an explanation.

IPHONEQQ Music has developed to the present, peremptory is a huge product, has the massive music storehouse information organization, the personal music asset management, the basic play Operation experience ....

In addition to the above information hints and menu systems, we also provide some simple guidelines for several common interactive systems of the product, including:

1. Navigation: Define global navigation rules, including common level entry, transient interface, interface intermodulation, cross product intermodulation

2. Exception handling: such as network interruption, content is empty when the reminder and guidance

3. Brand communication: In the abnormal, edge situation, product slide show to the music brand visual communication

Of course, if there is some kind of unsatisfied situation, we will re-examine and adjust in time. A highly efficient and controllable interactive system is required to be changed.

Finally, the input/output ratio problem, since most of the custom specification is not significant (except for platform-level specifications), why invest a lot of energy? In fact, the small standard outside the official specification cost is very low, do not need to be organized into a complete style library, simply to list the specifications in a large picture, for team members or in the middle take over the designer reference can be. For mobile internet products with very fast pace, simplicity is the most vital.