Three elements that must be weighed against the interface design

Interface designers often make a mistake, it is very tangled in the design of a product to the three aspects of the trade-offs, but the three-factor tradeoff is to create a holistic app has a critical impact. Now let's talk about how these three elements weigh.

Obvious.

In other words, is "obviously" not the basic feature that all functions should have? Well, unless your product is simple enough to do just one thing, like a paper clip, you can't have the same visual priority for everything and all in a clear form. The tangled place is right here, for a slightly more complex product, you have to decide which things should always remain obvious, which need to be relatively easy to use, and what to make sure they are available. Whether it's the product as a whole, or a functional module or an interface, the more complex things it can do, the more decisions you need to make in this area.

This tradeoff is not entirely equal to the partitioning of functional priorities. We are accustomed to dividing functionality into high, medium, and low priority in the product design process, but the classification itself cannot directly solve the problem of "which elements need to remain obvious at all times." In addition, the feature priority does not include "cost" information, which is one of the factors that designers must consider when weighing decisions.

Keeping an element always visible is a cost, and you can't make all the elements explicit, because the resources you and the users hold are limited. The so-called "cost" and "resources", not the money, of course, strictly speaking, these real material resources can be largely about the design decisions-I mainly refer to the device screen specifications and platform characteristics, the user in the typical situation of the attention of the persistence and understanding of the factors and so on.

From a cost point of view, it is expensive to keep an element visible, because you must also make something less obvious, otherwise there is no contrast, and the interface space is not supported. Two tigers in a mountain-each interface, or the visible area of an interface bounded by a screen frame, usually has only one dominant element dominating it.

The obvious is to start from the beginning. The functions of the tasks that people always perform, the information that always plays a role in the task flow, needs to be presented in the most obvious way throughout. This usually includes the most essential features and content of the product's core.

Easy to use

Features and information that people often use, but not always need, should be delivered to users in a form that is easy to reach and remember. Under this general principle, all specific circumstances depend on the quality of the actual product and the target user. When designing a product, try to identify which features are "from start to finish" for the user and which are "often" used. It's easy to say, but there are no very specific standards in practice, and it's easy to provoke internal debate. In any case, the final dividing result will determine which elements in the actual interface can continue to occupy an obvious dominant position, and which elements remain at an easy-to-use level.

Up to the available

And finally, the ones that just make sure they're available, that's what people sometimes or rarely use. They don't need to occupy too much stage space, and users can find and use them when they need them.

Although not as important as the previous two, this kind of functionality can sometimes be tricky to deal with. Typically, the functions that belong to this category are much more than those that need to be presented in an "obvious" or "easy-to-use" way, so in practice it is better to reverse-drive the product side from the design level than to consider how to hide them. Think about what there is no need to exist at all.

The meaning of discernment

To try to accurately identify which features need to remain obvious, which need to ensure ease of use, and what is only available, this is not an easy thing, you need in a lot of practice in accordance with the actual situation of the product and the user to think deeply, at the same time, with the research work and internal discussion and so is also essential. It is a process of continuous learning and practice.

However, once you have clearly identified the actual meaning of each product function for the target user, you can think about the interface design from the new dimension, not just within the cognitive scope of the functional priority. Next, the output is more in line with the actual demand, the more holistic design is natural.

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Three elements that must be weighed against the interface design