Design Patterns Articles & Videos

  • 12 Design Recommendations for Calculator and Quiz Tools

    Calculators and quizzes are useful and trustworthy when they are easy to use.

  • 3 Types of Online Calculator and Quiz Tools

    Most calculator and quiz tools provide at least one or more of the following services: converting inputs, predicting the future, or providing recommendations.

  • Calculators and Quizzes: User Expectations

    Calculators and quizzes provide personalized information. Users approach these tools with an exploratory mindset and appreciate them while making decisions.

  • Design-Pattern Guidelines: Study Guide

    Unsure how to design and implement user-interface patterns? Use this collection of links to our content about specific patterns.

  • Scroll Fading 101

    Whether scroll fading is more distracting than usable depends on the following factors: its persistence, responsiveness, and how sparingly it is applied to elements on the page. When used right, this design pattern can improve brand perception, optimize page loading, and make content more digestible.

  • Deceptive Patterns in UX: How to Recognize and Avoid Them

    Deceptive patterns promote business outcomes at the user's expense. Designers should avoid deceptive patterns by carefully assessing their designs.

  • Cookie Permissions 101

    Cookie permissions need to follow the law and strike the balance between respecting user privacy and being user-friendly.

  • The Negative Impact of Mobile-First Web Design on Desktop

    Mobile-first web designs cause significant usability issues when viewed on desktop. Content becomes overly dispersed across long scrolling pages with expansive white space and enlarged images and fonts, making it difficult for users to consume and understand the information.

  • Table of Contents: The Ultimate Design Guide

    Tables of contents provide a page overview and direct access to specific sections. When designing a table of contents, carefully compare different placement and styling options to maximize usability.

  • In-Page Links for Content Navigation

    In-page links, often embedded in the table of contents, help users navigate to specific content sections on the same page. While research showed increased user familiarity with the design pattern, carefully consider content structures before implementation.

  • Scrolljacking 101

    Altering the normal pace or direction of scrolling can contradict user expectations, control, and freedom. If businesses adopt the pattern, they can minimize usability risks by weighing it against functional value, cognitive load, and user efficiency.

  • Accordions on Desktop: When and How to Use

    Accordions simplify long pages, but reduce visibility and increase interaction cost. Use them on content-heavy pages where users don't need to combine information across sections.

  • AI-Powered Tools for UX Research in 2023: Issues and Limitations

    Be skeptical of the marketing claims being made by AI tools designed for UX researchers. Many of these systems are not able to do everything they claim.

  • Passwordless Accounts: One-Time Passwords (OTPs) and Passkeys

    Two recent developments make login and registration much easier.

  • Bottom Sheets: Definition and UX Guidelines

    A bottom sheet is a user-interface pattern used commonly in mobile apps for providing contextual details or controls in the lower area of the screen.

  • Skeleton Screens 101

    A skeleton screen is used as a placeholder for a loading page. This progress indicator is used for full-page loads and reduces the perceived loading time.

  • User-Feedback Requests: 5 Guidelines

    Surveys asking users to give feedback during or after an interaction should not interrupt the users' task and should be sent to the appropriate channel. They need to be short, easy to complete, and give the user the opportunity to provide details about their experience.

  • The Usability of Augmented Reality

    AR features in mobile apps are plagued by usability issues such as poor discoverability and findability of items with AR, low-visibility instructions, or vague icons and signifiers.

  • Transactional Notifications: Their Characteristics and When to Use Them

    Though they share similarities, notifications differ from emails because users expect them to be more concise, timelier, and only for urgent content. Choose to send SMS or push notifications strategically, depending on the context.

  • Hostile Patterns in Error Messages

    Premature error messages, aggressively styled fields, and unnecessarily disruptive system-status messages feel bad-mannered and increase cognitive load for users during otherwise simple tasks.