UI Design Articles & Videos

  • 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.

  • Dark Mode: How Users Think About It and Issues to Avoid

    Dark mode is popular, but not always a critical feature. Users behave similarly without it. They think about it at the system level, not the application level.

  • Visual Design Hacks for the Non-designer

    Make your work look visually compelling by using these visual-design hacks: preexisting color palettes, cohesive icons, and grids for alignment.

  • Visual Treatments that Improve Accessibility

    To design accessible visuals, account for color contrast, don’t rely on color alone, and make interactive elements easy to identify.

  • 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.

  • Using Imagery in Visual Design

    When choosing images for your visual designs, match similar characteristics, balance high quality with adequate file size, prioritize information-carrying images over purely decorative ones, and provide robust alternative text.

  • 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.

  • UX Basics: Study Guide

    Unsure where to start? Use this collection of links to our articles and videos to learn more about the basics of user experience.

  • The IL1 Typography Test

    Using typefaces with distinct characters can help users easily differentiate alphanumeric data. Choose typefaces that pass the I-L-1 test for data tables and information seen at-a-glance.

  • The Most Important Work for the UX Team in a Startup Company

    In a startup company, the UX team can make two main contributions: identifying the customer problem to solve and polishing the UI so that people will use this solution.

  • Mobile UX: Study Guide

    Unsure where to start? Use this collection of links to our articles and videos to learn how to write and present information that aligns with users’ needs and online behaviors.

  • Alert Fatigue in User Interfaces

    Dashboards that monitor vast masses of data should guide users' attention to critical values but not by flashing endless alerts without prioritization.

  • It’s Time We Addressed Time-Zone Selectors

    Users often struggle to find their time zone from a time-zone selector. Where possible, locate users’ time zones for them, organize time zones alphabetically in a dropdown, and allow users to search by city and country.

  • Visual Design in UX: Study Guide

    Unsure where to start? Use this collection of links to our articles and videos to learn about visual design in UX.

  • 5 Visual Treatments that Improve Accessibility

    To design accessible visuals, account for color contrast, don’t rely on color alone, make interactive elements easy to identify, provide useful alternative text for images, and test your visuals with real users.

  • 3 Strategies for Managing Visual Complexity in Applications and Websites

    In application design, prevent users from being overwhelmed by putting things in predictable places, using a clear visual hierarchy, and taking advantage of progressive disclosure.

  • Visual Hierarchy

    Visual hierarchy can help users decide where to look in a user interface: what's most important can be shown by color and size, and what things belong together can be shown by proximity and common regions.

  • Progressive Disclosure

    To reduce complexity in a user interface, employ progressive disclosure to defer secondary options to a subsidiary screen. This focuses users' attention on the primary options, which are the only ones shown by default.

  • Using Color to Enhance Your Design

    Color is an influential tool in user interface design. Here are 3 guidelines for applying color in your design.

  • The Dos and Don’ts of Pairing Typefaces

    When choosing typography to use in designs, narrow down your options by understanding the most common classifications, looking for typefaces with multiple variations and distinct characters, and pairing typefaces together with consistency and readability in mind.