

Ask HN: Who are the best user interface designers of today? - wlmsng


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vitovito
Someone else asked this four months ago and a couple people disagreed with my
reply, so let me try it again.

(I'm defining "user interface designer" as a visual designer plus interaction
designer specializing in a particular platform, its HIG, and its toolkit(s).

That is, an experienced and professional enough UI designer is likely to have
specialized in e.g. iOS, and asking them to design for e.g. Android will
result in a potentially poorer UI than a similarly experienced Android
specialist.)

There are no "best" or even "good" user interface designers as defined by
external measures.

There can only be "popular" user interface designers, because a "good" user
interface designer designs the interface that is "good" (visually
comprehensible, accessible, follows the HIG, breaks the HIG rules in useful
ways) for a particular platform, for a particular application, to be used by a
particular user. A "best" UI designer is a function of experience: having
designed more apps and having more experience, they are likely to make fewer
mistakes, and come up with more refined interactions, and more usable new
interactions, in the same amount of time. "Best" may also characterize how
they are able to interact with a development team, such as having better
estimates or a more professional working style.

These designers know they did good work because they conducted, or at least
received feedback from, their users in usability tests, comprehension tests,
etc. They did not rely solely on whether their client or employer continued to
pay them for their work. Almost no-one publishes their UI test results, so
there's no way you can find someone just by looking around, or even asking
around. So all you have to go by, publicly, is the people who talk the loudest
about design.

The only way to find a "good" or "best" UI designer is to look at well-
designed applications on your platform that target your same users, and find
out who did the design work. Don't look for names. Look for works, and then
look for who made them.

