

How to get better at UI design - jlees
http://ui-patterns.com/blog/How-to-get-better-at-UI-design

======
dasil003
The best way hands down is to do usability testing. No eye-tracking, one-way-
mirror lab required. Just sit down with some outsiders and give them some
tasks to perform on your UI. Even for experienced and talented UI designers,
this is invaluable because it cuts right through all the learned knowledge you
have of the interface, which is impossible to do for anyone who was involved
in creating it.

Of course this advice doesn't apply to power user UIs, but those are easy
because your users will constantly email you with improvements.

~~~
storborg
Agreed. If everybody in your immediate proximity is already intimately
familiar with your site, <http://www.usertesting.com> is great for this. (I'm
not affiliated with them other than being a happy customer.)

------
Hoff
I do hope that's not an up-and-coming web color scheme or site layout, as that
web site dances the edge of Angry Fruit Salad.

~~~
earnubs
And the banner logo has been prepared by somone who either needs glasses or
doesn't understand how to use the export for web tool in photoshop.

------
jeremyjarvis
"Don't make me think" by Steve Krug is a must-read if you're new to ui design.

~~~
blaines
I second that

------
fieldforceapp
Am I the only one who gets intimidated by good UI design? I think I should
just focus on back end stuff and completely outsource anything on the front
end.

~~~
jlees
I mental block sometimes on UI design. OK, got a great idea, I can see how to
implement the code, but the UI...

------
bgriggs1
The easiest way to get better is to keep asking the following question, over
an over again:

"What can I remove from this interface to simplify it?"

------
mdolon
Anyone else using Windows 7 and have trouble reading the post because of the
font? Here's what the site looks like on my machine:
<http://awesomescreenshot.com/099470k29>

Could just be me though, since I have all of those fonts installed (I think).

~~~
kingsidharth
Irony yet again, the problem is with the font-stack. I guess you have a
version of Helvetica that's not that readable. Only of they followed their own
advice and tested it.Though this articles is nothing great and sorta ironic on
this site but if you still want to read it - use Readability:
<http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/>

This is how it looks: <http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/8523/201012030938.png>

------
sfard
Ironic coming from a site with way too much unreadable helvetica nueue

~~~
Estragon
What do you mean by unreadable? Compared to what? (Serious question. I am
tone-deaf on this kind of thing. The font read easily enough to me.)

~~~
kingsidharth
Use this on the article and then
see.<http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/>

~~~
Estragon
Definitely more readable with readability, but that seems to be mostly a
matter of font size. If I reduce the font size of the output from readability
with C-- in firefox, I don't see a big difference in readability.

~~~
kingsidharth
IF you reduce. Not by default.And yes font-size is part of design and UI so
that's the difference we are pointing out.

