Introduction to Design Rules and Fundamentals

User-centered design

In a user-centered design process, the ultimate focus is on the users and their needs and requirements. Users are involved in every phase of the design process through different approaches and techniques, i.e. interviews, questionnaires, surveys, evaluation techniques, etc. In this course, our focus is to design user-centered interfaces. Thus, we will first learn some design rules that must be followed to improve user experience. Then, in the upcoming chapters, we will learn and practice a user-centered design process in detail.

Why do we need design rules?

In the process of user-centered design, the designers must have the ability to design and evaluate their designs in terms of usability. We, as designers, need some design rules to follow for designing and evaluating products to enhance their usability. These design rules can be classified using aspects:

• Authority:
  • High authority means the rule must be followed.
  • Low authority means the rule is a suggestion, i.e. may or may not be followed.
• Generality:
  • High generality means the rule applies to vast and general design situations.
  • Low generality means the rule applies to limited and specific design situations.

Types of design rules

We can divide design rules into three types:

• Principles:
  • Abstract design rules
  • Low authority
  • High generality
  • Example: “The user should be able to read the text easily.”
• Standards:
  • Specific design rules
  • High authority
  • Low generality
  • Example: “The logo on a webpage is placed in the top left corner.”
• Guidelines:
  • Advice to achieve principles
  • Lower authority than standards
  • Higher generality than standards
  • Example: “Use bold to highlight important words.”