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Everything You Need to Know About Mind Mapping Creation

Mind Mapping

Mind mapping is a powerful creative thinking technique that is used by the majority of professionals worldwide – and it is something that most of us are acquainted with. Either you term it as ‘brainstorm’ or ‘spider diagram,’ possibilities are you’ve utilized mind maps at some point to generate ideas for a presentation, organize an assignment or project, arrange a meeting, or even prepare for a major test.

As with every great concept, its strength resides in its simplicity. In comparison to standard taking notes or a linear text, a mind map structures information in a manner that closely reflects the way our brain actually functions. As it is both logical and creative in nature, it stimulates our mind in a much fuller way, assisting it in all of its cognitive processes. And, maybe most importantly, it’s enjoyable!

What Advantages Does Mind Mapping Offer?

Mind mapping has numerous and far-reaching effects. Mind mapping, in general, improves our capacity to think creatively and rationally in every given circumstance. Several advantages of utilizing mind maps for researching, generating ideas, presenting content, and creating designs are listed below:

  • Assists you in gaining a broad perspective on the subject of reference.
  • Enhances your ability to investigate specific bits of information and explore creative ideas.
  • Contributes to the interpretation of design concepts and forming artistic compliances.
  • Assists you in organizing graphical entities.
  • Assists in decluttering the mind, coping with information overload, and overcoming stress.
  • Enhances the imagination and fosters the development of new thoughts and ideas.
  • Assists in increasing your level of attention and focus when studying and working.
  • Contributes to your capacity to take more effective, structured, and thorough notes.
  • Aids in the acceleration of your capacity to process complicated ideas.
  • Assists in revealing hidden understandings included inside information pieces.
  • Contributes to the discovery of unexpected creative thoughts and ideas.
  • Assists in increasing your clarity on your actionable goals.
  • Helps in processing abstract and discrete design patterns into congruous art pieces and aesthetic elements.

Of course, this list is far from exhaustive. There are several other value-added perks that are unique to those who work regularly with mind maps.

How to Make a Mind Map?

It’s as simple as 1-2-3 to create a mind map:

  1. Begin by writing or sketching the concept you wish to explore in the center of a blank page. We would recommend that you utilize the page in landscape mode.
  1. Develop relevant topic crumbs and pattern sketches around this main concept, each with a line linking it to the main idea at the core of it.
  1. Repeat for the subtopics, producing as many lower-level subject resources and feeds as necessary and linking each to the relevant reference point.

Additional Recommendations For Mind Mapping:

  • Make liberal use of colors, illustrations, and symbols. Keep your mind as visual as possible; your brain will reward you. There are a number of people who make no attempt at all, with the explanation that they’re “not artists.” Allow this to not deter you from attempting it!
  • Keep the subject labels as brief as possible, with no more than one word or a single image. The temptation to write a whole phrase, particularly in your initial mind maps, is tremendous, but constantly seek possibilities to condense it to a single word- your mind map will be far more successful this way.
  • Vary the font size, color, and orientation of the text. Change the line thickness and length. Utilize as many obvious images as possible to draw attention to critical locations. Every little thing helps keep your brain engaged.

Rules To Keep In Mind While Creating Mind Map 

To assist you to remember the mind map you’re developing, it’s critical to incorporate certain visual representations that trigger inner conscious awareness.

The following are important mind mapping guidelines to remember when constructing your mind maps.

  • Utilize symbols to categorize various sorts of thoughts and concepts.
  • Utilize arrows with many heads that differ in color, size, style, and height.
  • Make use of colors to direct your attention to certain areas of the map.
  • Differentiate themes by using a variety of branch colors.
  • Separate your ideas with appropriate spacing between themes.
  • Create a network of thick branches radiating outward from the core picture.
  • Construct word hierarchies by changing the size of specific words to show their relative significance.
  • Adjust the branch terminations to highlight specific terms.
  • Create a variety of shapes to symbolize concepts and map parts.

Conclusion

Consider methods to simplify a problem before jumping in headfirst. Mind mapping is an effective technique for structuring issues in an understandable manner. The very first step in solving problems is to structure the problem. Not only does it assist you in determining exactly how it should be worked out, but it also enables you to trace the problem back to its source. As a graphic professional, you should definitely give mind mapping a chance when approaching conceptual nuances of art or working around a critical design project. It will change the game for you!

While thinking, you may need details about best resources for Graphics Design for 2021. Read it here

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Testing UX UX Design

How Rapid Testing Helps To Test Any Experience

Rapid Testing

Today’s product teams must collect large amounts of user feedback in order to build delightful and valuable user experiences. Nonetheless, there is a mismatch between the way teams build products and the way they learn from their consumers. Gaining access to customer insights typically takes weeks, and is accomplished through face-to-face interviews or similarly lengthy video recordings. To address this critical issue in product development, we’re happy to announce the Rapid Testing Framework, which enables you to test, learn, and respond more quickly by obtaining user feedback at each and every phase of the design.

Let’s begin by examining why rapid learning is critical for organizational growth and why we require a new approach to product development today.

Why is it Critical To Begin Learning Rapid Testing Quickly And Early?

Over the last two decades, the world of product development has shifted from linear to agile development methods as entrepreneurs adopted the Lean approach to accelerate product delivery. Six-month projects were quickly phased out in favor of shorter, monthly releases as the development process progresses.

By knowing what succeeds and what does not, learning and trying helps teams to alter their trajectory more quickly. Speed is a strategic advantage in the era of growing client expectations.

How Rapid Testing Transforms Your Approach To Development? 

Rapid testing exposes each user-facing service to consumers as it is produced. When rapid testing is integrated into your team’s process, you can quickly test and understand from users while iterating on the ultimate product until it is fully operational for launch. 

Rapid testing alters the approach your team produces products in the following ways:

  • This transforms testing into a team sport
  • Democratizes the use of data within your business
  • Develops institutional expertise

To begin, when rapid testing is included in the product development process, each division becomes responsible to the others. Each individual is accountable for evaluating their project and implementing user feedback into their final product. As a consequence, the entire process is verified from start to finish, with project leaders contributing only verified innovations to the roadmap, designers providing completely validated designs, and advertisers posting validated content. As with a relay event, each sprinter relies on the previous one.

By providing all those in your team with exposure to user interaction and practical learnings, this iterative method avoids your team from developing the incorrect product. Rapid testing facilitates the democratization of data inside businesses by providing access to customer insights to all departments.

Finally, the more frequently you test and get user feedback, the more sophisticated your expertise grows. As a result, teams that swiftly experiment and learn accumulate operational experience as to what succeeds and what does not.

How Should The Rapid Testing Framework be Implemented?

An Iota is the lowest possible value in the Greek number system. Likewise, an IOTA is the simplest significant iteration circuit in the Rapid Testing Framework. The acronym I.O.T.A. is an acronym for Input, Objective, Test, and Analysis. Each IOTA cycle is characterized by the elements listed below:

  • Input: What choice would a team need to undertake that requires testing?
  • Objective: The objective is to determine the measurable metrics to use to validate the choice.
  • Test: What configuration does the team need to capture useful data at scale?
  • Analysis: Was the aim met, or does the team need to conduct another test?

Input

The product development process is comprised of several minor decisions that are dispersed throughout an organization and ultimately result in the final product. Thus, the testing process begins with an input—a necessary decision. User understanding is critical for all of these decisions.

The following is an overview of questions that organizations may use as testing inputs:

  • “Which feature concept should we implement?”
  • “Does this user flow make sense?”
  • “Is the design intuitive?”
  • “Which message best communicates with our audience?”

Objective

After establishing the inputs, the objective is defined. This is the critical outcome that must be obtained in order to justify the choice. Prior to beginning testing, it is critical to establish an aim. If the outcomes correspond to the input’s aim, a choice may be taken and the next step can begin.

Test

The test is the configuration required to obtain the data you want. Whether doing a user survey, conducting a customer interview, or conducting a usability test, the third phase of the IOTA cycle is setting up and designing the test.

Analysis

Finally, the analysis section evaluates the data in order to decide the next actions. If the test findings meet the input’s goals, a choice may be taken and the next step can begin. If not, an iterative cycle is initiated until the target is attained.

Conclusion 

Rapid Testing Framework has aided product teams in transitioning from limited, isolated insights to a structure of team-wide training. It has facilitated access to the information and collaboration on learning experience and results for everyone from engineers and designers to brand managers and marketers.

Read More about UX testing softwares here

Categories
Design Technology Web Design

Importance Of Data Visualization And The Best Ways To Use It

Data Visualization

One of the key factors of a good user experience is ease of use. Bombarding users with loads of information hampers the user experience. Also, it’s best to offer engaging and intuitive content to users on your website. A massive block of text is neither exciting nor engaging. Information conveyed in a long, drawn-out paragraph can also be presented through a combination of imagery and type. Data visualization allows reading and interpreting information easily. It breaks down complex pieces of information and formats them into a visual depiction that is more readable and easier to understand. 

Data Visualization Simplifies The Process of Information Consumption

Dividing the information into visual elements can make it more natural to read and understand. Also, visual elements create a clear hierarchy so that users know the order in which they’re supposed to look at the information. It is frustrating on a user’s part if the information is hard to find or read. It leads to a negative interaction.

With information formatted into consumable portions, a user can easily pick out and identify the most significant bits. This reduces a user’s mental load. It places the information in front of them rather than in their head. 

Data Visualization Is Pleasing To The Eyes

It is a fact that some individuals are visual learners. Those who aren’t will still appreciate a well-designed, minimal and informed information hierarchy. The visual design of information enables the user to craft a narrative of the information and pick some things out to be read in a particular order and under a specific form of importance.

Color, typography, and arrangement of data can also match a company’s branding or product. With everything portraying a consistent design language and part of the same theme, the brand experience becomes more cohesive.

Data Visualization Serves Easy Understanding Of The Presented Information

In simple terms, data visualization is the communication of information in a manner that best suits your audience. It results in quick reads and fast comprehension by eliminating frustrating, confusing, and hard-to-read text. Various forms of data visualization methods can be seen in dashboard interfaces, be it physical or digital. 

Let’s take an example of institutions that deal with massive data – like healthcare companies and banks. They create digital dashboards so users can view and scan through their data quickly and efficiently. Allowing everything to be findable is the key to this designing and presenting. 

Visualization helps to understand the presented information efficiently and effectively. It acts as a visual assistant to help people amalgamate data easily and efficiently. Which, in turn, leads to an overall positive user experience. 

The following best practices will assist you in designing valuable, insightful data experiences through visuals.

Design As Per Your Audience

Visualization reveals patterns, presents context, and describes relations within data. While designers keep no influence over the patterns and relationships in a given data set, they can choose how much data to exhibit. 

Always display the data as per your target audience. Designers should structure visualizations in a straightforward, unambiguous and engaging manner for amateurs and newbies. The key takeaway or information from the data should be spelt out directly, in words. On the other hand, Visualizations for an expert audience can show a more coarse view of the data for reader-driven exploration and learning. Detail and data density should be focused more than simplicity and clarity.

Use Visual Prominence To Guide Users

Visual salience, which makes a visual element stand out against its surroundings, is a robust tool in data visualization. Designers can use it to guide the user’s attention to the most critical information in a visualization; this prevents information overload. Using visual salience to highlight some details and subdue others makes a design cleaner, clearer and easily understandable. A few visual variables, like color and size, are our keys to creating and managing visual salience.

Strip The Visual Clutter From Your Charts

Whether or not you support minimalism in design, you must strip the visual clutter from your charts. Make your data stand out by creating a visual contrast between data elements and non-data elements. 

Eliminate any structural elements (lines, backgrounds, borders, etc.) that don’t clarify the data. Compress fundamental structural elements (axes, grids, and tick marks) that would otherwise clash with your data for attention. Style grids in light grey at a maximum weight of 0.5 pt, and style axes in black or grey with a maximum weight of 1 pt.

Directly Label Data Points

Each visual element that encrypts some data needs to be labelled. The viewer must understand what it represents. However, many designers rely on legends to tell readers which symbols or colors represent which data series in their charts. Legends are hard on the reader. They force readers to scan back and forth between the data and the legend. It puts unnecessary pressure on readers’ working thoughts. A better option is to label data series directly on the chart.

Design for the Mobile

Static visualizations, typically published in bitmap image formats like JPG and PNG pose an apparent challenge for mobile viewers. The advantage of many data visualizations lies in their visual details, in tiny data points and subtle encodings. Many of these details get lost on tiny screens in static formats.

To design for a better mobile experience, create responsive visualizations using a JavaScript visualization library like D3.js or Highcharts. The other way is to create multiple variations of the exact static visualization for desktop, mobile and print.

Data can sometimes be hard to digest. When it comes to presenting data on your website, data visualization is one of the best ways. Visuals make an impact, and including them on your site enhances the overall user experience on many levels. 
Want to know more about data visualization? Speak to our experts.

Categories
Mobile Apps Technology

The Growing Popularity of Voice Activated Interfaces

Voice Activated Interfaces

The way we access information is transforming. We now make a demand or ask a question instead of typing it into Google. This means web design is adjusting to keep up with the universality of voice chatbots and virtual assistants. While voice-activated interfaces aren’t usual for most websites, this emerging trend isn’t going anywhere in the near future. We can only expect to see more and more websites integrating voice search as an option to traditional text search.

It was in 2011 when voice technology began to emerge. As Siri came to the scene, no one could have predicted that this unique innovation would become a key driver for the tech revolution. Today, a decade later, it’s estimated that every 25 percent of US adults owns a smart speaker. Digital Marketers forecast that nearly 92.3 percent of smartphone users will be using voice assistants by 2023. 

The key propeller for this shift towards voice user interfaces is ever-changing user demands. The overall awareness level has increased, and millennial consumers want a higher level of comfort now.

Benefits of Voice Activated Interfaces

Voice Activated Interfaces are Fast and Highly Efficient

Virtual UIs allow hands-free interactions that remove the need to press buttons or tap on the screen. For centuries, people have been creating and enhancing relationships through speech. Thus, technologies that enable customers to do the same are highly valued. Moreover, dictating text messages are proven to be faster than typing, even for expert texters. These hands-free interactions increase efficiency and save time in many cases.

Voice Activated Interfaces are Intuitive and Convenient

Quality VUIs have to provide an intuitive user flow, and innovations in the field of technology promise to continue increasing the intuitiveness of VUIs. Voice user interfaces need less cognitive effort from a user than graphical UIs. Additionally, everyone knows how to talk. So, VUI designers are generally better positioned than GUI designers who risk designing unintuitive menus and exposing users to the trouble of poor interface design. Probably, VUI creators won’t have to educate customers on how to use the technology. Rather, people can ask their voice assistant if they need help.

Voice is today’s vehicle for human-machine interactions. Still, there is a challenge in understanding the intent of users and responding appropriately to their commands. But a new lexicon of intuitive and commonly understood cues for voice control is emerging. It enables people to navigate between different AI systems intuitively.

More ‘Human’ Experiences and Empathy

Experiences with accurate speech recognition software guarantee a more human conversation. Today, consumers want personality in voice-based, man-machine interactions. On the one hand, they want a machine that understands, processes and expresses thoughts like their own. But, on the other hand, they want a machine that speaks in their native language and brings speed, efficiency, and natural aspects of human interactions. Combining the two allows recognizing personality in speech, including emotions, intentions, and features of the speech.

Tone and intonation play a significant role in communication, and voice-enabled technology has this advantage over other standard technology choices. By using voice, one can convey the tone of a message. When unable to understand the command, virtual assistants can reply in a user-friendly way so that users don’t feel frustrated. While, users are free to formulate commands as they want, and smart voice interfaces will react to the tone of the voice and choice of words.

Voice-enabled technologies allow for natural language interaction, allowing users to concentrate on the intended message and not bother about being mistaken or misrepresented.

Limitations to Using Voice Activated Interfaces

Public Spaces and Privacy is a Concern

The main difficulty with having a verbal interface is that users will land themselves in a position where they cannot speak openly—this could be due to physical reasons or privacy concerns. On mobile devices and computers, voice commands and voice-user interfaces can be used in different settings and contexts. But, it is a very unreasonable thing to do in public spaces. Sometimes, environmental noise or someone else talking next to the person using the assistant can restrict voice. It may result in errors in communication between a user and a voice assistant.

In addition, voice-activated interfaces make it harder to be private, both at the time of speaking and overall. It refers to voice assistants listening to their household 24/7, overhearing dictated and arriving messages, and monitoring more and more elements of our daily lives.

Some Users Are Not Comfortable Talking to a Computer

Another problem is that some people feel uncomfortable when they deal with VUIs. They may find it challenging to pick the right words to address assistants verbally or speak out loud. It is simply unnatural for them to speak to a machine. So, every slight recognition error from a computer or their inability to provide a computer with sufficient input information discourages these users from trying to perform tasks with voice interfaces. 

Some Users Prefer Texting

Yepp! That’s true. Voice user interfaces are becoming more and more common, but some people may still prefer texting as a method of communication. A graphical interface allows users to type with more accuracy than interaction with a voice UI. Sometimes, it may take less time to communicate using voice. Still, young users are more accustomed to multitasking. Some of the applications on their smart gadgets require manual navigation. Some behavioral factors also play when it comes to using voice UI. Therefore, people who prefer to communicate orally will find VUIs easier and more zestful.

Conclusion

Voice activated interfaces are at the heart of the new UI paradigm. Pro designers are always searching for innovative design techniques, and VUIs are a natural place to start. At the same time, speech-enabled interfaces powerfully bring users closer to the features and functions that businesses want them to experience. Although we have yet to bridge the gap between business requirements and the technical capabilities of speech interfaces, and do our best to create excellent experiences for our users.

Read more about optimizing your website’s voice search here.

Categories
Brand & Identity Design UI Design

Dos & Don’ts of Logo Design For 2021

Logo Design

When establishing a firm, it is critical to plan branding(which includes logo design as well). You must establish a strong brand identity from the start if you intend to leave a lasting impact on the clients you wish to attract.

Logos are key components of branding, particularly when starting a corporation. Designing a logo is much more than simply combining colors, fonts, and elements to create a visual identity. You require a logo to accurately portray your brand’s purpose and communicate its message clearly and impactfully. We’ve compiled a list of useful dos and don’ts that will help you look professional and establish a reputation for yourself in your field.

Logo Design – Dos

#1 Conduct Audience Research

One of your primary objectives of creating a logo is to build a brand identity. At the initial stage in the logo-creation process, specify your audience. Conduct research on their hobbies and online behaviors to develop the ideal logo that is certain to capture their attention and have a lasting recall value.

#2 Ascertain That It Is Readable

Logos are intended to be easily comprehensible. If you’ve developed a logo but it’s difficult to interpret and understand, it’s time to reconsider your font selection. Customers may view your logo and perceive a different name than what you meant, causing confusion. Maintain a basic and easy-to-read typeface by avoiding complex or too detailed fonts.

#3 Consider Various Sizes

Although you may just require your logo to be displayed on brochures, social networking sites, or your webpage in the early phases of starting up your firm, however, later things may change. You must design a future-proof logo, which means that if you need to scale it up for banners or billboards, the quality of the design should not be compromised. Your logo must appear flawless at every size!

#4 Pay Attention to Taglines

When developing your brand image, a tagline is critical for conveying your personality. If you want to incorporate a slogan into your logo, keep it short to prevent creating a cluttered or busy-looking design. When selecting typefaces, choose a smaller font for the slogan or tagline so that the focus is initially on your brand name.

Logo Design – Don’ts

#1 Make It Very Complex

Logos are not intended to be elaborate or intricate. Simplicity is important! 

Avoid employing an excessive number of colors or creating the illusion of a costly piece of art. Using just so many lines or mixing several typefaces in your logo can be distracting and will cause your audience to focus on the incorrect elements of your brand. Incorporating too many components will also impair your logo’s scalability.

#2 Copy Other Brands

Plagiarizing with other brands or businesses is illegal and will get you a lot of trouble. The goal of marketing and branding is to differentiate oneself from the competitors. If you want a unique identity in the market, you cannot do it by mimicking other brands.

#3 Adhere to Trends

Trends change rapidly, and if you cling to a trend while developing your logo, the branding may become obsolete in a year or two. Our online habits, particularly with regard to social media, are continuously developing. While the audience may connect with particular memes today, they will almost certainly forget about those someday.

While trends are beneficial for marketing purposes, they are useless when it comes to branding and developing a logo.

#4 Be Too Literal

Logos are exciting and vibrant! Taking your design too literally might produce something that seems too complicated or even uninteresting. If you own a restaurant, there is no reason why your logo should include an actual restaurant scene. Make an attempt to be as unique and imaginative as possible.

Your logo should be straightforward, eye-catching, and vibrant enough to communicate your message at a look.

Contact our team today and let us know about your brand’s logo needs

Categories
Brand & Identity Design Web Design

How To Adapt To Design System Revolution

Design System

By keeping the concept reusable, a design system helps a production team to build a product more quickly. However, even after everyone’s best efforts, the hard work put forward by a product team to create a smart design can sometimes go into vain.

There are several resources available online that describe design systems and how to construct one. However, realistic advice on how to maintain a design system remains scarce.

Let us bridge this gap. In this post, we’ll discuss how you can adapt to the design system revolution.

Promote Your Design System’s Adoption

More critical than developing a design system is promoting its widespread adoption. A design system establishes a new perspective for an organization, but whether that approach is accepted or not is highly dependent on how people respond to the alterations. Convincing people to adopt a particular design system might be a difficult request, based on the size of the firm. People will gladly accept a system only if they believe it is beneficial.

Establish a Vision Statement 

Which direction are we going? What are our objectives? Why are we attempting to do this? These are critical questions to address for an organization in order to develop a common vision.

A vision statement articulates the goals of your business, product, or service and, more crucially, why. The vision statement will serve as your North Star, uniting and guiding the staff toward a shared goal.

An easy method for developing the vision statement would be to express how you envision your product or company in five years. This will define a target audience.

Develop Guiding Principles For Design

What is your definition of excellent design? When evaluating the effectiveness of a design, artists frequently depend on their own set of criteria. However, when a team expands, this method can result in significant turmoil in the product design process, since each designer would get their own subjective ideas. This is when design principles come to the rescue.

Design principles serve as guidelines for the development team and aid in evaluation of their work. They substitute objective criteria for subjective ideals, assisting team members in making user-centered design choices.

Market Your Design System

You can build the finest system on the planet, but if your company does not aggressively promote it, the entire endeavor will suffer significantly. That is why, beginning with the initial launch of your system, you must work diligently to encourage adoption and build a network of supporters.

Promote the design system. Develop a volunteer group lead by experienced designers that will present and market ideas for your design system.

Minimize Duplicity Of Design Elements

Redundancy of design components results in fragmentation, which results in inconsistency. Recognizing design element duplication enables a team to prevent the situation in which members of the team create a component from scratch only to discover that a similar component already exists.

Performing an interface inventory, as Brad Frost describes, is a common method for determining what is in use. Just before you construct the real design system, it’s important to devote time and effort to an interface inventory, as working via this approach will allow you to discover problematic areas that require improvement.

Evaluate Your System Design Selection

Certain product teams feel that after developing a system, their work is accomplished. This is not true. It is critical to validate both the system design as well as the products that include it. As you examine the design, you will get confidence that your design is built on a strong foundation.

If you’re just getting started with integrating the system design within the design phase, start small and validate the system’s basis before expanding to larger portions.

Contact Us today to evaluate your design.

Categories
UX UX Design

Simplified UX: The Next Big Thing In Design

Simplified UX

Simplicity is so Incredibly Important in UX Design. The first requirement for an exemplary user experience is to meet the exact needs of the customer, without fuss or bother. Next comes simplicity and elegance that produce products that are a joy to own, a joy to use. Throwing too many elements at your readers at once is a good way to drive them into information overload. Too much at once does nothing to help the viewer interact with a webpage, and it may send them scrambling for the back button. In 2021, simplified UX became one of the latest UX trends.

A simplified UX is often complex, and hard to achieve. Simple design is increasingly difficult due to consumer desire for integrated software, big data and the internet of things amongst others – these all lead to more user touchpoints and more things to consider. The more things there are to consider, the harder it can be to keep things simple.

Why Use a Simplified UX?

1. Attention Spans of Users is Very Short 

Google allows us to have instant access to billions of sites. We want everything quicker and won’t accept slow sites which take longer to load. Etsy did an experiment with this. They added 160kb of hidden images to their mobile page to slow it right down. They saw a 12% increase in bounce rate. This means designs need to be as intuitive as possible. Users shouldn’t feel overloaded and also so the page loads quickly.

2. Complicated Products Have More Features

This is where more and more features keep getting added on to a product without them being properly thought out. When this happens the original value of the product is lost. The user is completely confused by the number of options.

3. Simple is More Convenient

Users are ruthlessly obsessed with doing whatever they need to as quickly as possible by choosing the path of least resistance. Simple products will have a competitive advantage as users can dip in and out of them. Let’s take the example of Uber. They kept a simple design, not bothered to wow the users but have captured them in droves due to simplifying what can be a drawn-out process. Pre-Uber people had to hail a taxi, make sure they had cash on them, hope that the driver had GPS and then sit and wait for their change at the end of the ride. This process has now been entirely automated which is far more convenient for everyone involved.

4. Simple is More Pleasing

One area where this is particularly apparent is when completing an online web form. Going back ten years web forms were often extremely taxing to fill in and lacked the visual prompts we are now used to today. The user often didn’t know they had missed a field until they had already selected ‘complete form’. These days features such as anticipatory design, single-field and natural language form interfaces and an increase in visual prompts can make filling in forms almost fun.

Key Things to Remember While Designing a Simplified UX

1. Make It Simple, But Not Stupid

The main mistake people make about “simple” is confusing it with “stupid.” By simplifying your website, you’re not assuming your reader is stupid. The principles of designing for simplicity are in fact the opposite of designing for stupidity.

Designing for stupidity means laying out every possible choice in small amounts, and explaining every element. Simplicity assumes the reader can draw on appropriate contextual cues, and so gives the reader choices without explaining them.

2. Maintain Focus

When aiming for simplicity, make certain everything on a website has a purpose and a defined goal. The purposes should be of the same type, or similar enough to be grouped with the main purpose. This cuts down on the complexity by itself, and if everything is working towards a defined goal, the complexity is further reduced.

Focus is also provided by a defined goal. Purposeless jumble is inherently complex, no matter how similar the categories are. Providing a goal harnesses the categories to an overriding principle.

3. Provide a Hierarchy On The Basis of Importance

Determine which elements are the most important to your target audience and which are the least. Then focus your attention on the most important elements. This has been summarized in the Pareto Principle, which states that 20% of any system drives 80% of the results. Due to its simplicity, it has been applied to numerous situations, and while the exact ratio may differ, the general trend seems to hold.

To figure out what the target audience finds most important, study it. Look at what it talks about, how it makes decisions, what it likes and dislikes, and what it ignores. When focusing on simplicity, what the audience doesn’t say can be more important than what it does say.

4. Streamline Interactions

Every site requires designers and programmers. Collaboration, both within the project and between the project and the consumers is important. The Pareto principle also applies to section meetings. Most programmers and designers are introverts who become stressed by long interactions. Therefore, 80 percent of meetings are perceived as drains on these individuals’ time, while the 20 percent that’s useful could be better handled outside of meetings.

Consider using collaboration tools. This eliminates much of what web designers and programmers find tedious about the meeting process, leaving only useful results. Along with your expert programmers and designers, consider making use of tools that can enhance your site analysis and test your website before its public launch. Using these tools can reduce the amount of content change and retrofitting after launch because they can catch some of the most egregious mistakes.

It’s clear simplicity has its place in UX design to make products as intuitive and pain-free to use as possible. However, UX designers need to be careful that simplicity never equates to the dumbing down of products, to always include important features and to keep on innovating.

Read More About UX Design Practices Here

Categories
Design UI Design Web Design

Best Resources for Graphics Design for 2021

Graphics Design

Either you’re working on a new project with limited money or have been given a strict budget by the customer; there are several free graphics design tools that can assist you. However, utilizing free pictures, typefaces, tools, and other assets frequently comes with a cost. They might be of poor quality. Or, even worse, they might’ve been taken from their legitimate authors, who never meant them to be freely available.

However, we have simplified things for you. In this blog, you’ll discover free design materials that are consistent with excellent quality and legally available for download. Whether you’re looking for photos or videos, typefaces, or design tools, you’re certain to find them here. Let’s take a look at the best graphics design resources of 2021:

Kuler

Adobe’s Kuler is the finest resource for all graphics designs involving a lot of colors. It will assist you if you’re attempting to choose colors for an existing palette or if you’re beginning from scratch. By dragging the points around the color wheel, you may pick from a wide variety of analogous shades and custom colors, and Kuler will provide you with the RGB and HEX codes necessary to create a masterwork.

Book Cover Archive

This is the ideal location for anybody interested in book design. This site features a gallery of book covers created by some of the world’s most recognized artists. Here, you can simply arrange book covers by photographers, artists, authors, and genres; the website would attract you and inform you a lot about new ideas.

The Noun Project

The Noun Project is an outstanding repository of iconography. This site is a goldmine for designers seeking icon creativity or stock icons. Furthermore, if you are an icon creator, you may sell your icons. It has over 100,000 icons with a variety of themes.

Graphics Fuel

Graphics Fuel is an online platform that offers free Photoshop templates and graphics design together with their actual source files. PSD file type, backdrops, logos, and font styles; you can find everything here.  Rafi is a graphic artist who invests a significant amount of time developing high-quality graphics only to give them free of charge – so be sure to check out his creative collections.

Pixeden

Are you seeking a comprehensive collection of free visuals and online resources in one location? Pixeden provides something for everyone. With an abundance of graphics design and online design templates, vector icons, and a dedicated area for printing and web graphics, you can name it and get it. Anyone can join for free, but if you’re looking for something a bit more, you can also subscribe to one of their paid packages.

Dafont

It’s an incredible resource for free typefaces. The interface is fantastic – it displays all of the typefaces in large, bold letters. This website contains loads of different fonts for download. Moreover, you can enter your custom text to compare typefaces – ideal for selecting logo and header fonts.

Dexigner

It is the preeminent online destination for designers, engineers, illustrators, technologists, artists, and other creatives. It is the finest source for product design industry news and information since it provides the newest design news, conferences, contests, publications, and resources.

Logoed

It is a website dedicated to showcasing visually appealing and relevant logo designs. As this website has been for almost a decade, it has amassed an extensive collection of logos. It has basic and clean layouts, as well as thumbnails for each design. They are vertically structured, requiring visitors to just tap on each for further details and inspiration.

Awwwards

Do you wish to market your work? If you answered yes, you’ve come to the right place. This site will allow visitors to vote on designs and then declare the day’s, month’s, and year’s best. Along with showcasing your work to millions of individuals, you can also explore an almost infinite number of some very breathtaking designs.

Contact Us today for all your graphics design needs!!

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Design UI Design UX Design

Modern Vintage Graphic Designs Are Back In Trend!

Vintage Designs

Whenever we talk about material goods, “vintage” refers to any contemporary designs that is more than 20 years old but less than 100 years – to be considered antique. The term can be used more freely in design, although it still refers to an earlier style created during previous times. Now and again, we see a revival of classic designs in a variety of sectors. The majority of them evoke memories of decades – or perhaps centuries ago.

When appropriately used, vintage elements and marketing strategies attract high-value consumers. It compels people to participate in your old storyline and maintains their loyalty. What is it about them that make them so enticing to the audience? What makes them popular? Let us investigate!

How Is Vintage Designs Defined?

By definition, the term “vintage” refers to a period when anything of value was created or to a high-quality product, idea, or philosophy developed in the past. At the moment, the term “vintage” refers to anything that evokes memories of a bygone era or fashion style. Vintage designs use features, colors, and items that reflect popular styles of a particular age.

Distinguishing Retro From Vintage Designs

Many individuals do not take some time to grasp the distinctions between these phrases properly, and as a result, the terms are commonly misinterpreted. Retro is a term that refers to something relatively modern (a commodity, a style) that emulates something from the past. Retro is not original but is influenced by the original to seem authentic. Vintage denotes something unique, original, and has a lifespan of between 20 and 100 years. It is scarcer and hence more valuable than its retro cousin.

What Are Modern Vintage Designs?

Modern Vintage Designs incorporate aspects from the past and present, as well as a touch of futurism. This technique may help modern audiences connect with antique designs or perhaps serve as a center point for older and younger generations.

Modern Vintage Graphic Designs enable us to create and make use of the best of all worlds. We can approach current and antique eras from a variety of angles. This creates limitless opportunities for creativity to develop. For instance, we may reproduce old images from the 1980s or 1990s in contemporary surroundings and give Gen Z the same vibe.

Why is Vintage Design Becoming So Popular?

Individual Appearance – There are several explanations behind vintage popularity. One of them is that customers think conventional fashion has lost its individuality and supermarket fashion has become too generic. Vintage has an inherent quality that elevates it above things picked for their fitting, authenticity, and design value.

Trends That Never Fade – Consumers recognize that antique clothing may be adapted to current trends while still serving as timeless classics that can become wardrobe mainstays. It’s one of the primary reasons vintage has gained popularity.

Personality and Expression – Being unique is a critical component of looking trendy. It reveals a great deal about your character and lifestyle. Vintage clothes enable individuals to express themselves while also aiming to create a fashion contradiction.

Soul and History – Vintage clothing encompasses much more than simply worn-out garments. They are historically and artistically significant, and they are brimming with the tales and experiences of those who came before us and wore them. Possessing and wearing antique clothes help preserve those individuals, their heritage, and their talent alive.

Conclusion

Vintage clothing never fades away. Retro styles are constantly resurfacing. Whether your firm is in fashion, information technology, travel, education, or another area, you will occasionally need to adapt to modern vintage graphics. Contact Us today to know more.

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Blog Design UI Design

Best Design Practices For Conversational UI

Conversational UI

It is a common belief among researchers that conversational AI will soon be developers’ first priority, surpassing cloud-native and mobile-first projects in importance. This will push designers to create more Conversational UI. A Conversational UI gives the privilege of interacting with the computer in human terms. It is a paradigm shift from the earlier communications achieved either by entering syntax-specific commands or clicking icons.

What is Conversational UI?

A conversational user interface (CUI) is a digital interface that allows users to interact with a product based on principles of real-life human communication. In simple terms, users don’t need to look for information in the graphical interface; they can just tell the device what to do verbally or in writing. 

The core technology used by conversational UI is Natural Language Processing (NLP). NLP is a form of artificial intelligence that deals with parsing the real intent of a user’s command. Traditionally, computers understood a query or command in a programming language; but with NLP technology, they can clearly understand natural human language.

Types Of Conversational UI

1. Chatbots

Today, more and more businesses, especially in the e-commerce industry, are integrating live chatbots since they’re easier to implement than voice assistants. A chatbot is a visual interface where communication between a bot and a user is natural and is displayed in chat bubbles. Chatbots revolutionize the way online businesses interact with customers.

2. Voice Assistants

A voice assistant is an AI-based service that uses voice recognition and NLP technologies to perform a particular action in response to a voice command. Voice assistants are also bots, but they don’t use any graphical interface – only voice. 

Voice user interfaces (VUIs) operate based on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and voice recognition technologies. The technology required to create a VUI is very complex, so few companies can afford to implement voice assistants.

Best Design Practices For Creating Conversational UI

1. Determine Your Chatbot Objectives

It is easy to get excited about a new technological solution. Yes, chatbots are awesome, but you should always think about your customers and their needs first. Even the best chatbots are just tools that are meant to solve problems—not an end in themselves. You should define clear objectives and goals which chatbots can help you to accomplish. Don’t focus on the interface, but on the users.

If you own an online clothing store, don’t try to make your chatbots hold a witty conversation on recent fashion trends. Chatbots can’t improvise and will not be able to provide assistance if you don’t give them specific, simple tasks. Keep the messages focused! Chatbots can make product recommendations, offer discounts, or collect contact data. Still, don’t make them do all of these things at once during a single conversation.

2. Be Concise, Don’t Overwhelm Users

Chatbot messages should be brief and to the point. It is tempting to provide detailed answers which exhaust the topic and satisfy even the most curious customers, but reading through blocks of writing is the very opposite of having a conversation. In addition, shorter sentences are better displayed and perceived on small displays. If you need to display more text, break it into multiple messages.

Chatbots can be immersive because their conversational mode of communication is based on taking turns, receiving new messages and progressing through dialogue. When all of a sudden the user hits against a wall of text, it halts the conversation by getting things out of balance.

3. Combine Different Types Of Messages

Communication is a two-way process. You should take into consideration that conversations between a human and a machine can be difficult. If you decide to use NLP (Natural Language Processing) in your design, chatbots need to know what type of information they are receiving. 

When people become self-conscious about the way they write and try to modify their natural language to make chatbots understand them, it can quickly get out of hand and turn into a disaster. Instead of being intuitive and transparent, the interface becomes an obstacle. Make it easier by providing hints and additional questions.

4. Choose The Right Voice

When choosing a voice, give your assistant a personality that links it closely to your brand. To let customers know they’re talking to a voice assistant, many brands also give their assistant a name. This allows them to be transparent with customers while maintaining a friendly tone. Make the users feel comfortable during the conversation. You can use everyday language and informal style or go for something more reassuring and professional. The voice should reflect the values that your business embodies.

But, be careful. Chatbot messages are not similar to advertising texts. They are interactive, and users navigate through the conversation to complete specific tasks or find out about something. Remember, that in a way it is a part of your website interface and its primary function is to be easy to use. If a chatbot’s “personality” draws too much attention, it may hamper user experience and become irritating.

5. Use Non-Verbal Means To Humanize

You can humanize your chatbots by doing what people do when they chat via messaging apps. Add images, emoticons and animations to make up for the lack of gestures and face mimic. Bare text may appear dry and emotionless.

We are used to seeing GIFs and emojis when we send messages to each other – they are the emotional punctuation marks of the Internet. They can clarify the intent of a message and make it more vivid. Additionally, you can set delay periods between messages, which emulate the natural flow of a conversation with a human being. It makes your conversation design feel more organic.

To Conclude

Conversational UI design is UX Design stripped down to its bare essentials. It is all about words and the order of messages exchanged between two agents – the user and the computer. The critical part to remember is that conversational UI design refers to the dynamics of this exchange, and not only individual messages as such. For more, speak to our design experts.