Design Approach
There are many factors I consider when working on a project, but some are less common than they should be. These considerations encourage teams to think more deeply about design, moving beyond mere aesthetics.
Prototype
Design with the 4th dimension
Time distinguishes user experience design from graphic design. UX design considers what happens before, during, and after an interaction. Prototypes allow us to navigate this timeline, evolving from low to high fidelity. Unlike static wireframes, prototypes integrate seamlessly into the design process without requiring extra time.
Accessibility
A lens for objective design
When you think through your designs through the lens of accessibility, you view it from a different angle. It allows you to go beyond fashion (colors and tends) and focus on the function of design. Structure, content, and visual hierarchy are all key elements of design that are declared objectively.
Content Strategy
Content is a base building block
People visit our sites first and foremost for information. They need to learn something, get updated numbers, find a product. Everything else is there to support. We need to build around that content and never sacrifice the content the user is there for. This means we start our work understanding what we need to say and when to say it. We need to make proper space for that content.
Understand Technology
We must understand the materials we build with
We need to understand the how the component libraries are structured and what variants are possible. It is not required that we be able to write production code, we already have teammates for that, but it is useful for us to understand it. Diving into the documentation and examples of a 3th party graphing library, for example, can give us the key to delivering the right data visualization.
Intuitive Design
Knowledge driven by the user's past experiences
We always hear the term 'intuitive' and aim to make our design intuitive. But it's not about our design in isolation, it's about what the user has learned in past interactions with technology. This is what defines 'standards' and sometimes it also defines deficiencies we need to account for. To do this, we must look outward to existing systems and speak directly with our users.
Ethical Design
If it's not ethical, it can't be beautiful
Once a far fetched idea, ethics is clearly a critical issue in technology. From social media to data privacy, we have all seen where we could do better. New challenges await us in AI, VR, AR and a growing aboundance of IoT. We can't pretend to know everything, but we need to continue pushing and asking tough questions to do our best.