Browse

Designing so that people with disabilities, such as low vision, colour blindness, or limited motor control, can perceive and use a product. It covers things like sufficient colour contrast, keyboard operation, and text that screen readers can read aloud.

The principle that interfaces should contain only what is relevant, since every extra element competes for attention and dilutes the important parts. It favours restraint over decoration.

A visual clue in a design that tells you how something is meant to be used, before you ever try it. A button that looks pressable or a slider that looks draggable both have strong affordances.

The total mental effort a design demands to be understood and used. Cluttered layouts, jargon, and too many choices raise cognitive load and tire or confuse people.

Keeping elements, wording, and behaviour the same across a design so that the same action always looks and works the same way. Consistency lets people transfer what they learned in one place to another.

How easily people can find the features and actions a design offers without being told where they are. High discoverability means the important options are visible and obvious rather than hidden away.

Designing so that mistakes are hard to make in the first place, rather than only warning about them afterwards. Examples include greying out invalid options or asking for confirmation before a destructive action.

The interface's immediate response that confirms your action registered, such as a button changing colour when tapped or a spinner showing that something is loading. Without it, people are left guessing whether anything happened.

The rule that the time to click or tap a target depends on how big it is and how far away it is. Bigger, closer buttons are faster and easier to hit, which is why key actions are made large and reachable.

A design's tolerance for mistakes, making errors easy to recover from rather than costly or permanent. Forgiving interfaces let you undo, confirm before harm, and rarely punish a slip.

The rule that the more options you give people, the longer they take to decide. It argues for trimming and grouping choices so a decision does not stall.

How quickly a first-time user can figure out how to accomplish basic tasks with a design. A highly learnable interface feels intuitive almost immediately, with little instruction needed.

The principle that a design should speak the user's language and follow real-world conventions, using familiar words, icons, and orderings rather than technical jargon. It makes information feel natural and expected.

How easily people can return to a design after time away and still remember how to use it. Good memorability means you do not have to relearn everything each visit.

The picture in someone's head of how a thing works, based on past experience. Designs feel intuitive when they match the user's mental model and confusing when they clash with it.

Showing only what people need at each moment and revealing advanced or rarely used options gradually, on request. It keeps the main view simple while still making everything reachable.

The principle of showing people their options so they can recognise the right one, instead of forcing them to remember it from memory. Menus and visible labels rely on recognition; a blank command line relies on recall.

Any deliberate signal in an interface that shows where to act or what will happen, such as an underline on a link or an arrow on a slider handle. It points you to the possible action.

Giving people clearly marked ways to back out of a situation they entered by mistake, such as undo, cancel, or a visible exit. It means the interface never traps you.

The principle that a design should always keep people informed about what is going on, through clear and timely signals like progress bars, unread counts, or connection indicators. People should never have to wonder what the system is doing.