User Interface Design

What Does User Interface Design Mean?

User interface design (UI design) refers to the design of various types of software and hardware interfaces through which users interact with computers and other technologies.

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In today’s diverse tech world, UI design involves a wide spectrum of engineering practices applied to different kinds of products and devices.

Techopedia Explains User Interface Design

In general, UI design principles revolve around a user-friendly result. Developers and engineers should look at what is most convenient for a user audience, as well as the requirements of the system and other aspects of research that feed into UI design.

Some developers also consider the principle of consistency in UI design essential, where consistent visual, functional or control elements flow through the interface's different parts. It is also important to make interfaces easy to navigate and set up clear and accessible controls. Messaging is also important because engineers must respond to the reality of different user events and different types of errors or problems, such as:

  • Hang-ups
  • Crashes
  • Dead screens

These and many other other common issues of different kinds of interfaces, such as the familiar operating systems (OS) on personal computers, must be addressed.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…