Design for Software A Playbook for Developers

Erik Klimczak is a Creative Director in Chicago dedicated to making technology meaningful for his clients. He has assisted in the design and production of software for industries as diverse as healthcare, automobiles, finance, retail, law, entertainment, insurance, marketing, education, consumer products, gaming, sports, food and beverage, communications, media, security and more. As a hybrid technologist/artist, Klimczak is uniquely positioned to present design theory concepts to tech-minded professionals who don’t have a background in traditional design.

Introduction 1

Part I: Research 5

CHAPTER 1

Planning 7

An Introduction to User Research 8

User Research Is Not Usability 9

Design Lingo: Ethnography 9

Start with User Insights 9

Case Study: Lightning Fast Checkout 14

Making Sense of Your Findings 18

Summary 20

CHAPTER 2

Inspiration 21

Steal Like an Artist 22

If All Else Fails 34

Summary 36

Part II: Design Thinking 37

CHAPTER 3

Sketching 39

Design Thinking—A Developer’s Kind of Design 40

Sketching—Where It All Begins 40

The Benefi ts of Sketching 41

When to Sketch 42

Tools for Sketching 42

The Basics of Application Flows 47

Creating an Application Flow 49

What Storyboards Can Do for You 58

When to Use Storyboards 59

Creating a Storyboard 59

Not Sure Where to Begin? Start with a Template 60

Summary 62

CHAPTER 4

Information Architecture 63

What Is information Architecture, Exactly? 65

The Cost of Usability 65

Information Architecture Deliverables 66

Personas, User Scenarios, and Storyboards 67

Content Models 67

Application Flow 67

Wireframes 69

Gesture Dictionary 69

Information Architecture Is All About the Content 70

Make It Meaningful 70

Information Architecture: Like a Boss in Five Steps 72

Step 1: Define Themes, Goals and Requirements 73

Step 2: Choose a Layout 74

Step 3: Group Similar Items 85

Step 4: Be Consistent 86

Step 5: Reduce 87

Summary 88

CHAPTER 5

Wireframes 91

Debunking Wireframes 92

Wireframes 101 93

When Should You Create the Wireframes? 93

Anatomy of a Wireframe 94

Are You Speaking Wireframe? 95

Do’s & Don’ts 98

Tools for Awesome Wireframes 102

Tools for Awesome-er Wireframes 105

Wireframe Techniques 107

Wireframe Technique #1: Creating the Basic Wireframe 107

Wireframe Technique #2: Using Shades of Gray and One Color 108

Wireframe Technique #4: Using the Frame-by-Frame Approach 111

Wireframe Technique #5: Using Bubbles 112

Wireframe Technique #6: Magnifying Details 112

Summary 114

CHAPTER 6

Prototyping 115

When Should I Prototype? 116

1. Communicating a New Idea 117

2. Creating a Proof of Concept 117

3. Conducting Basic Usability Testing 117

4. Determining Whether an Idea Is Worth a Bigger Investment 117

What Makes an Eff ective Prototype? 118

Fake It—Be Clever, Not Complicated 120

Making “Little Bets” 121

Awesome Tools for Prototyping 122

Microsoft SketchFlow 122

Adobe Edge Tools 123

Adobe After Effects 124

Keynote / PowerPoint 125

HTML / JavaScript / CSS3 126

Axure RP 127

Arduino, Openframeworks, Processing 128

Prototyping Techniques 129

Prototyping Technique #1: Paper Prototypes 130

Prototyping Technique #2: Interactive Wireframes 131

Prototyping Technique #3: Video Prototyping 136

Summary 140

Part III: Visual Design 141

CHAPTER 7

Color 143

Color Basics 144

Color Vocabulary 144

Color Models 146

Cool and Warm Colors 149

The Psychology of Color 151

Contrast 154

Applied Color: A Few Rules of Thumb 156

Stick With Two to Three Colors 156

Start with Solids, Then Move to Gradients 157

Use Shades of a Hue 157

Green Means Go 157

What Makes a Good Color Palette? 158

Shades of Gray 159

Five Color Palettes You Can’t Go Wrong With 160

Color Techniques 163

Color Technique #1: Use a Photograph to Generate a Color Palette 163

Color Technique #2: Code with Color 165

Color Technique #3: Use Photoshop 167

Bonus Color Technique: Use an Algorithm to Find Average Color 170

Summary 173

CHAPTER 8

Digital Typography 175

First Things First 176

A Lap Around Typography 177

Understanding Type Terminology 177

Font or Typeface—What’s the Difference? 182

Type Classification  182

Serif Typefaces  182

Sans-Serif Typefaces 185

Eight Ways to Improve Your Typography 187

1. Pick a Scale and Stick with It 187

2. Use Consistent Spacing  188

3. Consider the Measure  189

4. A Little Can Go a Long Way 190

5. Pick a Good Body Font  191

6. Use a Single Family 193

7. Combine Two to Three Typefaces 194

8. Use a Good Ampersand 199

Summary  199

CHAPTER 9

Visual Communication  201

It Ain’t Th at Simple 202

1. Design As Th ough You’re Designing for Yourself 203

2. Be Consistent 203

Five Ways to Clarify Your Design 204

1. Slap a Grid on It 204

2. Establish Hierarchy 211

3. Remove the Junk 215

4. Check for Parallelism 220

5. Create Clear Aff ordances 221

Summary 226

CHAPTER 10

Motion 227

Animations Look Cool, but Can Th ey Actually Make It Work Better? 228

Transitions, Animations, and Timing Guidelines 229

What’s the Difference Between an Animation and a Transition? 229

Not Too Fast, Not Too Slow, Not Too Many 230

When Should I Use Motion?  230

When Should I Avoid Motion? 231

Fade, Slide, and Scale—Animation’s Super Tools 232

Fade  232

Slide 233

Scale  233

Motion Principles 234

Slow In and Slow Out 234

Squash and Stretch 235

Anticipation 236

Follow-Through and Overlapping Action 237

Arcs 238

Easing  239

Advanced Motion Techniques 242

Follow 242

Cognitive Tomfoolery 243

Summary  244

Part IV: Interaction Design 245

CHAPTER 11

Interaction Design Principles 247

An Introduction to Interaction Design 248

Getting In the Flow  249

Ways to Facilitate Flow 250

Learnability Versus Usability 256

Designing for Usability 256

Designing for Learnability  258

Ergonomics 259

Muscle Fatigue 260

Field of View and Peripheral Vision  261

Environment and Lighting Conditions 263

Optimal Touch Targets 263

Occlusion  265

Summary  267

CHAPTER 12

Design Patterns 269

Why Use Design Patterns? 270

Other Design Pattern Resources 271

The Patterns 273

Auto Focus 274

Drag and Drop 274

Auto Save 275

Blank Slate 276

Progress Indicators 277

Use Good Target Sizes 278

A Button Is a Button Is a Button 279

Avoid Modal States unless It’s Critical to Use Them 279

Direct Manipulation 281

Group Like Items 281

Continuous Scrolling 282

Size to Importance Visualization 283

Glance-View Dashboard 284

Error-Proof Controls 285

Get Me Out of Here 286

Right/Left Input Alignment 287

Super Search 288

Simple Task, Simple UI; Complex Task, Complex UI 288

Sync Position 290

Contrast Your Fonts 290

Summary 291

Index 293

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