There is a common phenomenon in China’s Internet industry. Some product managers know that they should develop easy-to-use interactive products, but they still do not clear what specific skills are needed. And many UI designers in China nowadays turn from visual designers. As a result, product managers do not understand the difference between visual designers and UI designers. The aesthetic requirements are magnified-doing so results in products that often look beautiful, but users cannot use them.
Once questioned, UI designers, who are not good at words, may find it difficult to compete with product managers in terms of words. Depressed? Fortunately, the reason is not high. Memorize the following predecessors’ terms to help you tide over difficulties in the argument.
Don’t confuse UI designer and visual designer. The job of UI designer is to point out that the quality of a product is not only how it looks, but also whether it is easy to learn and usable. Is it easy for users to master it? And whether it can better support users to complete tasks?
Jeff Johnson put forward some examples for your reference. The job of a UI designer should include:
· Reduce the number of commands from hundreds to 48 in a program.
· Reduce the menu level from 23 to 11.
·Reduce the mouse movement to complete a task by half.
·Integrate the commands in the menu to turn inconsistent verbs into common phrases.
·Rewrite the prompt information expressed in professional terms to make it concise and task-related popular language.
UI design and visual design are actually two different behaviors. Engaging in these two types of jobs also requires different abilities.
Visual designers are good at art, expressing functions vividly. Create your own style for the product, and at the same time arrange information reasonably with related display devices and graphics, so that users can complete functions easily and happily.
UI designers are good at analyzing and understanding the needs of users, making the information structure more reasonable. Try to simplify the difficulty of use as much as possible, and find out where users encounter problems when using the product. Although people with different backgrounds are more and more inclined to complete UI design and testing, no matter who designs it, an eye-catching, passionate, radiant, and soulful visual design does not mean that it is easy to learn and use. design.
UI designer’s responsibilities, task analysis, conceptual design, process design, description of real-time response standards, ease of use evaluation, ease of use testing, evaluation of the consistency
of ease of use standards , layout Responsibilities of visual designer
·Create recognizable images
·Artistic appearance
·Make full use of related display media
·Express function visually
·Visual consistency
·Layout
The following excerpt is from “GUI Design Taboo”:
Many product managers now believe that UI design is secondary to other tasks in product development, and usability is a secondary factor in the commercial success of the product. However, a highly usable product will increase market acceptance. And considering the availability of the product before launching a new product can usually reduce the cost of after-sales service.
Some product managers have too narrow understanding of what UI designers include. A misunderstanding is that UI design is the most superficial thing in a software, and it can be done until the product is released, or not done at all. They do not admit that the main job of a UI designer is not visual processing.
In addition, the product manager refuses to admit that UI design also contains some deep-seated problems: for example, whether the user is struggling to learn, whether the product function matches the user’s purpose, and how easy it is for the user to transform the goal into the corresponding concept in the product in the process of completing the task.
UI design work cannot be carried out at a later stage in the development process. If these issues are not considered and tested early, the final version must not meet the requirements.