Article #2:

Every profession has it’s own set of tools needed to deliver valuable results. As a visual designer, whether you’re a UX, UI or a graphic designer, you need to know your essential set of tools to be able to develop effective designs.

Effective designs are generally labeled as being both aesthetically appealing and also well functioning. Well functioning also means that the visual product is rendered user friendly. So, as a designer you need to deliver a model that is reproducible, user friendly and appealing. Hence, you need a bunch of tools to help you accomplish such great results.

To begin with, you need to plan your design. How you’ll arrange the images and text to deliver the best results is most essential. You need your design to be well organized so that it would be informative and appealing but definitely not overcrowded. Overcrowding the design leads to confusion and you don’t want your users confused. You want them to be comfortable and happy. Hence, spacing considerations between images and text and also between sentences are most important. You don’t want large spaces to bore the user or tiny spaces to diffuse the user’s attention. You need to find a balance in spacing so that the design is rendered interesting but not distracting.

Secondly, you need to consider sizing. The size of your images and text reflect how you want your user’s attention to be ordered. Biggest sizes attract the attention first, then the smaller then the smallest. So, you want to be very wise using sizing to deliver your message clearer to the user.

Fonts are also very important. Complicated fonts are difficult to read and hence won’t deliver the information effectively. You want your users to have a smooth reading experience hence your fonts need to be clear and readable. Another value of using fonts is to render your brand recognizable. You need people to recognize your brand through the fonts you always use along with the few phrases/vocabulary you always include. Finally, don’t forget that using fonts is a great way to also deliver emotions and moods. Happy, modern, historic, fast, slow, playful, classic or business like are all emotions/moods that can be delivered through choosing the appropriate fonts. Hence, you are advised to choose your fonts wisely!

Don’t forget the importance of colors. Colors are most important to attract the users to your design. Strong striking colors deliver a different message than light and simple colors and you need to choose accordingly. Another thing to consider is color contrasts. Good contrasts attract users while bad contrasts mostly blind users. You don’t want your users to be unable to see your images or read your text because of the bad color contrasts you’re using. Generally, your color contrast should be used to attract users alright but also to retain them through using clear and comfortable color mixes in your designs.

Finally and also most importantly, don’t forget to deliver empathy. Empathy can be delivered through accessibility. You need to deliver accessible designs to be able to reach larger and more diverse groups of users. You need to consider people with reading disabilities. So, you need your text to be large enough to be readable by most users but it would also be better to have magnifying options for your text and/or to add text to speech options. Don’t forget to add alternative text to your images for people with slower internet connections or visual disabilities. You need to explain to them what your images are saying in words if they are unable to see those images. Also using appropriate colors and contrasts to consider visual disabilities/color blindness is most important. Finally, adding more language options to your designs will allow your products to reach a wider audience. So, you use the main language of your typical users in your initial designs but you also must add other language options for all other users in all other locations. This will also be an essential tool to market your brand and products to a wider audience in more locations.

Being knowledgeable enough to use all mentioned tools while designing your brand and your products will definitely allow you to attract more audience, deliver your message better while also retaining your current users which is what good designs are all about.

As a designer, the more feedback I get from users, the more I am able to develop better designs. This is why all designers need to be also very good listeners. Having the patience to listen to your users and to ask them useful questions to be able to identify their pain points and to help them overcome it is what really allows a designer to upgrade in their designs and career. Consequently, as designers we all need to be continuously working on our communication skills and this is what I always try to do, thank you for reading my article!