This is just a page for me to save notes publicly from the design tutorials I’m following.

Feel free to tag along.

First Course

Learn Design Principles

  • Axis - 22/07/2020
    When elements are arranged around an axis, the design feels ordered. As with most things in life, we enjoy things that are ordered because they feel more stable, comfortable and approachable.
    The city street is an axis that is reinforced by the buildings on both sides. If a portion of the street is missing a building on one or both sides, the street’s axis would not feel as strong.
    Lines prompt movement and interactions. The direction of movement depends on the end points. A defined end point signals a place to start or stop.
    If an end point is undefined, you will follow the axis until you reach something of interest or are tired of interacting with the axis.

  • Symmetry
    Symmetry adds balance to a design. When elements are the same on both sides of an axis, the design feels harmonious.
    Designs are asymmetrical if the arrangement of elements are different on both sides of an axis.

  • Hierarchy - 25/07/2020
    An element will appear more hierarchical if it is larger than other elements in a design.
    An element can also appear more hierarchical if it is different than other elements in a design. We naturally look first at the irregular shape in a design.
    So far this has been fairly elementary.
    I kept the notes because I thought they were well written as general principles to follow when putting together something.
    Also, this applies primarily to technology product design rather than general design itself, maybe i’ll do a broader course later.
  • Rhythm
    The best way to understand rhythm is to think of a song. Songs have rhythm when a piece of the song repeats.
    A break in rhythm will appear more hierarchical. Think about a song. When a song has a repeated rhythm and the rhythm is broken, something quite special usually happens.

Second Course

Laws of UX

  • Aesthetic Usability Effect - 02/08/2020

Users often perceive aesthetically pleasing design as design that’s more usable.

This is something that took me a long time to accept. It was mostly the nerd in me who loved purely functional products who pushed back against this and I still do from time to time, but, if it looks ‘well made’ and ‘for the user’ the user is more likely to use it.

Aesthetically pleasing design makes it easier for users to:

  1. tolerate usability/functionality issues
  2. believe the design actually works better
  3. prevent failures in functionality from being discovered