The main goal of UX design is to create a usable, accessible and aesthetically pleasing product that helps people solve certain problems in their everyday routine. To achieve that, UX designers should follow UX principles and guidelines that are aimed at creating user-friendly intuitive interfaces and have stood the test of time. Even though each UX project might have its own guidelines and heuristic evaluations based on its peculiarities, some principles serve as a common UX basis in any situation.
System status transparency
The more understanding users have on how the product is functioning, what is going on in the system at any given moment and what they can do with it, the more trust the product gets, whereas misunderstanding and uncertainty leads to confusion, frustration and wrong actions. That's why system status transparency plays a major role in UX: users should be clearly informed on anything that happens within the system, especially in such moments as data processing, freezing and errors encountering, which may take an uncertain amount of time. Transparency gives users a sense of control and understanding of what to do next.
Giving users full control over their actions
When interacting with the product, a user might want to change their mind, undo an action, correct their mistake, try various options as an experiment and explore the product in any ways possible. To provide comfort and freedom through that experience, users should be granted control of their own actions, including the ability to undo actions and roll back to a particular section at any point.
Error prevention
Even though users should be given freedom to experiment within the platform, the UX design should be optimized to help them avoid mistakes and prevent errors. This includes placing buttons in a way they don't provoke wrong clicks, providing pop-ups with instructions or asking to double-confirm potentially irreversible actions. That doesn't mean the product should be over-simplified, as it may lead to the loss of users interest and reduce user retention – there should be moments that make users put an extra thought in what action to take next while providing a feeling of security and eliminating the fear of irreversible errors.
Clear ways of solving problems
Encountering obstacles while using a software product is a common matter, no matter whether the problem comes from the user or the platform itself. A UX designer's job is to provide users with tools and instructions on how to overcome an obstacle and go on with their task. Failures make much less of a negative impression when they're handled correctly and do not steal users of their time and effort, whereas leaving users to find solutions on their own is considered to be one of the grossest errors in UX.
Flexibility and personalization
The way users behave within the platform depends on their needs, habits and experience. That's why UX should provide flexibility and options to navigate the app with different user behavior patterns rather than give a one-for-all solution that may not meet everyone's expectations. The same relates to personalization, which not only means personalized feed, but rather accommodates to the user's personal habits and preferences.
Consistency across the platform
Consistency is the key principle of UX design. It implies that all the elements the app consists of, including colors, wording, icons, illustrations and options, must remain consistent across all parts of the platform. It's a basis for a comfortable user experience that provides users a sense of confidence and control when working with the product. Inconsistency leads to hesitation and confusion, making it hard to execute tasks efficiently.
Clear familiar wording
Any software product aimed for general use should have wording that is familiar to users and reflects real-world scenarios. Except for niche platforms, there is no need to use jargon, complex terms or anything that might seem unfamiliar and confusing to users, as it increases cognitive load and leads to user burnout.
Help documentation
Help documentation combines tools that users can access in case of any issues that don't require contacting tech support: FAQ, tutorials, instructions, widgets, etc. Even though a product should be designed in a way that naturally provides easy navigation, help documentation in any form is still required to make user experience more comfortable, especially when onboarding the platform or performing complex tasks. It should not only contain useful information but also be easy to access without interrupting users' workflow.
Usefulness over aesthetics
Visuals and information that fill the product should be relevant and enrich user experience rather than provoke cognitive overload. Any unimportant bits of the product should be removed or replaced, no matter how aesthetically pleasing they look. It's also important to structure information hierarchy in a way that draws the eye at the right time and makes it easy to digest everything that's on the page.
Context awareness
Users might use the platform in various scenarios and conditions, which makes it essential for the platform to adapt to each user personally and be aware of the context of use. This includes taking into account the user's location, time zone, device, time of the day or even the type of task they're performing at the given moment. Context awareness helps anticipate users' needs and provide a more personalized experience.
Conclusion
UX principles have accumulated over decades of work, research, experience and practice of professionals like designers and researchers. Their number is indefinite – which ones the team chooses to apply may depend on the certain project, type of the product in development or the needs of its target audience. Some teams develop their own principles based on their experience and workflow, while others prefer to rely on the most known common ones. Whatever the case is, the main goal of UX principles remains certain – they should help designers create user-friendly, uncluttered, optimized and aesthetically pleasing product that makes people's everyday life better.
