Three examples of the effects of following (or not following) best practice visual design principles.Д¬areful Visual Design + Good Usability = Successful DesignДЄs a visual designer, you should strive to create content that is consistent and predictably organized, but at the same time impressively distinct. Scale вЂ“ use this to emphasize elements to establish importance or depth.Дominance вЂ“ use an objectвЂ™s size, color, etc. to show importance.Д«alance вЂ“ use this to distribute elements evenly.Д¬ontrast вЂ“ use differences in color, etc. GestaltвЂ“ use these principles of how people perceive objects to guide how users interpret your design.

Unity вЂ“ use this to establish harmony between page elements, so they appear to belong together and users arenвЂ™t distracted by chaotic (e.g., misaligned) layouts. Texture вЂ“ use this to define an objectвЂ™s surface. Value вЂ“ use this to set the relationship between lightness and darkness, typically through a light source to create shadows and highlights.Д¬olor вЂ“ use this to set the theme/tone and attract attention. Volume вЂ“ use this to show the rich fullness of all three dimensions of elements on two-dimensional screens. Negative space/whitespace вЂ“ use the blank area around a вЂњpositiveвЂќ shape to create a figure/ground effect or calm the design overall. Shapes вЂ“ use lines, different colors, etc. Lines (straight/curved/geometric/organic) вЂ“ use these to create divisions, textures and shapes. These are some of the most common-and fundamental- elements and principles of visual design: For example, you use chunking to help users understand and remember information more easily. A major factor in visual design is that you work to accommodate user limitations such as cognitive load. How you apply visual design will depend on your product, its organization/industry and its users (including their culture).

Therefore, a visual design should draw their attention to the important aspects and strike the balance between a fresh, powerful design and something they expect to see. If your users have to stop and think about your design, they wonвЂ™t trust it-or you. So, you must always show them the right things in the right way. The smallest and subtlest details will affect what users think and how they feel. For instance, designers compose and arrange website content around each pageвЂ™s purpose and are careful to ensure that content gives off the right visual cues. Actually, you use visual design to create and organize elements to A) lead the userвЂ™s eye to an itemвЂ™s functionality, and B) make the aesthetics consistent. Many people mistake it to mean that designers include attractive elements just to maximize an itemвЂ™s appeal. So, visual design is a vital part of your work as a designer. If they donвЂ™t like what you show them in those critical moments, they will leave. This fact reflects the visceral level of emotional design-in other words, the userвЂ™s first impression of or gut reaction to a design. UsersвЂ™ first impressions typically form in 50 milliseconds.

Jesse James Garrett, UX Designer & Co-founder of Adaptive Path Visual Design is Aesthetic, Strategic Design вЂњProblems with visual design can turn users off so quickly that they never discover all the smart choices you made with navigation or interaction design.вЂќ See why Visual Design is about more than product prettiness.

Is visual assist worth it