Essentials of UI Design XVIII: A First Look at UI Design Patterns
How do you save time and effort, while improving usability, consistency, and accessibility? The short answer is UI patterns. They provide ready-to-use building blocks designers can use to solve common UI design challenges. This article explains why UI design patterns exist in many UILand products and how you should use them.
Building Familiarity with UI Design Patterns
When you use a new app or visit websites in a particular industry, you seem to have some idea where to find a menu, search bar, or even checkout button. This is possible because of UI design patterns. They afford designers the convenience of proven patterns that users already understand. UI patterns speed up the design process of producing smart designs whether you’re building a tabbed navigation bar, product filter, or login form. The best part? Your product still scores high marks for usability.
Key Elements of UI Design Patterns
There are four essential elements present in a true UI design pattern:
Problem: What’s the recurring design challenge that appears in different contexts?
Context: What specific circumstances tend to bring about this problem?
Solution: What solution has solved this problem?
Rationale: Why does this solution work?
Let’s practice this!
Users often need to navigate large amounts of content (problem) in a limited interface (context).
Pagination provides numbered page controls (solution). Other possible solutions include expandable accordions, modal dialogs, progress indicators, tab bars, and toast messages.
It allows users to understand their location and jump to specific sections efficiently (rationale).
Why You Should Use UI Design Patterns
Understanding and implementing UI design patterns can significantly impact both the user experience and business success. Here are reasons you should use them in your next digital product:
They adapt to user mental models
Humans tend to work out how things work. Using patterns they’re familiar with allows them to immediately understand its function without needing to learn something new. Such cognitive efficiency reduces mental load and creates smoother user experience.
They offer consistency
Consistent interfaces build user confidence. Applying patterns uniformly across an app or website helps users know how different sections will behave. This minimizes learning time and increases user satisfaction.
They offer development efficiency
Patterns accelerate product design and development by offering pre-tested solutions. Rather than do what’s been done before, teams can attend to unique business problems while using proven patterns for standard interactions.
They ensure accessibility and inclusion
Many UI design patterns come replete with accessibility considerations. Following established patterns often means inheriting refined accessibility features that have been tested by diverse user groups.
You can find modern UI patterns replicated across many UILand offerings.
