UX design process is systematic, iterative, and structured series of actions that is necessary for designing user experience. It helps teams to follow easy-to-replicate steps to deliver interfaces while meeting the organization’s quality standards.
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What is UX Design?
UX design is a digital product design methodology to solve a human problem. “UX” stands for user experience. This human-centered design approach ensures design teams make decisions based on user feedback rather than assumptions.
Empathy is at the core of this human-centered approach. UX designers must understand the user problems, as well as what target users want to achieve with a digital product and the pain points they might encounter along the way.
What is a UX Design Process?
A UX design process is an iterative, step-by-step methodology UX design teams use to complete projects. While specific methods and steps can vary between projects and organizations, a typical UX design process often includes applying various research methods, defining project scope, using prototyping tools to create a solution and iterate on it until UX teams perfect it for real world scenarios.
What’s the Difference Between UX Design Process and Design Thinking Process?
The design thinking process is a five-step process for developing user-centered solutions to human problems. A UX design process is a multi-stage, end-to-end methodology that incorporates design thinking for delivering UX projects.
A UX design process is derivative from a design thinking process. As in design thinking process, UX designers spend time empathizing with the user, learning about the business, context, and defining problem scope.
While companies base their UX design process on design thinking principles, the steps and methods might differ slightly.
Why is a UX Design Process Important?
Here are some reasons why companies standardize a UX design process:
Ensures projects meet quality and consistency standards
Ensures designers design solutions without bias and assumptions
A typical UX design process has 7 UX design steps, from defining the product’s goal to design handoff and making sure everything works as intended.
Step 1: Define project & scope
The first step of a UX design process defines the project’s goal and scope with team members and stakeholders from multiple departments–usually consisting of representatives from:
This early design phase aims to identify the problem the new product or feature must solve. The product team will also outline the project’s scope, plan, deliverables, and delivery date.
Step 2: Perform UX Research
Next, designers research the problem to find possible solutions. During the research phase, UX designers conduct several types of research, including:
User research: Studies potential users to understand who they are, what they need, and what context they operate. They may invite focus groups to explore user needs or do a desk research. The outcome of UX research are user personas, user journey maps, and so on.
Market research: Analyzes the market to determine market segmentation and product differentiation.
Competitive research: A competitive analysis to understand how competitors solve similar problems and identify opportunities.
With a clear understanding of their users, market, and competitive landscape, designers can run a brainstorming session to make initial drafts of what a solution would look like, which is often referred to as the ideation phase. Designers may use paper and pen during early visual design planning or jump straight to digital UX tools.
The team might also use a design sprint to solve a specific problem with their stakeholders or other team members.
Step 4: Design high-fidelity mockups and prototypes
Next, the UI design team converts wireframes into mockups to build high-fidelity prototypes that look and function like the final product. If the company has a design system, designers will use the UI component library to build interactive prototypes.
Step 5: Conduct usability testing
The primary purpose of high-fidelity prototypes is usability testing. UX designers test these prototypes with real users to:
These sessions are also a wonderful opportunity to explore user behavior regarding digital safety and awareness. For example, teams can educate users on how to prevent threats like email viruses, improve their overall experience, and reduce security risks.
Steps 2 to 5 are iterable. Using test results, designers return to stage two or three to iterate on ideas until they find a solution that meets desirability, viability, and feasibility criteria.
It’s important to note that even though user testing is the fifth stage, design teams conduct multiple tests throughout the UX design process to validate ideas and hypotheses. These tests include internal testing with team members or sharing ideas and prototypes with stakeholders for feedback.
Step 6: Arrange Design Handoff
The second to last stage of the UX design process is the design handoff, where the design team hands over the final design and its documentation to the development team to start the engineering process.
Although the design handoff is near the end of the UX process, designers and engineers start collaborating during ideation to streamline the transition from design to development while ensuring designs meet technical constraints. Their collaboration is facilitated through different tools that make communication easier.
The final stage of the UX design process is a launch and a clear inspection of the new release. It’s time to ensure that the new release meets the project’s business goals, user experience, and accessibility requirements.
Best Practices for a Great UX Design Process
While the UX design process might not be the same for all organizations, projects, or teams, there are some best practices designers can follow to streamline the process.
Apply User-Centric Thinking
Designers must keep end-users at the center of design decisions to ensure designs meet users’ needs. This human-centered mindset delivers products that users want while reducing costs on irrelevant UI components and features.
Practice Empathy
One of the ways to maintain a user-centered mindset is by empathizing with users. As designers progress through the UX design process, they can drift from focusing on users to designing features that look great but don’t serve a specific user need.
By practicing empathy throughout the UX design process, designers stay focused on solving users’ pain points.
Build a Design System
Design systems can significantly reduce time to market while enhancing consistency and coherency across the organization. If you can’t afford to build a design system from scratch, consider using a themeable open-source component library like MUI or Bootstrap.
UXPin has built-in design libraries, including Material Design UI, Bootstrap, iOS, and Foundation so that design teams can build mockups and prototypes quickly.
Take prototyping to the next level using UXPin Merge–a tool that connects UXPin’s design editor to a component library, so designers can build fully functioning prototypes their dev’s components.
Communicate and Collaborate with Devs
Communication and collaboration are vital for a successful UX design process. Designers must connect with other design teams and open communication with engineers, business managers, product teams, and stakeholders.
DesignOps can help facilitate better communication and collaboration while streamlining other time-consuming operational and administrative tasks.
Enhancing the UX Design Process With UXPin
A successful UX process relies on tools that allow design teams to make changes and iterate fast. UXPin is an end-to-end design solution, providing designers with features for every stage of the UX design process.
Fully Interactive Prototypes
Designers can use one of UXPin’s built-in design libraries or import their dev’s component library to start prototyping immediately. Because UXPin is code-based, prototypes feature higher fidelity and more functionality than image-based prototyping tools.
Quality User Testing
With code-based prototypes, UX designers can conduct accurate, more comprehensive tests. Better quality testing means fewer errors and usability issues make it into the final product.
Insightful Stakeholder Feedback
Stakeholder feedback is crucial during the iterative process of UX design. If prototypes aren’t intuitive, stakeholders battle to understand design concepts that could impact buy-in and funding.
Whether you’re using UXPin, prototypes have significantly higher fidelity and interactivity than other popular design tools. In turn, designers enjoy meaningful, actionable feedback from stakeholders.
Speed up your UX design process
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FAQS: UX Design Process
1. What steps are involved in UX design? The UX design process involves several structured steps: defining the project scope, conducting user research, creating wireframes and prototypes, performing user testing, refining designs based on feedback, and launching the final product.
2. Why conduct UX research before designing? Conducting UX research before design helps uncover user behaviors, needs, and pain points, providing essential insights to ensure the final design effectively meets user expectations and creates meaningful experiences.
3. How do personas help in user-centered design? Personas help designers empathize with users by providing detailed, research-based representations of target audiences, guiding design decisions that align closely with real user preferences and behaviors.
4. Why is prototyping essential in UX design? Prototyping is essential because it allows designers to create interactive versions of their designs, facilitating early usability testing, identifying potential issues, and refining solutions before committing to final development.
5. Can you explain the difference between UX and UI? UX (User Experience) design focuses on the overall user journey, emphasizing functionality, ease of use, and user satisfaction. UI (User Interface) design specifically addresses the visual aspects like layout, colors, typography, and interactions. Together, they create cohesive digital experiences.
6. How can I assess the success of UX? Assess UX success through user feedback, usability tests, analytics (conversion rates, task completion rates, bounce rates), and surveys measuring user satisfaction, which indicate how effectively the design meets user goals.
7. How does design thinking connect with UX? Design thinking complements UX design by emphasizing user empathy, iterative problem-solving, and testing. Both methodologies prioritize understanding user needs deeply and iteratively refining solutions to improve user experiences.
8. What are post-launch UX activities? Post-launch UX activities include gathering ongoing user feedback, analyzing usage data, performing A/B testing, and continuously refining the product to ensure it remains effective, relevant, and aligned with user expectations.
Tables are essential components for many enterprise UX projects. UX designers must find the best UX table design solution to visualize and sort data according to user needs.
This article explores table UX design best practices with examples to solve common content and usability issues. We also provide links to resources to help research specific topics further.
Key takeaways:
Data table UX design involves organizing and presenting data in a way that allows users to easily find, understand, and interact with information.
Effective data table design involves layout selection, data organization, legibility, and user task functionality.
Data table designers should prioritize readability, create visual hierarchy, ensure responsiveness, order columns sensibly, and focus on accessibility for a better user experience.
Data table UX design and prototyping are challenging for designers using image-based design tools. These tools lack features to create basic table functionality like sorting, search, scrolling, actions, etc.
With UXPin Merge, designers can sync a fully functioning data table or use a component library like MUI to design, prototype, and create their own table using live components. Try UXPin Merge for free.
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Data Table UI Design
First, let’s break down the data table anatomy and how these elements fit together so users can visualize information.
Table Header: The labels for each column in the data table
Rows: Each entry from the database
Toolbar: Tools to work with the data (search, edit, delete, settings, etc.)
Pagination: A UI pattern for displaying multiple pages of data
Row checkbox: Used to select one or more rows to complete tasks, i.e., delete, copy, process, etc.
Sorting: Allows users to sort a specific column, i.e., ascending or descending
Horizontal rule: A horizontal line (the <hr> HTML element) separating each row
What Makes a Good Data Table?
There are four primary ingredients to designing good data tables:
Use the correct data table UI for the content you want to display.
The data table provides users with the functionality to complete tasks.
First and foremost, your table must be sufficient to display all the data users need. UX designers must also prioritize data correctly, with the most crucial information starting from the left.
A good data table has a clear header and description, so users know what they’re viewing. Designers must also use legible typography and adequate spacing between columns and rows to make it easy for users to read and absorb content.
Lastly (and most importantly), your data table must be user-friendly. It must solve users’ needs and be intuitive to use. There should be little or no learning curve, so users can focus on analyzing data rather than learning how to use the data table.
How to Design User-Friendly Data Tables?
Here are some best practices for designing user-friendly data tables.
Data Table Readability
Readability is crucial for data table UX. Designers must assess several elements to make data tables readable, including:
Reduce visual noise: Only display content and UI elements necessary for users to read and manipulate data.
Use legible fonts: The data table’s typeface, sizing, white space, and letter spacing must be adequate for users to read content–even if this means using a different font from the rest of your application.
Create separation: Padding, spacing, alignment, and lines can help create separation so users can differentiate and absorb data easily.
Consistency: Using fonts, spacing, sizing, etc., creates consistency and familiarity so users can scan tables faster to find what they need.
Fixed headers: Keeps headers visible even when users scroll so they always have context.
Create Visual Hierarchy
Linked to readability is creating a visual hierarchy–where designers use typography, sizing, spacing, and other elements to differentiate data and make tables scannable.
Use bold and slightly larger font sizes for column and row headers.
Use shading to differentiate between headers and table content.
“Zebra stripes” help create divisions between rows, making them easier to read.
Use a contrasting color for links, so users know what content is clickable.
Data Tables Must be Responsive
UX designers must understand how users use these tables while completing day-to-day tasks to create a consistent and cohesive user experience across the platforms and products.
Data tables must be responsive so users can analyze data anywhere in the business. The sales team might want to access the data from their mobile device on the go, while warehouse employees primarily use tablets.
Order Columns According to Data Relevance
An article from the NN Group recommends, “The default order of the columns should reflect the importance of the data to the user and related columns should be adjacent.”
UX designers must arrange and group columns according to their relevance. For example, location details like address, city, country, and zip code must be together. Placing these apart would create more work for users as they scroll or scan the table to compare columns.
Table Captions: An HTML element <caption> placed after the opening table element provides context for screen readers. While HTML falls on engineers, UX designers must provide the appropriate caption description based on user research and testing.
Identify Row and Column Headers: UX designers must use appropriate row and column headers so screen readers can identify content correctly.
Associate the Data Cells with the Appropriate Headers: The scope attribute tells screen readers whether a header belongs to a row or column. For example, <th scope=”col”>Name</th> and <th scope=”row”>Jackie</th>. The scope attribute makes it easy for screen readers to jump around the table like a user would scanning it visually.
Use Proportional Sizing, Rather than Absolute Sizing: Using percentages rather than fixed pixel cell sizing allows tables to automatically adjust to a screen’s dimensions, making it easier to read for visually impaired users.
Large datasets require horizontal scrolling to accommodate many columns. UX designers must decide which content is most important to users to prioritize what is always visible and what users must scroll to view.
This preference may change across an organization, so allowing users to personalize what’s visible by rearranging the columns is crucial for creating a good user experience.
It’s advisable to place identifiers in the first column and fix it so users always have a reference as they scroll. Allowing users to fix multiple columns can help when comparing different data.
Expandable Rows and Columns
Expandable or resizable columns serve two purposes for users:
Allow users to view cells with exessive content
Allow users to minimize cell widths for the content they deem less important
UX designers might also consider making rows and columns “hideable” to reduce visual noise and make it easier to read the content that matters most for the task at hand.
Expandable rows allow UX designers to include detailed information only visible when users need it. This example from CodePen shows a series of job cards with a brief description and status. Users can open the accordion to display additional notes and job costs.
Row Focus Data Table
This hover effect allows users to focus on a single row at a time. If you have multiple columns and data points, this effect enables users to highlight a row, making it easier to read.
Here’s a real-world example of this hover effect. We built a pricing table with React-Bootstrap components. To compare features between the plans, the user can hover over the feature and quickly see what feature they are comparing. Open the preview of this UXPin’s example: Bootstrap Pricing Example.
The same effect is used in our Ant Design table. The hover effect makes the user focus on the employee they want to check. See this effect live at: Ant Design Dashboard Example.
In a similar example, this data table highlights a specific cell with a raised hover effect.
Infinite Scroll Data Table
Infinite scroll is helpful for tables with lots of data. It’s an excellent alternative to pagination, where instead of having to click, users only have to scroll to see more content.
Column Sorting
Column sorting is essential for users to reorder data according to their preferences. For example, a warehouse manager can sort orders from the earliest first to monitor progress and address issues early. They can also sort by shipping preference and ensure that same-day orders are on track to leave before the deadline.
Inline Filters
Data table filters help users narrow their preferences to only display relevant entries. This data table example allows users to apply multiple filters to find exactly what they need. These inline filters are especially helpful for large datasets where users can eliminate irrelevant content.
How to design a table in UXPin
UXPin is an advanced prototyping tool for building interactive, high-fidelity prototypes. Instead of creating multiple static artboards to simulate one interaction, UXPin enables designers to utilize States, Variables, and Conditions to design functional components using just one artboard (‘Page’).
To insert a table in UXPin, click on the “Search All Assets” search icon (command + F / Ctrl + F), type “table” into the input field, and then click on “Table” under the “Components” heading.
Importing data into a table component
To populate the Table Component with real data, connect it to an external data source such as a JSON file, CSV file, or Google Sheet. It’s best to do this before styling the table to get a better idea of the content that you’ll be designing for.
First, you’ll need to ensure that the Layer names match that of the JSON/CSV/Google Sheet table headers. See the image below to understand how this would work with a Google Sheet.
To sync the data, select the Layers that you’d like to populate, click on the “Fill with Data” icon in the horizontal toolbar, navigate to “JSON / CSV / Sheets”, and then either click on “Browse File…” (to import data from a local JSON or CSV file) or paste a URL to an external JSON, CSV, or published-as-CSV Google Sheets file into the “Import from URL” input field.
After that, the data will appear in the Table Component (if the structure matches up correctly).
Adding sorting functionality to a table component
It’s also possible to make the data sortable using States and Interactions.
First, select all of the Layers that would be different in the new State (which in this case would be all of the Text Layers from a specific column). After that, click on the “Add state” (command + shift + S / ctrl + shift + S) icon in the horizontal toolbar and then give the new State a name using the “Set state” input field.
Next, reorder the table cells (e.g. numerically, alphabetically, or however you want). The best way to do this is by creating an alternative external data source (Google Sheets would be best in this case) and then repeating the previous steps to pull in the new data.
After that, switch back to the original State (which should be called “Base” by default).
Finally, select the relevant table header, click on the “New Interaction” icon (“+”) in the “Properties” panel, choose “Set State”, choose the relevant element under “Element”, and then choose the State that you created under “Set state” (plus any additional settings that you’d like to specify).
Styling the table component
Next, you’ll want to style the Component. It’s already structured and styled in a way that commits to the UX design best practices outlined in this article, however, you can still use the Properties panel to adapt it to your design’s visual aesthetic.
If you’re using Design Systems in UXPin, you can speed up this step by reusing your Design System’s Color Styles and Text Styles. To do this, select the Layer that you’d like to style, navigate to your UXPin Design System Library by clicking on the “Design System Libraries” icon (⌥ + 2/ alt + 2), and then selecting the Style you’d like to apply.
Don’t design from scratch. Use open-source components.
A better way is: import an open-source React components to UXPin or use one of built-in libraries. In UXPin Merge, you can find MUI, Ant design, and Bootstrap data table components. Just take them out of the library and drop them on the canvas.
Then, just import your data, adjust component properties to match your needs, and you’re ready to show your design to stakeholders. It’s done! Since the table is backed with code, you can copy it directly to your development environment like StackBlitz.
Traditionally, UX designers would need programming skills or have to rely on engineers using HTML, CSS, and Javascript to build functioning data tables. Merge puts UX designers in control, and they don’t need to write a single line of code to use components. They can also make changes and iterate without input from engineering teams. Try UXPin Merge for free.
Frequently Asked Questions: Table UX Design
1. What is table UX design? Table UX design focuses on creating user-friendly data tables that are easy to read, navigate, and interact with. It involves optimizing layout, typography, sorting, filtering, and responsiveness to improve the overall user experience when displaying large datasets.
2. Why is good table UX important? Good table UX is important because it helps users quickly find, understand, and analyze data. Well-designed tables enhance usability, reduce cognitive load, and improve decision-making, especially in data-heavy applications like dashboards, reports, and admin panels.
3. What are the best practices for table UX design? Key best practices for table UX design include using clear headings, enabling sorting and filtering options, optimizing for responsiveness, minimizing clutter, using consistent alignment, and providing visual hierarchy through typography and spacing.
4. How do I improve the readability of data tables? To improve readability, use consistent fonts, align text properly (left-align for text, right-align for numbers), add sufficient white space, and apply alternating row colors (zebra striping) to help users distinguish between rows easily.
5. Should I use fixed headers in data tables? Yes, using fixed headers is recommended, especially for large tables with vertical scrolling. Fixed headers keep column titles visible as users scroll, improving context and making it easier to interpret the data.
6. How can I make data tables responsive for mobile devices? To create responsive tables, consider using techniques like horizontal scrolling, collapsible rows, or card-based layouts. Prioritize key information, hide non-essential columns on smaller screens, and use touch-friendly controls for better mobile usability.
7. What is the difference between a static table and an interactive table? A static table displays data without user interaction, typically used for simple information display. An interactive table allows users to sort, filter, search, and even edit data directly within the table, providing a dynamic and engaging user experience.
8. How do sorting and filtering improve table UX? Sorting and filtering help users find relevant information quickly by organizing data based on specific criteria. This improves efficiency, reduces cognitive load, and enhances the overall user experience, especially when dealing with large datasets.
9. What are sticky columns in table UX, and when should I use them? Sticky columns remain visible when users scroll horizontally, usually applied to important data like row labels or key metrics. They improve navigation and context, especially in wide tables with multiple columns.
10. How do I handle large datasets in table UX design? For large datasets, use features like pagination, lazy loading (infinite scrolling), search functionality, and performance optimization techniques. This ensures the table remains fast, responsive, and easy to navigate.
11. What role does visual hierarchy play in data tables? Visual hierarchy guides users’ attention to the most important information. You can achieve this by using bold or larger fonts for headings, consistent alignment, color coding, and spacing to differentiate between data points.
12. How can I enhance accessibility in table UX design? To improve accessibility, use semantic HTML for tables, add ARIA labels where necessary, ensure proper keyboard navigation, and maintain high contrast ratios for readability. Providing clear focus indicators and screen-reader-friendly content is also essential.
13. What is the ideal table layout for dashboards? For dashboards, prioritize key metrics and data points, minimize unnecessary columns, and ensure quick access to filtering and sorting features. Responsive design is crucial, as dashboards are often viewed on different screen sizes.
14. How do pagination and infinite scrolling impact table UX? Pagination divides large datasets into manageable chunks, improving performance and reducing cognitive load. Infinite scrolling provides a seamless experience but can be less effective for tasks requiring easy access to specific data points. Choose based on the context and user needs.
15. Can I add charts or visualizations within data tables? Yes, incorporating mini-charts or data visualizations (like sparklines) within tables can enhance data comprehension. Visual cues help users identify trends and patterns quickly, making the table more informative and user-friendly.
Next.js and React are related but serve different purposes and have distinct features. React in the context of Next.js is the foundational library used to build the user interface components, while Next.js provides a framework with added features and conventions for building React-based web applications.
Design interactive interfaces without pushing pixels. Bring your coded components from a React library or Storybook and assemble a production-ready prototype 8.6x faster than with vector-based tools. Copy the code off your prototype and use it in your app. Try UXPin Merge for free.
Design UI with code-backed components.
Use the same components in design as in development. Keep UI consistency at scale.
What is NextJS?
Next.js is a popular open-source React framework that is used for building modern web applications. It is designed to make the process of developing React applications easier by providing built-in features like server-side rendering (SSR), static site generation (SSG), automatic code splitting, and routing.
Next.js builds on top of React and is particularly well-suited for building production-ready web applications with improved performance and SEO. In the context of Next.js, React serves as the underlying library for building user interfaces.
NextJS features
Some key features of Next.js include:
Server-side rendering (SSR for short) – Next.js allows you to render React components on the server-side before sending them to the client, which can improve performance and SEO. Client-side rendering shifts more of the rendering process to the client’s browser.
Static site generation (or SSG) – Next.js can generate static HTML files at build time, which can be served to the client without the need for a server. This is useful for content-heavy websites or pages that don’t need to be dynamically generated.
Automatic code splitting – Next.js automatically splits your code into smaller bundles, which are loaded as needed. This helps reduce the initial load time of your application.
Routing – Next.js provides a file-based routing system, where each React component corresponds to a route. This makes it easy to create and manage complex routing configurations.
API routes – Next.js allows you to create API routes as serverless functions, which can be used to fetch data or perform server-side operations.
Built-in CSS and Sass support – Next.js provides built-in support for styling your applications using CSS or Sass, making it easy to integrate with popular styling solutions.
When is it worth using NextJS?
There are specific scenarios where choosing Next.js over plain React might be advantageous.
If your application needs to render content on the server-side for better performance, SEO, or faster initial page load times, Next.js offers built-in support for Server-Side Rendering and Static Site Generator. This is particularly useful for content-heavy websites, blogs, or e-commerce platforms where SEO is crucial.
Next.js can help improve the performance of your application by pre-rendering pages at build time or on the server-side, reducing the amount of JavaScript that needs to be downloaded and executed by the client. This can lead to faster load times and a better user experience, especially on slower devices or networks.
Next.js comes with many built-in features, such as automatic code splitting, CSS and Sass support, API routes, and more. If you need these features in your application and prefer not to set them up manually, Next.js can save you time and effort.
What is Next.js not good for?
Next.js is worth considering over plain React when you need server-side rendering, static site generation, simplified routing, improved performance, or built-in features for your web application. However, if your application requires high customization, sticking with React alone might be more appropriate.
Consider other framework if you are building following projects:
Microservices or backend-heavy applications – Next.js is primarily focused on building frontend applications, so if your project involves heavy backend logic, microservices architecture, or complex server-side processing, you might be better off with frameworks or libraries designed specifically for backend development, such as Express.js, Nest.js, or Spring Boot.
Real-time applications – If your application relies heavily on real-time updates, like a chat application or a multiplayer game, Next.js might not be the best choice. While Next.js can handle real-time updates using client-side JavaScript, it’s not optimized for managing real-time connections or handling high volumes of concurrent requests.
Highly customized user interface – If your project requires intricate animations, interactions, or complex layouts, you might find Next.js limiting. While React provides a flexible foundation for building custom UI components, Next.js imposes certain conventions and abstractions that could hinder your ability to implement highly customized designs. In such cases, using React with a lightweight bundler like Webpack or a UI library might be more appropriate.
What is React?
React is the core library used to create the UI components and manage the application’s state and behavior. Developed by Facebook for building user interfaces, it was first released in 2013 and has since become one of the most widely used libraries for building web applications.
React provides a way to create reusable UI components that encapsulate their own logic and state. This allows developers to build complex UIs by composing smaller, more manageable components
Next.js builds upon React by providing additional features and conventions for building web applications, such as server-side rendering (SSR), static site generation (SSG), routing, and more.
React features
React provides a powerful and flexible foundation for building modern user interfaces, with a focus on simplicity, performance, and reusability. Its component-based architecture, virtual DOM, and declarative syntax have made it a popular choice for developers building web applications of all sizes and complexities.
React features include:
Component-Based Architecture: React follows a component-based architecture, where UIs are broken down into reusable components. Components encapsulate their own logic, state, and UI, making it easier to build and maintain complex user interfaces.
Declarative Syntax: React uses a declarative programming paradigm, allowing developers to describe how the UI should look at any given point in time, rather than imperatively manipulating the DOM. This makes code easier to understand and maintain.
Virtual DOM: React utilizes a virtual DOM to efficiently update the UI. Instead of directly manipulating the browser’s DOM, React creates a virtual representation of the DOM in memory and compares it with the actual DOM. This allows React to minimize DOM manipulation and improve performance.
Unidirectional Data Flow: React follows a unidirectional data flow, where data flows down from parent components to child components via props. This ensures predictable behavior and makes it easier to understand how data changes propagate through the application.
JSX: React uses JSX (JavaScript XML) syntax, which allows developers to write HTML-like code directly within JavaScript. JSX makes it easier to write and visualize UI components, as well as to incorporate JavaScript logic directly into the markup.
Hooks: React introduced Hooks in version 16.8, which provide a way to use state and other React features without writing class components. Hooks allow developers to reuse logic between components and write more concise and readable code.
Community and Ecosystem: React has a large and active community of developers, and it has a vast ecosystem of libraries, tools, and frameworks that extend its functionality. This includes tools for state management (e.g., Redux, MobX), routing (e.g., React Router), and UI components (e.g., Material-UI, Ant Design).
Cross-Platform: While React is primarily used for building web applications, it can also be used to build mobile applications using React Native. React Native allows developers to write mobile apps using React and JavaScript, which can then be compiled into native code for iOS and Android platforms.
Best use cases of React
Learning React opens up a wide range of possibilities for building dynamic and interactive web applications.
Here are some common use cases and projects you can build with React:
React relies heavily on JavaScript for rendering and interactivity. If your target audience includes users with limited JavaScript support, such as users with disabilities using screen readers or environments where JavaScript execution is restricted, you may need to consider alternative approaches or fallback solutions for accessibility and graceful degradation.
React is better for static websites. Real-time applications, such as chat applications or multiplayer games, may not be suited for React alone. While React can handle real-time updates using client-side JavaScript, it may not be optimized for managing real-time connections or handling high volumes of concurrent requests. In such cases, frameworks like Socket.io or platforms like Firebase might offer more suitable solutions.
Next.js provides a file-based routing system, making it easier to manage routing configurations compared to React, where you might need to use additional libraries like React Router. If your application has complex routing requirements, Next.js can simplify the process and reduce the amount of boilerplate code.
Let’s consider how React features align with Next.js features:
Server-side rendering (SSR):
React itself doesn’t provide built-in server-side rendering capabilities. However, React components are rendered on both the client and server sides. React’s virtual DOM allows components to be rendered on the server-side using libraries like ReactDOMServer.
With React, you can render components on the server side, but you’ll need to set up server-side rendering manually or use libraries like Next.js that abstract away the complexities of SSR.
Static site generation (SSG):
React itself doesn’t offer native support for static site generation. However, you can use tools like Gatsby.js, which is built on top of React, to generate static sites from React components.
Next.js extends React to provide built-in support for static site generation, allowing developers to generate static HTML files at build time and serve them without the need for a server.
Automatic code splitting:
React itself doesn’t include automatic code splitting out of the box. However, you can achieve code splitting using tools like Webpack or dynamic import() statements.
Next.js integrates automatic code splitting seamlessly, breaking down your code into smaller bundles that are loaded as needed, thus reducing the initial load time of your application.
Routing:
React doesn’t come with built-in routing capabilities. Developers typically use third-party libraries like React Router to handle routing in React applications.
Next.js provides a file-based routing system, where each React component corresponds to a route. This simplifies routing configuration and management, making it easier to create and organize routes in your application.
API routes:
React itself doesn’t offer built-in support for creating API routes or serverless functions.
Next.js extends React by allowing developers to create API routes as serverless functions, enabling them to fetch data or perform server-side operations seamlessly within their Next.js application.
Built-in CSS and Sass support:
React doesn’t provide built-in support for styling applications using CSS or Sass. Developers typically use CSS modules, styled-components, or other styling solutions alongside React.
Next.js includes built-in support for styling applications using CSS or Sass, making it easy to integrate with popular styling solutions and providing a more cohesive development experience.
In summary, while React provides the foundation for building user interfaces, Next.js extends React’s capabilities by offering features such as server-side rendering, static site generation, automatic code splitting, routing, API routes, and built-in CSS and Sass support.
These features enhance React development, making it easier to build high-performance, SEO-friendly, and maintainable web applications.
Is Nextjs better than Reactjs?
Next.js extends React with additional features like server-side rendering, static site generation, file-based routing, API routes, and built-in CSS and Sass support. These features make it easier to build high-performance, SEO-friendly web applications.
However, Next.js and React.js are not directly comparable as one being “better” than the other. It all depends on your project and its goals.
Can you use Nextjs with React?
You can absolutely use Next.js with React. To use Next.js with React, you follow a similar process to creating a React application, but you’ll use Next.js-specific features for server-side rendering (SSR), static site generation (SSG), routing, and more.
Should you learn React or Nextjs first?
The decision of whether to learn React or Next.js first depends on your goals, background, and learning preferences. Learning React first allows you to understand its core concepts, such as components, state management, and JSX syntax. Plus, you will understand the abstractions and conventions used in frontend development, which can provide valuable context when learning Next.js later.
However, if you’re interested in server-side rendering, static site generation, or building production-ready applications, learning Next.js first may be a more direct path to achieving those goals.
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Frequently Asked Questions: Next.js vs React
1. What is the difference between Next.js and React? Next.js is a framework built on top of React that adds features like server-side rendering (SSR), static site generation (SSG), and API routes. React, on the other hand, is a JavaScript library focused solely on building user interfaces. While React provides the core tools for creating UI components, Next.js offers a complete framework for building full-stack web applications.
2. When should I use Next.js instead of React? Choose Next.js if you need features like server-side rendering, static site generation, or optimized performance for SEO. It’s ideal for building dynamic web applications, eCommerce sites, and content-heavy platforms. If you’re creating a simple, client-side web app or a single-page application (SPA), React alone might be sufficient.
3. Is Next.js better for SEO compared to React? Yes, Next.js is better for SEO because it supports server-side rendering (SSR) and static site generation (SSG), which allow search engines to crawl fully rendered HTML pages. React apps, without SSR, rely heavily on client-side rendering, which can be less SEO-friendly unless additional tools are implemented.
4. Can I use React components in Next.js? Absolutely! Next.js is built on top of React, so you can use all your React components seamlessly. In fact, Next.js enhances the React development experience by adding routing, SSR, and more without altering the core functionality of React components.
5. Does Next.js improve website performance compared to React? Yes, Next.js improves performance through features like automatic code splitting, optimized image handling, server-side rendering, and static site generation. These features help reduce load times and enhance user experience, especially for content-heavy or dynamic websites.
6. Which is easier to learn: Next.js or React? React is generally easier to learn for beginners because it focuses solely on building user interfaces. Next.js requires a basic understanding of React since it adds more advanced features like routing, SSR, and API handling. If you’re new to web development, start with React, then move on to Next.js for full-stack capabilities.
7. Can I convert an existing React app to Next.js? Yes, you can convert an existing React app to Next.js. The process involves restructuring your project to follow Next.js conventions, setting up file-based routing, and configuring server-side rendering if needed. Since Next.js is compatible with React, most of your existing components can be reused with minimal changes.
8. Is Next.js full-stack while React is frontend-only? Yes, Next.js is considered a full-stack framework because it includes features for both the frontend (UI components via React) and backend (API routes, server-side rendering). React is a frontend library designed specifically for building user interfaces, without backend capabilities.
9. How does routing work in Next.js vs React? In React, routing is managed using libraries like React Router, where you define routes manually. Next.js simplifies routing with a file-based system—each file in the pages directory automatically becomes a route, eliminating the need for manual route configuration.
10. Which is better for large-scale applications: Next.js or React? Next.js is often better for large-scale applications because it provides built-in features like server-side rendering, API routes, and static site generation, reducing the need for third-party libraries. React is flexible but requires additional tools for routing, SSR, and state management in complex projects.
11. Does Next.js have better security features than React? Next.js offers built-in security features like automatic content security policy (CSP) support, server-side rendering that reduces exposure to XSS attacks, and API route handling with secure defaults. React provides UI rendering capabilities, but security largely depends on how the app is implemented.
12. What companies use Next.js and React? Major companies like Netflix, Uber, and GitHub use React for building dynamic user interfaces. Next.js is used by companies like TikTok, Hulu, and Twitch, especially for SEO-optimized and performance-driven applications that require server-side rendering.
13. Can I build static websites with React or do I need Next.js? While you can build static websites with React using tools like Create React App, Next.js is designed for static site generation (SSG) out of the box. Next.js offers better performance, SEO, and faster load times for static sites, making it the preferred choice.
14. How does server-side rendering (SSR) in Next.js compare to client-side rendering in React? Next.js supports server-side rendering (SSR), where pages are pre-rendered on the server and delivered to the browser as fully rendered HTML. This improves performance and SEO. React typically uses client-side rendering (CSR), where content is rendered in the browser after JavaScript loads, which can be slower for initial page loads.
15. Is Next.js faster than React? Next.js can be faster than React for certain use cases because it includes features like server-side rendering, static site generation, and automatic code splitting. These features optimize performance, reduce initial load times, and improve SEO. React’s performance depends on how the app is structured and optimized.
Prototyping tool is a product that helps designers create a replica of the final product, used for user testing, presenting to stakeholders, and handing off to developers. Most design tools offer a prototyping as an additional feature, but you will get to an advanced prototyping with dedicated tools.
UXPin is one of the companies leading the code-based design revolution. Sign up for a 14-day free trial to explore UXPin’s advanced prototyping features for your next digital product or web design project.
Build advanced prototypes
Design better products with States, Variables, Auto Layout and more.
UXPin
UXPin is a code-based prototyping tool which means that your design can be fully interactive. Unlike many leading design solutions, UXPin doesn’t need plugins – everything you need for prototyping and testing is built-in!
UXPin gives you the option to download the software on your desktop (Mac & Windows) or use it in the browser. The benefit of downloading UXPin is that you can continue working even when you’re offline.
You can test prototypes in the browser or use UXPin’s Mirror app to run prototypes on mobile devices (including iOS and Android). UXPin’s documentation is excellent, covering every aspect of the tool with step-by-step instructions and video tutorials.
UXPin also has another advantage over the rest of prototyping tools – UXPin Merge for building fully-functioning prototypes with React components.
With Merge, you have the option to sync React components via Git repo, npm or use the Storybook integration for Vue, Angular, Web Components, Ember, and more. It helps design a layout and launch a product 10x faster.
Figma
Figma is one of the most widely used design tools. They have a big, engaged community with lots of YouTube content and detailed documentation.
Figma has built-in prototyping functionality with a mobile app to test prototypes on multiple devices. You can work in the browser or download Figma to work offline on your desktop.
While Figma is excellent for early stage concepts, advanced prototyping is still not perfect, and it’s unlikely that designer can create a prototype that’s ready for user testing.
In 2023 Figma added a lot of features that simplify interactive prototyping, yet Figma’s inputs are still limited, and UX researchers can’t test any actions that require users to enter information. The tool makes it difficult to create dynamic user flows that adapt to user interaction.
Adobe XD is another popular user experience design tool. However, it got discontinued in 2023.
One interesting Adobe UX prototyping feature was Auto-Animate which saved time for specific interactions. With Auto-Animate, you could create the first and last frame of an animation sequence and Adobe XD filled in the rest. The feature didn’t work for all animations, but it saved a significant amount of time when creating something like a parallax effect.
Invision
Invision was a strong prototyping component for many years, yet it decided to shut down. It was an amazing prototyping tool, yet compared to other tools on the market, it wasn’t not strong enough for creating interactive UI designs in 2024.
Invision had a great Design System Management feature, which is handy for managing your design system and providing developers with CSS and starter code at handoffs. DSM integrated with Storybook so that designers and developers could create one sharable design systems that would fit into both worlds. Unfortunately, teams using Invision couldn’t use Storybook components to build prototypes like you can with UXPin Merge.
Framer is one of the top prototyping tools in 2024 for creating web layouts. It has an AI feature for rapid prototyping. Users type in what kind of a website they want and Framer gives them a design to customize. It embraced AI very quickly.
Other notable features include Layout and Insert Menu, which allow you to design and iterate concepts fast. Although impressive, UXPin offers similar features with Auto-Layout and built-in design libraries.
Framer’s Smart Components feature offers similar functionality to UXPin’s States, but not as comprehensive. Using Variants and Variables, you can give elements a hover or pressed state, like toggling a switch or activating a checkbox.
While Smart Components is a step up from other vector-based design tools, it still doesn’t give you as much fidelity as you get from UXPin’s States, Interactions, Expressions, and Variables features.
More Design Tool Comparisons
Check out more popular prototyping tools and how they stack up against UXPin:
If you’re looking for a design tool, there are plenty (including the five listed above) that designers can use to create beautiful low-fidelity wireframes and mockups.
But designing a user experience requires testing, which means you need high-fidelity prototypes, not mockups! UX designers design products for coded products but conduct user testing on image-based prototypes. It’s impossible to get accurate and meaningful results. Invariably there will be usability issues that make their way into the final product.
With code-based tools like UXPin, designers can build functioning high-fidelity prototypes. Usability participants don’t have to “imagine” that a button or input works; they can use it as they would with a final coded product.
Join the user experience design revolution. Sign up for a 14-day free trial and discover better prototyping and testing with UXPin.
User interface design plays a crucial role in shaping how users interact with digital products. A well-designed UI not only enhances usability but also creates a seamless experience that keeps users engaged. Whether you’re working on a SaaS platform, an eCommerce site, or a mobile app, understanding the best UI practices can elevate your design process.
In this article, we’ll explore UI examples from top brands like Slack, Airbnb, and Spotify. These examples will highlight key design elements, interactive features, and responsive layouts to inspire your next project.
With UXPin Merge, you can design using real, code-based components to ensure that your UI matches development from the start, creating a consistent, production-ready user experience across your projects. Request access to UXPin Merge.
Reach a new level of prototyping
Design with interactive components coming from your team’s design system.
In this section, we’ll explore UI examples from key industries like SaaS platforms, eCommerce, and marketplaces. By analyzing successful interfaces from each, we can uncover design principles that can be applied across projects, helping designers create more intuitive, engaging experiences tailored to each industry’s unique demands.
SaaS UI Examples
Slack: Excellent Navigation and Intuitive Messaging System
Slack is a great example of UI design in the SaaS industry, particularly for its clear navigation and intuitive messaging interface. The platform excels at organizing a large amount of content into manageable, easy-to-access sections. Its left-hand navigation provides quick access to channels, direct messages, and threads, allowing users to efficiently manage their communications.
Icons in Slack are clear and minimalistic, reducing cognitive load while enhancing navigation. The use of subtle animations and microinteractions, such as hover states and status indicators, improve usability without overwhelming the user. Slack’s messaging system integrates clean, responsive layouts that adapt smoothly across devices, offering a consistent experience.
Slack’s emphasis on simplicity, functionality, and visual clarity makes it a strong UI example for SaaS platforms, especially when dealing with complex communication systems.
Notion: A Flexible Workspace with Customizable UI Components
Notion stands out in the SaaS industry for its flexible, modular workspace design that adapts to different user needs. Its clean and minimalistic UI ensures a clutter-free experience while allowing users to organize information in various ways. With drag-and-drop functionality, users can easily customize pages by adding blocks for text, images, databases, and more.
The UI is designed to be highly adaptable, offering a customizable structure that makes it easy for users to create dashboards, wikis, or task managers based on their preferences. This flexibility makes Notion a versatile tool for individuals and teams, offering a streamlined interface without sacrificing functionality.
Dropbox: Easy-to-Use File Management with Minimalistic UI
Dropbox exemplifies simplicity in its file management system, offering a clean, minimalistic UI that prioritizes ease of use. The interface is intuitively designed, allowing users to quickly navigate through folders, upload files, and manage documents with minimal distractions. The straightforward navigation, combined with recognizable icons and well-structured menus, creates a frictionless experience for users managing files across devices.
Amazon: Well-Organized Product Pages and Seamless Checkout Flow
Amazon’s UI exemplifies efficiency and clarity in the eCommerce world. Its product pages are highly structured, with key information—like pricing, reviews, and delivery options—presented upfront, making decision-making easy for users. The use of clear calls to action, such as “Add to Cart” and “Buy Now,” simplifies the purchasing process.
Apple: A Visually Stunning Product Showcase with Responsive, Interactive Elements
Apple’s UI is a masterclass in visual storytelling, offering users an immersive product showcase. Each product page features high-quality images and videos that respond to user interactions, allowing users to explore every detail of the product. With its signature clean, minimalist design, Apple’s interface focuses on elevating the product by keeping distractions to a minimum.
Additionally, the UI is fully responsive, ensuring a seamless experience across devices. Interactive elements like smooth scrolling and animations further engage users, creating an intuitive and visually striking journey from product discovery to purchase.
Marketplace UI Examples
Airbnb: User-Friendly Navigation and Intuitive Search Filters
Airbnb offers one of the most intuitive UIs in the marketplace industry, making it easy for users to browse and book accommodations. The clean navigation allows users to search and filter results with minimal effort, thanks to visually prominent filters and well-organized layouts.
Each listing is presented with high-quality images, clear pricing, and reviews, helping users make informed decisions. The UI remains responsive and easy to navigate, whether users are browsing on desktop or mobile, enhancing the overall booking experience.
Booking.com: Data-Driven Design for Optimized User Choices
Booking.com’s UI stands out because of its data-driven design approach. Unlike many other marketplaces, Booking.com prioritizes visual clarity, but the UI is heavily optimized to influence user behavior. The use of urgency cues, such as “Only 2 rooms left” or “Booked 5 times today,” creates a sense of immediacy, driving users to make decisions quickly.
The interface is clean and functional but focuses on leveraging data to increase conversions, from its prominent filters to its organized listing layouts, designed to help users compare options efficiently.
UI Examples by Platform
Different platforms present unique challenges and opportunities for UI design. Whether you’re designing for the web, mobile, or creating cross-platform experiences, it’s essential to adapt to the specific needs of each medium.
In this section, we’ll explore web-based UI examples from websites that prioritize innovation and usability, highlight mobile UIs that excel in user engagement, and showcase cross-platform UIs that maintain consistency across web and mobile interfaces, providing a seamless experience for users on any device.
Mobile UI Examples
Google Maps: Intuitive Interaction and Real-Time Feedback
Google Maps is a prime example of a mobile UI that excels in user engagement and ease of use. The app’s clean and minimalistic interface ensures users can focus on navigating and finding locations without unnecessary distractions. Its responsive map UI allows for smooth zooming and panning, and real-time updates enhance usability.
Google Maps integrates intuitive gestures for mobile, such as pinch-to-zoom and swipe actions, while offering detailed information layers (e.g., traffic, terrain). Its combination of real-time data and smooth interactions ensures a highly engaging, user-friendly experience across devices.
Duolingo: Clean and Engaging UI for Gamified Learning
Duolingo’s mobile UI is designed to provide a fun and visually appealing learning experience. The interface leverages a clean layout with simple, colorful icons and minimal text, ensuring that users can navigate through lessons easily. The progress indicators are clear and visually engaging, with bars and icons that motivate users to keep advancing.
The use of whitespace and clear sections ensures that users aren’t overwhelmed by too much information at once, creating a structured and easy-to-follow experience.
Desktop UI Examples
BBC: An Accessibility-First UI Approach
BBC’s desktop UI exemplifies an accessibility-first approach, ensuring a wide range of users can easily navigate and interact with the website. The UI includes a high-contrast mode for users with visual impairments, enhancing readability and reducing strain.
Additionally, the interface supports full keyboard navigation, making it accessible to users who cannot use a mouse, and is screen reader compatible, ensuring visually impaired users can navigate content effectively.
Asana: Clear Hierarchical Layout for Efficient Task Management
Asana’s desktop UI is designed for efficiency and clarity, offering a clean, hierarchical layout that allows users to easily navigate between projects, tasks, and subtasks. The interface uses clear, visually distinct sections to help users prioritize their tasks and stay organized.
The minimalist design avoids clutter, while icons and color coding are strategically used to highlight important actions and deadlines.
Cross-Platform UI Examples
Gmail: Consistent and Intuitive UI Across Platforms
Gmail provides a consistent user interface across web, mobile, and desktop platforms, offering users a seamless experience when managing emails. The design maintains familiar navigation with its sidebar, action buttons, and labels, ensuring users can switch between devices without any disruption.
The responsive layout adapts efficiently to various screen sizes, ensuring email management remains intuitive on both mobile and desktop devices. Gmail’s clear use of icons, colors, and spacing keeps the interface simple yet powerful for both personal and professional use.
Trello: Unified UI for Task Management
Trello’s UI is designed for simplicity and consistency across web, desktop, and mobile platforms. The drag-and-drop interface allows users to easily organize tasks, cards, and boards with intuitive controls, making task management effortless. Trello’s UI uses a clean, visual structure, with boards and lists that are flexible and easy to customize.
Whether on a desktop or mobile device, Trello ensures a seamless user experience, maintaining the same functionality, layout, and interaction model, enabling users to work fluidly across multiple devices.
UI Design Best Practices from the UI Examples Above
Use clear, intuitive navigation UI to enhance usability.
Offer flexible, customizable UI components for personalized experiences.
Prioritize minimalism and easy navigation across platforms.
Structure product pages for fast decision-making with clear CTAs.
Utilize responsive, interactive elements to create engaging visual experiences.
Implement intuitive filtering systems for better user journeys.
Use urgency cues to influence user decisions.
Integrate real-time feedback for interactive elements.
Keep layouts clean and progress indicators prominent.
Ensure accessibility with features like high-contrast modes and keyboard navigation.
Organize content with clear hierarchies and visual cues.
Maintain consistent design across platforms for seamless user experience.
Tools for UI Design
Creating impactful UIs requires the right tools that support design, prototyping, and development workflows. Here are some essential UI design tools:
UXPin: A powerful tool for designing with real, code-based components, ensuring seamless collaboration between designers and developers.
Figma: A collaborative design platform for real-time interface design, wireframing, and prototyping, perfect for team collaboration.
Sketch: A popular vector-based design tool used for UI design, offering a wide array of plugins for enhanced functionality.
Framer: A prototyping tool that blends design and code to create highly interactive UIs and animations.
These tools enhance efficiency and collaboration, helping teams create polished, user-friendly interfaces.
Summary
Effective UI design is crucial for usability and engagement across digital products. Whether for SaaS platforms, eCommerce, or marketplaces, understanding industry-specific UI principles can elevate your design process.
This article explores UI examples from top brands like Slack, Notion, Airbnb, and Trello, highlighting how clear navigation, customization, and responsiveness improve user experience across web, mobile, and desktop platforms. With UXPin Merge, designers can create consistent, production-ready UIs using real, code-based components. Request access to UXPin Merge.
User Experience design is all about ensuring that the relationship between the user and the digital product is positive. Thankfully, with the many modern tools out there, teams of designers can easily collaborate on a design in real-time as well as test its usability and make iterations to designs.
Research is one thing, but you will be able to pick the best UX design tool only after you try it. Design prototypes that feel real in UXPin. Try UXPin for free.
Build advanced prototypes
Design better products with States, Variables, Auto Layout and more.
UXPin
UXPin gives you all the features you need to design high-fidelity prototypes that actually feel like you’re using the finished digital product. UXPin comes with hundreds of user interface elements that make it easy to design fast and stay consistent across the team.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_s4OZO8FiQ
UXPin Merge
UXPin has a one-of-a-kind Merge technology for building layouts faster than in any other tool. Your team can design with drag-and-drop components that come from an open-source component library, such as MUI, Fluent UI, or any other coded design system.
Once your design is done, you can extract the code behind each component and use it to develop the app. You don’t need a design to code translation anymore – your design is already ready for development. You have all the specs inside the tool. Watch a quick review below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fhhfRCdLUU
What’s more, UXPin makes it easy to perform usability testing. Simply, share your design with others and watch how they can interact with a design. That’s all without wasting your time on developing the design.
Figma
Figma focuses on interface design and brainstorming. Similar to Google Docs, you can see who is presently working on the project and what they are inputting, which allows for a convenient real-time collaboration on a project. You can build mockups and partially functional prototypes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4NyQ5iOMF0
To make Figma designs work like an end-product, you may integrate it with a prototyping tool. UXPin has their own extension of copying and pasting Figma designs to UXPin, to make it interactive. Read the full tutorial of how to do that: From Figma to UXPin – Full Tutorial.
InVision
Once a revolutionary tool and a great hub for designers, InVision used to offer a comprehensive set of UX design features. The platform’s intuitive interface made it easy to design and iterate on user interfaces, saving valuable time and resources.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2Ra-46H0Rk
Designers used InVision to gather feedback from team members and stakeholders, fostering a more iterative and collaborative design process. InVision offered a user-centric approach to prototyping and UX design, empowering designers to deliver high-quality, interactive designs that align with user needs and business goals.
Sketch is another UX design tool that supports shared libraries and layouts and allows you to share and export designs with others. It also has many editing tools such as vector and plugin tools. If you are working on a detailed design, then you can zoom in and edit at a more precise level. Another convenient feature is the ability to resize parts of your design on command.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJLnvEdnzhU
Sketch is good for creating unique icons and designs that you can then save in your library. This allows for an easy share feature across projects where, for example, an icon can be used on multiple separate designs with relative ease.
On top of that, you can store your designs on the cloud which allows your team or organization to have easy access to designs and a more fluid design process. Another important feature allows contributors to comment, edit, and make changes to a project that are then automatically synced to the cloud.
Marvel
Marvel is another cloud-based platform that will automatically sync web designs to the cloud. Plus, it offers mobile support for quick changes on the go. There is also a library of templates, images, and screen components like buttons that can easily be accessed and implemented into your project.
Marvel is built more for beginner use and has a drag-and-drop system that allows users to develop a design without the need for self-imputed coding. It is also a collaborative design platform that allows other team members to provide feedback and input their own designs.
There are templates specifically designed for various devices such as tablets, smartphones, and desktop computers. Mockups can be tested as if they were the real thing which allows for the designer to quickly find any faults and update the design as needed.
You can also download the Marvel app onto your iOS or Android device. This allows for ideas to be tested on smartphone devices and easy sharing options.
Pick the best UX design tool
As you’ve seen from the examples above, some of the most popular design platforms allow you to focus on one element of the design process. While some, like Marvel, are great for casual designs, others are catered to working on more complex digital products and mobile apps.
Unfortunately, using several solutions means a larger design toolkit that can slow you down. Your designers will need to integrate or jump between a number of apps in their daily work.
Luckily, you can also turn to advanced tools that allow you to work on a design from idea to completion. Or, like UXPin, they’ll even allow developers to copy HTML and CSS code from design to their workflow.
When compared to other solutions, UXPin is one of the most comprehensive UX design tools in the industry. This makes it a particularly attractive alternative to software like Axure, Proto.io or Figma which were traditionally used for specific phases of the design process.
With UXPin you can design fully interactive prototypes that make it clear what the final user experience should be like. See how UXPin helps you design more realistic prototypes. Sign up for UXPin trial.
UI design tools are apps used by designers to create, prototype, and refine user interface design for digital products such as websites, mobile apps, and web apps. These tools facilitate various aspects of the design process, from wireframing and prototyping to creating high-fidelity mockups and interactive designs.
These tools are essential for UI designers as they provide the capabilities needed to create user-friendly and visually appealing interfaces. The choice of tool often depends on the specific needs of the project, team preferences, and workflow integration. Let’s go over the most popular UI design tools.
Build interactive prototypes and streamline your design handoff with UXPin, an end-to-end UI design tool. Use drag-and-drop building blocks that come from your design system and streamline design operations. Try UXPin for free.
Build advanced prototypes
Design better products with States, Variables, Auto Layout and more.
UXPin
UXPin is a comprehensive design tool known for its robust real-time collaboration capabilities, allowing multiple users to work simultaneously on the same project.
It excels in supporting design systems, enabling designers to create and manage reusable components and styles efficiently. UXPin’s advanced interactivity features allow for the creation of high-fidelity prototypes using conditional logic and variables.
Despite its powerful capabilities, UXPin has a steeper learning curve, though it provides extensive resources and templates to help users get started.
The tool also facilitates the design handoff process with detailed specifications with HTML and CSS code to copy, and includes functionalities for collecting user feedback through usability testing as well as integrations (like the one with testing tool – Fullstory.)
The tool has a Mac app, Windows app, but it also works in the cloud.
UXPin Merge
If you need a single source of truth, UXPin has also another solution — UXPin Merge.
UXPin Merge is a powerful extension of UXPin that allows designers and developers to work with the same components, ensuring consistency and accuracy throughout the design process. This feature is particularly beneficial for collaboration and responsive design.
UXPin Merge excels in supporting design systems by allowing teams to sync components directly from a Git repository, such as those using React. This ensures that the design components used in UXPin are the exact same ones used in the final product, maintaining consistency and reducing the risk of discrepancies.
Figma
Figma is a web-based product design tool, highly regarded for its exceptional collaboration features, allowing real-time multi-user editing and commenting.
It offers strong design system support with shared libraries, UI kits and design tokens that can be easily updated across projects.
While Figma’s interactivity features are sufficient for most UI/UX design needs, they are not as advanced as some other tools. The tool is intuitive and easy for beginners, offering a user-friendly interface and a variety of templates for layouts, user journeys, and more.
Figma supports design handoff through detailed specs and code snippets accessible to developers, and facilitates user feedback collection directly on designs. Although it has limited native support for real data, you can easily find various plugins for this.
Figma also offers a digital whiteboard tool called FigJam that’s perfect for brainstorming, uniting team members and stakeholders with a mutual vision of their design before project kickoff.
Axure
Axure is a powerful prototyping tool known for its advanced prototyping capabilities, supporting detailed interactions and conditional logic. It allows for collaborative work, though it may not be as seamless as tools like Figma.
Axure supports design systems with reusable widgets and styles, but its primary strength lies in its detailed prototyping features. The tool includes features for data-driven prototypes, using variables and datasets, and provides comprehensive design handoff documentation.
Axure has a steeper learning curve but offers robust capabilities for creating complex and interactive prototypes. It also supports user feedback collection through shared prototypes and annotations, making it a versatile UI/UX tool for highly interactive design work.
Sketch
Sketch is a favorite UI design software among Mac users, offering a powerful set of vector editing tools tailored for UI/UX design. It supports real-time collaboration through Sketch for Teams, although it is limited to macOS users.
Sketch excels in design systems, providing reusable UI kits and shared libraries that can be easily updated. Its prototyping capabilities are basic but can be enhanced with plugins. Sketch integrates well with tools like Zeplin for detailed design handoff processes.
The tool is user-friendly and offers many templates and resources, making it easy to start designing quickly. Sketch supports adding real data through various plugins and facilitates user feedback collection using third-party tools.
Sketch is one of the most cost-effective choice, with prices starting from $10 per month.
UIzard
UIzard is distinguished by its AI-driven design capabilities which streamlines the design process for low-fidelity and high-fidelity designs.
It provides collaborative features but might lack the depth found in more established tools like Figma. UIzard focuses on AI-driven design systems, which can be useful for quick prototyping but may not offer the same level of customization as the leaders on the market of UI design.
Its reusability features are primarily driven by AI, which can streamline the design process but may require further refinement for more complex UI/UX design projects.
UIzard offers basic feedback features and integrates AI to create interactive elements, although it may not provide the same level of manual control as other tools mentioned here.
Marvel
Marvel is known for its simplicity and ease of use, making it an ideal choice for quick design iterations. It offers real-time collaboration and commenting, allowing teams to work together seamlessly.
Marvel supports basic design systems with reusable components and style guides, making it suitable for straightforward projects. The tool provides interactive prototyping features that are good for simple interactions but may lack the depth required for more complex designs.
Marvel facilitates design handoff with specifications and integrates with development tools. It supports basic integration of real data and includes user testing and feedback collection capabilities, making it a well-rounded tool for rapid design and prototyping.
Justinmind
Justinmind is a versatile prototyping tool that supports advanced interactivity with conditions and events. It allows for collaborative work with version control and commenting, making it suitable for app or web design projects. Justinmind offers design system capabilities with reusable UI elements and templates, enhancing the efficiency of the design process.
The tool provides detailed specifications for design handoff and integrates with tools like JIRA. Justinmind supports real data integration for dynamic interactions, allowing for more realistic user experience design.
It also facilitates user feedback collection through shared prototypes and annotations, making it a comprehensive tool for detailed and interactive design work.
About InVision and AdobeXD
While both InVision and Adobe XD have been popular tools in the UI/UX design community, they faced significant competition from other tools that offer more advanced features and better integration with modern design workflows.
InVision has been a significant player in the design collaboration space, offering tools that were integral to many design workflows. However, as of 2024, InVision has announced the discontinuation of its design collaboration services, including prototyping and its Design System Manager (DSM), effective by the end of the year.
This decision marks a significant shift in the industry, as InVision was once a frontrunner in providing tools that bridged the gap between designers and developers. The shutdown is attributed to increased competition from other tools like Figma, which have surpassed InVision in terms of functionality and user adoption. As a result, InVision’s focus will shift away from these services, leading to its exclusion from the list of recommended tools for 2024.
Adobe XD, another major tool in the UI/UX design field, is also being discontinued in 2024. Adobe has decided to phase out Adobe XD in favor of focusing on other products within their Creative Cloud suite.
Despite its strong integration with other Adobe products and a comprehensive set of features, Adobe XD has struggled to keep pace with the innovative features and real-time collaboration capabilities offered by its competitors. Consequently, Adobe XD will no longer be available, prompting designers to migrate to other tools that continue to receive support and development.
Which UI design tool will you try?
Among the tools reviewed, Marvel and Sketch are the cheapest options for 2024, with Marvel being particularly accessible due to its free pricing tier. Sketch remains a strong contender for macOS users looking for an affordable, professional-grade tool. Adobe XD and InVision offer competitive pricing but face discontinuation, which may impact their adoption moving forward.
For enterprise teams, UXPin and Figma are the strongest contenders due to their robust collaboration, design system support, and ease of integration with real data and feedback mechanisms. Axure excels in advanced interactivity and detailed prototyping but may have a steeper learning curve and less seamless collaboration compared to the other two UI design tools.
Build UI design that not only look well, but they’re fully coded. Try UXPin, an end-to-end design tool that’s code-backed for easier designer-developer collaboration. Try UXPin for free.
React is a JavaScript library developed by Facebook, designed to create interactive user interfaces for web apps. In this article, we’re unpacking the magic of React, emphasizing its impact on user interface design, user experience (UX), and team collaboration.
Key takeaways:
React uses a declarative syntax, which means developers describe what they want the UI to look like, and React takes care of updating the DOM to match that description.
React has a large and active community, which means there are plenty of resources, libraries, and tools available to help developers build applications more efficiently. This includes libraries like Redux for state management, React Router for routing, and many more.
React is a great code-based design system foundation, because it follows a component-based architecture, where UIs are broken down into reusable components. This makes it easier to manage complex UIs and promotes code reusability.
Build prototypes of React apps fast. Use UXPin Merge and import React components to UXPin’s design editor. Drag and drop real components on the canvas and build a production-ready app design without design skills. Discover UXPin Merge.
Design UI with code-backed components.
Use the same components in design as in development. Keep UI consistency at scale.
What is React used for?
React is a JavaScript framework and library created by Facebook.
One of the standout qualities of React js website development is that it allows you to build these intricate components faster and with less code compared to using plain JavaScript.
This efficiency makes React a go-to tool for developers. It also means you’ll be able to see your ideas come to life on a website or React app more quickly and smoothly.
But there’s more to React than simply making teamwork a little easier. A design tool, UXPin, syncs React elements with their design editor, allowing prototypes to be more interactive and closer to a final product. Check out its Merge technology.
Here’s more on how React’s key features can help bring your design concepts to life.
Building rich user interfaces
The importance of your product’s user interface (UI) goes way beyond aesthetics.
In the digital world, first impressions are everything; a clunky or uninspiring design can quickly turn users away, no matter how functional your product is. On the flip side, a captivating and intuitive UI encourages prolonged interaction and can make your app a hit with users.
React is a tool that helps to consistently create engaging interfaces. Its declarative components are like the building blocks of design, allowing you to piece together intuitive and visually stunning UIs. Every interaction, button, and visual element can be finely crafted and customized, ensuring that users enjoy the experience of using your app.
Components and libraries
In React, components are ready-made, customizable elements. Imagine creating a button with a specific look and behavior. Once crafted, you can place this button anywhere in your app without needing to recreate it from scratch. Each component operates as a self-contained unit, with its distinct appearance and functionality.
When building larger sections of a React app, these individual components come together, forming more extensive and interconnected structures. But each component retains its independence, ensuring the overall system remains organized and consistent.
These components aren’t just static visuals or mock-ups. With the right tools, you can integrate and prototype using these actual coded components. This means that what you design is not only a visual representation but also closely mirrors the final interactive product.
Take, for instance, UXPin Merge. It allows you to design using real components from different component libraries such as MUI, a library based on Google’s Material Design principles.
This means you’re not just sketching out ideas; you’re working with the same building blocks that developers will use. Instead of passing a static image or design idea to a developer, you’re providing a functional piece that’s closer to the end-product.
It’s flexible
Another answer to the question. ‘why use React?’ is that it’s incredibly flexible. It can be used with a number of different tools and can create anything from static websites and desktop applications to iOS or Android mobile apps.
This flexibility partly stems from the fact that React has been around for a while, and over time its active community has developed a plethora of tools, libraries, and extensions to enhance its capabilities.
The key thing to note is that React is capable of adapting to a variety of project requirements. It can easily integrate with a number of different technologies, making it quicker and easier to test and refine user interfaces.
Instant updates without reloading the page
Many websites or apps require the entire page to reload to reflect changes or new inputs. However, with React js website development, only the specific element changed needs an update.
Think of Facebook: when you ‘like’ a post or comment, your actions instantly appear, without a full page refresh. This creates a much smoother and faster user experience, allowing for real-time updates and a more responsive interaction.
It’s used in both UX and UI
React components make life easier. On the UI side of things, it ensures visual consistency with reusable and interactive design elements. When it comes to UX, it fosters a seamless user experience with instant feedback and reduced load times.
What’s more, tools built around React bridge the gap between designers and developers, allowing for rapid prototyping, iterative improvements, and real-time collaboration. This ultimately leads to more polished and user-centric products.
Community size
No tech platform can match the size and activity of React’s vast active networks of developers, designers, and enthusiasts who collaborate, share resources, and provide support.
It’s also worth noting that the React framework runs on Javascript, which has more than 2.5 million questions and is by far and away the hottest topic in the dev community.
What this boils down to is, if you’ve got a question about React, the chances are someone, somewhere has already provided an answer.
Used by well-known tech companies
Because of its efficiency, scalability, and knack for helping facilitate dynamic user experiences, React has been adopted by a number of Fortune 500 companies, including Facebook — who developed and maintains its library — as well as Airbnb, Amazon, Dropbox, and Netflix.
Paypal also uses React in its product development, covering both design and software aspects.
They’ve developed a design system called React Fluent UI, filled with ready-made components that simplifies design choices, allowing teams to concentrate on addressing user needs.
As a result, they can create one-page prototypes eight times quicker than before using traditional tools.
React is well-suited for UI design, and it’s widely used for building user interfaces for web applications. It all boils down to its component-based architecture. When using React in design, you can divide your UI elements into the smallest building blocks and combine them to create complex layouts – just as in atomic design methodology by Adam Frost.
Both React and atomic design advocate for a component-based approach. React’s component-based architecture aligns perfectly with the principles of atomic design, which encourages breaking down UIs into smaller, reusable components. This makes it easier to manage complexity, promote reusability, and maintain consistency across the UI.
Atomic design emphasizes creating UI components at different levels of abstraction, ranging from atoms (e.g., buttons, inputs) to molecules (e.g., form fields, card components) to organisms (e.g., navigation bars, product listings) and beyond. React’s component model naturally facilitates this modular approach, allowing developers to create encapsulated UI components that can be easily reused and composed to build more complex structures.
Use React components in prototyping
React is a powerful tool, as it helps turn prototypes into dynamic, interactive previews of the final product. Here’s more:
We talk about ‘state’ in React in relation to a component’s memory. It remembers things. So, when building a prototype of a React app, React can remember and show changes based on user actions.
For example, when you design an on-off switch, React can remember whether the switch is currently ‘on’ or ‘off’. This means you can demonstrate what happens when someone flips the switch without needing to create two separate designs for each position.
It handles data
React is based on Javascript, which has the ability to manage, swap, and dynamically render data. This means designers can easily mimic real-world scenarios, which is particularly useful when creating interactive prototypes.
UXPin Merge is technology that makes React prototyping even easier, allowing you to use React components from your Git repo, Storybook or bring them via npm. Then, you can drag and drop UI components to build slick user interfaces. Learn more about it. Discover UXPin Merge.
There is no denying the immense popularity and practicality of React. For a long time, most web design was built with CSS, HTML, and JavaScript. React brought a much-needed sigh of relief for developers with its ease of use. The reusable components, great developer tools, and extensive ecosystem are some of the most loved features of React.
Instead of the traditional approach of directly manipulating the DOM, React introduced a useful level of abstraction in the form of the virtual DOM concept.
The library is being actively developed and maintained by React developers at the tech giant Facebook. This provides it with a much-needed edge over other frameworks and libraries. Countless contributors in the JavaScript community also regularly contribute to refining and improving React.
All these factors allow React to maintain its popularity among developers even though newer frameworks are constantly emerging and competing for recognition amongst frontend developers.
Design patterns not only speed up the development process but also make the code easier to read and As React continues to dominate the front-end development landscape, building scalable, maintainable, and reusable components is essential for any modern application.
We’ll explore 11 essential React design patterns that every developer should know, complete with practical examples and real-world use cases. Whether you’re working on a small project or a complex application, understanding these patterns will help you build more robust and efficient React apps.
Build prototypes with UI components from a Git repository, Storybook or through an npm. Bring the components to our design editor and create stunning layouts without designers. Request access to UXPin Merge.
Design UI with code-backed components.
Use the same components in design as in development. Keep UI consistency at scale.
What are React Design Patterns?
React design patterns are repeatable solutions to commonly occurring problems in software development of React application. They serve as a basic template upon which you can build up the program’s functionality according to the given requirements.
As a React developer, you will use design patterns for at least two reasons:
React design patterns offer a common platform for developers
React design patterns ensure best practices
Let’s explore what it means in detail.
Role #1: They offer a common platform to developers
Design patterns provide standard terminology and solutions to known problems. Let us take the example of the Singleton pattern that we mentioned above.
This pattern postulates the use of a single object. Developers implementing this pattern can easily communicate to other developers that a particular program follows the singleton pattern and they will understand what this means.
Role #2: They ensure best practices
Design patterns have been created as a result of extensive research and testing. They not only allow developers to become easily accustomed to the development environment but also ensure that the best practices are being followed.
This results in fewer errors and saves time during debugging and figuring out problems that could have been easily avoided if an appropriate design pattern had been implemented.
Like every other good programming library, React makes extensive use of design patterns to provide developers a powerful tool. By properly following the React philosophy, developers can produce some extraordinary applications.
Now that you have an understanding of design patterns. Let us move on to some of the most widely used design patterns available in React.js.
Why Do You Need React Design Patterns?
Efficiency: Patterns allow you to create reusable components, reducing duplication and improving development speed.
Maintainability: Structured patterns make code easier to understand and maintain, especially in large applications.
Scalability: Well-structured components make it easier to scale your application as it grows in complexity.
1. Container and Presentational Pattern
The Container and Presentational pattern is one of the most popular in React applications. It separates the logic (state management) from the presentation (UI rendering), making components more reusable and easier to maintain.
Use Case: The container manages data-fetching logic, while the presentational component only focuses on displaying the UI. This separation enhances maintainability and simplifies testing.
2. Compound Components
Compound components are a flexible pattern where multiple components work together as a single unit, allowing users to customize how child components are rendered within a parent component.
Use Case: This pattern is ideal for building complex UI components like dropdowns, modals, or tabs, where the parent controls the logic and the children define their content.
3. Higher-Order Components (HOCs)
A Higher-Order Component (HOC) is an advanced pattern for reusing component logic. It takes a component as input and returns a new component with additional functionality.
Use Case: HOCs are commonly used for adding logic such as authentication, data fetching, or tracking user activity across multiple components without duplicating code.
4. Render Props
The Render Props pattern involves passing a function (or render prop) as a child to a component, allowing for dynamic rendering based on the internal state of the parent component.
Use Case: Render props allow you to share logic and state between components in a flexible way, making them highly reusable and adaptable to different scenarios.
5. Hooks Pattern
React Hooks offer a modern way to manage state and side effects in functional components, replacing the need for class components.
Use Case: Custom Hooks allow you to reuse complex logic (such as fetching data) across multiple components while keeping the code clean and DRY.
7. Context API
The Context API is useful for passing data through the component tree without having to manually pass props at every level, solving the problem of “prop drilling.”
Use Case: Controlled components are ideal for form inputs where you need full control over the input’s value, while uncontrolled components are useful for simple use cases or when you need direct DOM access.
9. Portals
Portals allow you to render components outside the main DOM hierarchy, which is useful for creating modals, tooltips, or dropdowns.
Use Case: Lazy loading is ideal for optimizing performance by loading components only when they’re needed, improving initial load times.
11. Error Boundaries
Error Boundaries catch JavaScript errors anywhere in the component tree, preventing the entire app from crashing and providing fallback UIs.
Example:
class ErrorBoundary extends React.Component {
state = { hasError: false };
static getDerivedStateFromError() {
return { hasError: true };
}
render() {
if (this.state.hasError) {
return <h1>Something went wrong.</h1>;
}
return this.props.children;
}
}
Use Case: Use error boundaries to catch and handle errors gracefully, ensuring your app doesn’t break entirely when an error occurs.
5 Books for Learning React Design Patterns
To deepen your understanding of React design patterns and improve your skills, there are several highly recommended books:
“Learning React” by Alex Banks and Eve Porcello – A great introduction to React, this book covers React fundamentals and goes into design patterns such as functional components, hooks, and higher-order components. It’s a perfect starting point for anyone looking to understand the core principles of React.
“React Design Patterns and Best Practices” by Michele Bertoli – Focuses specifically on design patterns in React, exploring key patterns like presentational and container components, higher-order components, and render props. It also offers guidance on structuring and organizing large applications for scalability.
“Fullstack React: The Complete Guide to ReactJS and Friends” by Anthony Accomazzo et al. –This comprehensive guide walks you through React from the basics to more advanced topics, including React patterns. It’s a practical resource with plenty of code examples that focus on building full-stack React applications.
“Mastering React” by Adam Horton and Ryan Vice – Aimed at intermediate to advanced React developers, this book delves into advanced React concepts and design patterns, focusing on performance optimization, state management, and testing.
“JavaScript Patterns” by Stoyan Stefanov – While not solely focused on React, this book is a great resource for learning JavaScript design patterns that are applicable in React development, such as the module pattern, the factory pattern, and the singleton pattern.
Best Courses for React Design Patterns
1. Udemy
React: The Complete Guide (incl Hooks, React Router, Redux) by Maximilian Schwarzmüller
This course has over 400,000 students, with high ratings (4.7/5 stars). It’s widely recommended because it offers comprehensive coverage of React, including fundamentals and design patterns. Many developers cite this course as their go-to for learning React deeply and broadly. Plus, Maximilian is a well-respected instructor in the web development community.
2. Egghead.io
Advanced React Component Patterns by Kent C. Dodds
Kent C. Dodds is a well-known expert in the React ecosystem and a contributor to the React community. His courses on Egghead.io are often praised for being focused, concise, and covering advanced topics like compound components, render props, and hooks. His practical, real-world approach makes this course one of the most recommended for developers looking to master React design patterns.
3. Frontend Masters
Intermediate React by Brian Holt
Brian Holt is another highly respected instructor. His Frontend Masters courses are known for their deep dive into modern React practices, including patterns like hooks and state management. Developers frequently recommend this course because it bridges the gap between beginner and advanced React knowledge, with a focus on scalable, maintainable code.
Use Most Common React Design Patterns
React has proven to be a highly popular library. The community is among the fastest-growing developer communities online.
You will also find lots of useful web development resources available online that make it easy to learn react.js and adapt to it.
The power of React is due to its amazing features and the robust architecture that it offers. One of the most prominent and widely loved features of React is its design patterns.
Design patterns are in fact what gives this library its extraordinary practicality and usefulness. They make code optimization and maintenance easier.
They allow developers to create apps that are flexible in nature, deliver better performance, and produce a codebase that is easier to maintain.
We have discussed a few popular React design patterns like stateless functions, render props, controlled components, conditional rendering, and react hooks.
However, it must be noted that react design patterns are not just limited to these patterns and there are several different design patterns that you can implement. Once you get familiar with the usage of the common design patterns, it will become easier to graduate to others.
Build React-Based Prototypes with UXPin Merge
Capturing the true essence of React application development can be made easier by the use of the right technology. With UXPin Merge, you use React code components in UXPin to build powerful prototypes. You can easily put together code-based prototypes that are pure code. Try it for free.
As UX designers, we need to create dashboards that are clear, purposeful, and user-centric. “Effective dashboards should not only present data but also convey the story behind it, guiding users toward making informed decisions without overwhelming them with details,” as UX Design World emphasizes. This statement underscores the essence of great dashboard design: presenting information in a way that is not only accessible but also actionable.
Creating data-driven applications with interactive dashboards can be complex and time-consuming, requiring seamless collaboration between designers, developers, and product teams. That’s where UXPin Merge comes in—a tool that bridges the gap between design and development, allowing teams to build highly interactive, production-ready dashboards using real components.
With UXPin Merge, design teams can import live components from a Git repository or Storybook and use them to create interactive UI designs that reflect the exact behavior of the final product. Request access to UXPin Merge.
Reach a new level of prototyping
Design with interactive components coming from your team’s design system.
What is a Dashboard?
A dashboard is a visual display of essential information needed to achieve specific business objectives. It consolidates data from various sources into a single interface, using visualizations such as charts, graphs, and tables to present insights clearly and concisely. Dashboards are primarily used for tracking and analyzing KPIs, identifying trends, and making informed decisions based on real-time data.
Types of Dashboards
By understanding the unique purposes and use cases of these dashboard types, designers can create more targeted and effective dashboards that cater to specific user needs.
Analytical Dashboards
A great example of analytical dashboard design comes from Semrush
Analytical dashboards are used to identify trends, patterns, and insights over time. They support strategic decision-making by presenting complex datasets through detailed visualizations like line graphs, scatter plots, and histograms. Typically used by data analysts or business intelligence teams, these dashboards help answer questions like, “What are the factors driving sales trends over the last quarter?”
Example: A sales performance dashboard that analyzes historical sales data, identifies top-performing products, and reveals seasonal trends. This dashboard could include charts that compare monthly sales figures year-over-year, helping stakeholders make strategic decisions about future campaigns.
Operational Dashboards
Bold BI created this operational dashboard design
Operational dashboards are designed for real-time monitoring and quick decision-making. They display data that is frequently updated, such as daily sales figures, website traffic, or production outputs. These dashboards are ideal for managers who need to track day-to-day operations and respond promptly to emerging issues.
Example: A customer support dashboard that monitors the number of open tickets, average response time, and agent availability in real time. This type of dashboard allows managers to allocate resources efficiently and maintain service quality.
Strategic Dashboards
Here’s an OKR dashboard example by Geckoboard
Strategic dashboards offer a high-level overview of the organization’s performance, focusing on long-term goals and outcomes. They are used by executives to monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) like revenue growth, market share, or customer satisfaction over an extended period. Strategic dashboards prioritize simplicity and clarity, presenting only the most critical data needed for executive decision-making.
Example: An executive KPI dashboard that tracks overall company performance metrics such as quarterly revenue, year-to-date profit margins, and employee engagement scores. This dashboard allows executives to assess whether the company is on track to meet its strategic objectives.
Tactical Dashboards
Here’s an example of a tactical dashboard design by Databox
Tactical dashboards bridge the gap between operational and strategic dashboards. They focus on short-term goals and provide insights into specific areas of the business, such as project management or marketing campaign performance. Tactical dashboards are used by mid-level managers to implement strategies based on analytical data and operational updates.
Example: A marketing campaign dashboard that tracks campaign performance, including ad spend, conversion rates, and customer acquisition cost. This type of dashboard helps marketers adjust their tactics in response to real-time performance data.
Why Dashboard Design Matters
Dashboards have become a crucial tool in modern business environments, serving as a central hub for data-driven decision-making. A well-designed dashboard is more than just a data visualization tool; it provides a structured and intuitive way to track KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), monitor business processes, and gain actionable insights at a glance.
The role of dashboards in decision-making extends beyond data presentation. They act as decision-support systems, helping stakeholders identify opportunities, pinpoint issues, and respond quickly to changes.
For example, a sales dashboard might track sales revenue, pipeline metrics, and individual performance to give managers a clear view of team performance and areas for improvement. By presenting this data visually, dashboards enable faster comprehension and a deeper understanding of complex information, facilitating data-driven decisions.
The Impact of Well-Designed Dashboards
When designed effectively, dashboards can significantly enhance business intelligence (BI) by transforming raw data into meaningful insights. Here’s how:
Improved Data Accessibility and Usability: Well-designed dashboards simplify complex data, making it accessible to non-technical stakeholders. With a focus on usability and intuitive layout, they reduce the cognitive load and help users find the information they need quickly.
Enhanced Decision-Making: By providing real-time data and key metrics, dashboards empower stakeholders to make timely decisions. This immediacy is crucial in fast-paced business environments where quick reactions to changes in performance can give companies a competitive edge.
Performance Tracking and Goal Setting: Dashboards allow businesses to monitor performance against set targets and KPIs. For instance, a marketing dashboard might show campaign performance in terms of reach, engagement, and conversion rates, helping teams align their efforts with strategic goals.
Research shows that organizations leveraging dashboards for BI see a higher return on data analytics investments, as they can turn insights into action more efficiently. For instance, a study by Dresner Advisory Services revealed that organizations with effective BI tools, such as dashboards, were twice as likely to experience improved decision-making capabilities and a 24% increase in revenue growth.
Common Issues with Poorly Designed Dashboards
Despite their potential, many dashboards fall short due to poor design practices, leading to low usability and ineffective decision-making. Common issues include:
Clutter and Overwhelming Layouts
Many dashboards suffer from information overload. When too many metrics and visualizations are crammed into one screen, users struggle to identify what’s most important. This cluttered layout can lead to confusion, making it harder to extract valuable insights.
Lack of Hierarchical Structure
Without a clear visual hierarchy, dashboards can fail to communicate the relative importance of information. Users might overlook critical data or spend too much time searching for relevant insights.
Inconsistent Design and Misleading Visuals
Inconsistent use of colors, fonts, or chart types can cause misinterpretation of data. For example, using the same color for positive and negative metrics can lead to incorrect conclusions. Read about design consistency and how to achieve it.
Neglecting User Context and Needs
A one-size-fits-all dashboard rarely works. Effective dashboards should be tailored to the specific needs and context of the user, whether they are a sales manager looking for revenue trends or a product manager tracking feature usage.
Key Characteristics of Successful Dashboards
Regardless of the type, successful dashboards share certain characteristics that make them effective tools for data visualization and decision-making. These characteristics ensure that dashboards are not only visually appealing but also functionally robust and user-centric.
Clarity: Ensuring Users Can Interpret Data Quickly
Clarity is paramount when it comes to dashboard design. A cluttered or confusing layout can obscure the most critical information and hinder decision-making. To ensure clarity:
Use a clear visual hierarchy to prioritize information.
Choose appropriate visualizations, such as bar charts for comparisons and line charts for trends, to present data effectively.
Limit the number of visual elements to avoid overwhelming users with too much information at once.
Flexibility: Allowing Customization and Interactivity
Dashboards should cater to diverse user needs by offering flexibility in how data is displayed and interacted with. Features like filters, drill-down capabilities, and custom views allow users to explore the data at their own pace and adjust the dashboard to suit their specific needs. Incorporating interactive elements can transform a static dashboard into a dynamic tool that provides deeper insights.
Tip for Designers: Use UXPin’s interactive components to prototype dashboards that include these features, enabling users to see how different configurations and interactions will work in the final product.
Responsiveness: Adapting to Different Devices and Screen Sizes
With the increasing use of mobile devices and varying screen sizes, responsiveness is a critical characteristic of any dashboard. A responsive dashboard adjusts its layout and visualizations based on the device, ensuring that users have a consistent experience whether they’re on a desktop, tablet, or smartphone. Key elements like font size, spacing, and the arrangement of visualizations should be fluid and adaptable.
Tip for Designers: Create responsive prototypes in UXPin to test how your dashboard design behaves across different devices. Use breakpoints and scalable design techniques to optimize the layout for various screen sizes.
Essential Dashboard Design Principles
Designing effective dashboards requires a deep understanding of visual hierarchy, consistency, cognitive psychology, and accessibility. A well-structured dashboard not only presents data but also guides users in interpreting it, making complex information more approachable and actionable. This section outlines the key design principles to consider when creating dashboards that prioritize usability, functionality, and inclusivity.
1. Establish a Clear Visual Hierarchy
In dashboard design, visual hierarchy is crucial for guiding users’ attention to the most critical information first. By using layout, color, and typography strategically, you can emphasize high-priority data and minimize distractions.
Layout: Organize information logically by placing the most critical data at the top or left-hand side of the dashboard, as these areas are naturally where users look first. Group related data points together and use white space to separate sections, making it easier for users to scan and locate key insights.
Color: Use color to differentiate categories and indicate relationships between data points. For example, use contrasting colors for KPIs that represent positive vs. negative trends or different departments. Reserve bright colors for highlighting anomalies or urgent information that requires immediate attention.
Typography: Utilize font size and weight to establish hierarchy. Larger, bolder fonts can be used for titles and main metrics, while smaller fonts work well for labels or less critical information. Keep font styles consistent across the dashboard to maintain a cohesive look and feel.
Tip for Designers: Use UXPin’s typography and color styling options to set up a style guide that ensures visual consistency across different dashboards and components.
2. Maintain Consistency
Consistency is a cornerstone of good design. When dashboards lack consistency, users can become confused and overwhelmed, reducing the dashboard’s effectiveness. Establishing consistent patterns for navigation, data labels, and interaction states creates a more intuitive user experience and improves the dashboard’s usability.
Consistent Visual Elements: Use the same color scheme, font styles, and chart types across different dashboards within a product. This practice helps users build a mental model of your dashboards and reduces the learning curve.
Uniform Interaction Patterns: Whether users are filtering data, drilling down into specific information, or switching between different views, ensure that these interactions behave consistently throughout the dashboard. This reduces confusion and builds user confidence when navigating complex dashboards.
Tip for Designers: Utilize UXPin’s design systems capabilities to create reusable components, such as buttons, menus, and charts, that ensure visual and functional consistency across multiple dashboards.
3. Minimize Cognitive Load
Dashboards are often used to display large amounts of data, making it essential to minimize cognitive load by simplifying the design and focusing on the essentials. Avoid unnecessary details and distractions that can overwhelm users.
Remove Non-Essential Elements: Reduce the number of visual elements on the screen by eliminating duplicate or redundant information. Use whitespace effectively to separate different sections and prevent overcrowding.
Focus on Actionable Insights: Highlight the most important insights and KPIs, and use interactive elements like tooltips or drill-downs to provide additional information on demand, rather than displaying everything upfront.
Simplify Navigation: Keep navigation straightforward, allowing users to quickly switch between different views or apply filters without getting lost.
Tip for Designers: Use UXPin’s conditional interactions and states to hide or reveal information based on user actions, ensuring a clutter-free interface that only displays data when relevant.
4. Make Data Accessible and Usable
The primary goal of dashboards is to make data accessible and easy to understand. This involves choosing the right visualizations and ensuring that all design elements support readability and clarity.
Use Appropriate Data Visualizations: Select chart types that align with the data you’re presenting. For instance, use bar charts for comparisons, line charts for trends, and pie charts for proportions. Avoid complex visualizations like 3D graphs that can distort data interpretation.
Contrast and Readability: Ensure adequate contrast between text and background colors. Dark text on a light background or light text on a dark background works best. Avoid using overly saturated colors or color combinations that can strain the eyes.
Tip for Designers: UXPin allows you to create prototypes with different data visualization options. Test your designs with users to identify which visualizations are most effective for your audience.
5. Incorporate Accessibility Standards
Accessible design is not just a nice-to-have but a necessity for inclusive dashboards. Designing for accessibility means ensuring that all users, including those with disabilities, can interact with and understand your dashboards effectively.
Color Blindness Considerations: Avoid using color alone to convey information. Use patterns, labels, or icons in conjunction with color to differentiate data points. Utilize tools like color blindness simulators to check your design’s accessibility.
Screen Reader Compatibility: Design your dashboard so that screen readers can easily navigate and interpret it. Use ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) labels and ensure that all interactive elements have appropriate descriptors.
Keyboard Navigation: Ensure that all interactive elements are accessible via keyboard navigation. This is particularly important for users who rely on keyboards or other assistive technologies.
Tip for Designers: Use UXPin’s accessibility features, such as ARIA attributes and interactive states, to create dashboards that are compatible with screen readers and other assistive devices.
Best Practices for Creating Dashboards
Designing an effective dashboard involves more than just presenting data visually—it requires a strategic approach that aligns with the needs of its users and the goals of the organization. By following best practices, designers can create dashboards that not only look good but also facilitate data-driven decisions. Here are some essential best practices for creating dashboards:
1. Define the Purpose and User Needs
Every successful dashboard starts with a clear understanding of its purpose and the needs of its users. The design process should begin by identifying what the dashboard aims to achieve and who will be using it. This foundational step ensures that the dashboard presents relevant data in a way that resonates with its target audience.
Conduct Stakeholder Interviews: Start by interviewing stakeholders, such as managers, analysts, and end-users, to understand their expectations and requirements. Ask questions like: “What key decisions will this dashboard inform?” or “What specific metrics are important to track?” Gathering this information helps define the core purpose of the dashboard and aligns it with organizational goals.
Identify Key Metrics and KPIs: Based on these discussions, outline the key performance indicators (KPIs) that the dashboard should monitor. Prioritize metrics that provide actionable insights and drive decision-making. For example, a sales dashboard might focus on metrics like revenue growth, conversion rates, and customer acquisition costs.
Create User Personas: Define user personas that represent different types of dashboard users. Consider their technical proficiency, data needs, and how they will interact with the dashboard. This helps in tailoring the design and functionality to suit diverse user groups, from C-suite executives to department managers.
Tip for Designers: Use UXPin’s collaboration tools to share early wireframes and prototypes with stakeholders, ensuring alignment on the dashboard’s purpose and key metrics before moving into high-fidelity design.
2. Organize Data for Clarity
The way you structure and present data on a dashboard significantly impacts its usability and effectiveness. A clear, logical flow of information helps users find what they need quickly and reduces cognitive load.
Logical Grouping: Group related data points together to create a coherent narrative. For example, in a marketing dashboard, metrics like campaign performance, budget allocation, and ROI can be grouped under a “Campaign Performance” section. Use visual elements like borders, spacing, and background colors to separate these groups and create distinct sections.
Progressive Disclosure: Use techniques like progressive disclosure to show information gradually, allowing users to access more details as needed without cluttering the interface. For example, start with high-level summaries and provide options to view detailed data through drill-downs or interactive filters.
Use Hierarchical Design: Place the most critical data points, such as KPIs or summary statistics, at the top of the dashboard. Secondary metrics and supporting information should be positioned below or within interactive panels that users can expand as needed.
Tip for Designers: Leverage UXPin’s data binding feature to connect your prototypes to real or sample data, ensuring that the layout and flow work effectively with actual content.
3. Use Drill-Downs and Filters
To avoid overwhelming users with too much information on a single screen, incorporate drill-downs and filters. These advanced techniques allow users to explore data at their own pace, accessing more granular information only when necessary.
Drill-Down Capabilities: Use drill-down features to let users click on high-level metrics and access more detailed views or historical data. For example, clicking on a sales revenue chart could reveal a breakdown by product category or sales region.
Interactive Filters: Include filters that allow users to refine data by date range, category, or other relevant parameters. This helps users focus on specific subsets of data without cluttering the dashboard with multiple static charts.
Responsive Visualizations: Make sure that the visualizations respond to user interactions. When users apply filters or drill down into data, ensure that charts update dynamically to reflect these changes, maintaining a seamless experience.
Tip for Designers: Use UXPin’s interactive states and variables to create prototypes with working filters and drill-downs, making it easy to test and demonstrate these features to stakeholders.
4. Highlight Key Metrics
Effective dashboards should emphasize the most critical data points, making it easy for users to grasp essential insights at a glance. This involves carefully selecting which metrics to highlight and using visual cues to draw attention to them.
Select High-Impact KPIs: Choose KPIs that reflect the organization’s goals and provide actionable insights. Avoid overwhelming users with too many metrics—stick to the most meaningful ones that inform decision-making.
Use Visual Emphasis: Employ visual elements like size, color, and position to highlight key metrics. For example, use larger fonts and bolder colors for primary KPIs, while using lighter shades or smaller text for supporting metrics.
Contextualize Data: Provide context by showing trends, benchmarks, or targets alongside the data. For example, display a target line on a bar chart to indicate whether a particular KPI is on track.
Tip for Designers: Use color psychology and contrast effectively in your designs. UXPin’s color palettes and text styling options can help you experiment with different visual treatments to find the best way to emphasize key metrics.
5. Iterate and Refine
Creating an effective dashboard is an iterative process that involves continuous refinement based on user feedback and evolving requirements. Regular testing and iteration ensure that your dashboard remains relevant and usable over time.
Conduct User Testing: Share your dashboard prototypes with a sample of actual users. Observe how they interact with the interface and gather feedback on usability, navigation, and content relevance. Identify any points of confusion or frustration.
Incorporate Feedback: Use insights from user testing to refine the dashboard’s layout, interactions, and visual design. Make adjustments to improve clarity, usability, and user satisfaction.
Continuous Improvement: Dashboards are not static—data needs and user preferences change over time. Regularly review the dashboard’s performance and effectiveness, and be open to making updates or redesigns as necessary.
Tip for Designers: Use UXPin’s collaborative feedback features to collect comments and suggestions directly on the prototype. This streamlines the feedback process and ensures all stakeholders have visibility into the changes being made.
Common Mistakes in Dashboard Design
Even the most visually appealing dashboards can fail if they don’t support effective decision-making or overwhelm users with irrelevant data. Avoiding common design pitfalls is crucial to creating dashboards that are not only visually compelling but also provide real value to users. Here’s a look at some of the most common mistakes in dashboard design and strategies for avoiding them.
1. Overloading Users with Information
The Mistake: One of the most common mistakes in dashboard design is overwhelming users with too much information. When every piece of data seems equally important, the dashboard becomes cluttered, making it difficult for users to find and interpret key insights. This often happens when designers try to fit too many metrics, charts, or filters onto a single dashboard screen, resulting in visual and cognitive overload.
How to Avoid It:
Prioritize Key Metrics: Focus on the most critical metrics that align with the dashboard’s goals. Remove any data that doesn’t directly support decision-making or provide additional context. Start with high-level summaries and allow users to access more detailed information through drill-downs or secondary screens.
Use Visual Hierarchy: Establish a visual hierarchy by organizing data logically and using visual cues such as font size, color, and spacing to differentiate between primary and secondary information. For example, place the most critical metrics in prominent areas like the top-left corner of the dashboard, where users’ eyes are naturally drawn.
Implement Progressive Disclosure: Use techniques like progressive disclosure, which involves revealing information gradually, so users see only the most relevant details first. This helps prevent information overload while allowing users to dig deeper when necessary.
Example Strategy: Use a simplified dashboard that shows only a few core KPIs at first glance. Include interactive elements like dropdown menus or hover actions to reveal more detailed information without cluttering the main view.
2. Using Inappropriate Visuals
The Mistake: Choosing the wrong type of visualization is a frequent mistake that can lead to misinterpretation of data. For example, using pie charts to represent changes over time or displaying too much data in a single line chart can make it difficult for users to derive meaningful insights. The misuse of 3D charts or overly complex graphics can also distort information and confuse users.
How to Avoid It:
Match Visuals to Data Types: Select chart types based on the nature of the data and the insights you want to communicate. For instance, use line charts to show trends over time, bar charts for comparisons, and scatter plots to highlight relationships between variables. Avoid using 3D charts or decorative visuals that don’t add value.
Leverage Visual Cues for Clarity: Use color, size, and shape to indicate relationships and emphasize important points. For example, using different shades of the same color to show different categories or applying color saturation to indicate magnitude can help users interpret the data more intuitively.
Simplify Visuals: Stick to simple and straightforward visualizations. Remove any unnecessary chart elements like excessive gridlines, borders, or decorative icons. Use annotations or tooltips to provide additional context without overcrowding the visualization.
Example Strategy: If you need to show revenue trends over multiple years, use a line chart with distinct colors for each year, along with a secondary axis or tooltip to show percentage changes. This keeps the visualization clean and interpretable.
3. Ignoring Context and User Workflow
The Mistake: Designing dashboards without considering the context in which they will be used or the workflow of the end-users is another common mistake. Dashboards that don’t integrate smoothly into a user’s daily activities or fail to provide the right level of detail at the right time can become a hindrance rather than a help.
How to Avoid It:
Understand User Needs and Context: Conduct user research and create user personas to understand how different users will interact with the dashboard. Identify their primary goals, the context in which they’ll use the dashboard, and the typical decisions they need to make. This ensures the design supports their workflow and provides information that is immediately actionable.
Design for User Roles: Tailor dashboards for different user roles. For example, a dashboard for a C-suite executive might focus on high-level KPIs like overall revenue and market share, while a dashboard for a marketing manager might include detailed campaign performance metrics.
Create a Logical Flow: Organize the dashboard content in a logical flow that aligns with user expectations and workflows. For example, start with a high-level overview and then provide more detailed views or filters that users can interact with to gain deeper insights.
Example Strategy: If you’re designing a dashboard for a sales team, include filters that allow users to switch between different time periods (e.g., quarterly or yearly), view sales data by region or product, and see individual performance metrics. This contextual information helps the sales team make decisions more effectively without having to navigate multiple screens or systems.
How to Evaluate and Optimize Existing Dashboard Design
Creating a dashboard is only the first step. Once it’s live, it’s essential to evaluate its performance and usability to ensure that it continues to meet user needs and provide value. Regular optimization and iterative improvements can significantly enhance the effectiveness of your dashboards.
Performance Optimization
Dashboard performance is a critical factor in user satisfaction. A dashboard that takes too long to load or responds slowly to user interactions can lead to frustration and decreased productivity. Here are some key techniques for optimizing dashboard performance:
Optimize Data Queries: One of the most common causes of slow dashboards is inefficient data queries. Optimize your SQL queries or API calls by using indexed fields, avoiding nested subqueries, and fetching only the necessary data. Consider implementing query caching for frequently accessed datasets to reduce load times.
Reduce Data Points and Visual Complexity: Displaying too many data points or overly complex visualizations can slow down the dashboard. Limit the number of data points displayed in charts, and use simplified visualizations wherever possible. Aggregating data at a higher level can also reduce the amount of processing needed.
Leverage Asynchronous Data Loading: Implement asynchronous data loading for charts and widgets that don’t need to load simultaneously. This allows users to interact with parts of the dashboard while other elements continue to load in the background, providing a smoother experience.
Optimize Image and Asset Sizes: Reduce the size of images, icons, and other assets used in the dashboard. Use vector graphics or compressed image formats (e.g., SVG, WebP) to minimize loading times.
Implement Lazy Loading: Use lazy loading techniques for components that are not immediately visible or necessary on the initial screen. This approach ensures that only the critical elements load first, while others are rendered as needed, reducing the initial load time.
Tip for Designers: Test your dashboard’s performance regularly by using browser developer tools to measure load times, network requests, and rendering performance. This helps identify bottlenecks and optimize the overall user experience.
User Testing and Feedback Loops
User testing is a crucial step in ensuring that your dashboard is not only functional but also intuitive and effective. By observing how users interact with the dashboard and gathering their feedback, you can uncover usability issues and identify areas for improvement.
Conduct Usability Testing: Perform usability testing with real users who represent your target audience. Set up scenarios where users complete specific tasks, such as finding a particular metric or applying a filter. Observe how they navigate the dashboard, and note any points of confusion or difficulty.
Use A/B Testing: If you’re considering design changes, use A/B testing to evaluate different versions of the dashboard. Compare metrics such as task completion time, error rates, and user satisfaction to determine which version performs better.
Collect User Feedback: Encourage users to provide feedback on their experience with the dashboard. Use built-in feedback forms, surveys, or direct interviews to gather qualitative insights. Pay attention to recurring themes in feedback, such as unclear visualizations or missing data.
Iterate Based on Insights: Use the insights gained from testing and feedback to iterate on the dashboard design. Implement changes in small increments, and test each iteration to ensure it addresses the identified issues without introducing new problems.
Tip for Designers: Use UXPin’s interactive prototypes to create realistic dashboard simulations for user testing. This allows users to interact with the dashboard as if it were a live environment, providing more accurate feedback.
Tools for Dashboard Design Evaluation
Choosing the right tools can make evaluating and optimizing dashboards more efficient. Here are some recommended tools for different aspects of dashboard evaluation:
Usability Testing:
Lookback.io: Record user sessions and observe how users navigate your dashboard in real time. You can also conduct live interviews and collect qualitative feedback.
UserTesting: Create and distribute user tests to a large pool of testers, and receive video feedback along with quantitative data on user interactions.
UXPin Prototyping: Use UXPin to create interactive prototypes of your dashboards, enabling you to test functionality and gather feedback before development.
Heatmaps:
Hotjar: Use heatmaps to see where users click, scroll, and interact most on your dashboard. This helps identify which areas attract the most attention and where users might be experiencing difficulties.
Crazy Egg: Offers click maps, scroll maps, and confetti reports that show how users are interacting with the dashboard. Use this tool to refine layouts and improve engagement.
Performance Monitoring:
Google Lighthouse: An open-source tool for auditing the performance of web pages, including dashboards. It provides insights on load times, accessibility, and best practices.
New Relic: Monitor the performance of your dashboards and identify backend issues such as slow API responses or database queries. It provides detailed performance metrics and alerts for real-time monitoring.
Tip for Designers: Use these tools in combination to get a comprehensive view of how your dashboard is performing. For example, start with usability testing to identify major pain points, then use heatmaps to verify user behavior, and finally, employ performance monitoring tools to optimize loading times.
Future Trends in Dashboard Design
The field of dashboard design is evolving rapidly as new technologies and methodologies reshape how businesses interact with data. Emerging trends like AI-powered dashboards, augmented analytics, and heightened focus on data privacy are setting new standards for usability and functionality. Staying ahead of these trends will enable designers to create dashboards that not only meet today’s needs but are also future-proof. Let’s explore these key trends and their implications for dashboard design.
1. AI-Powered Dashboards: Automating Insights and Personalization
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are transforming how dashboards operate and deliver value. AI-powered dashboards go beyond static data presentation by leveraging algorithms to analyze data, detect patterns, and generate automated insights. These dashboards can identify trends, anomalies, and correlations that might be difficult for users to spot manually, enabling quicker and more informed decision-making.
Automated Insights: AI can scan through massive datasets and automatically surface key insights, saving users time and reducing the cognitive load. For instance, an AI-powered sales dashboard might highlight regions with declining performance or suggest potential causes for a sudden drop in revenue based on historical data.
Personalization: AI can tailor the dashboard experience to individual users by learning their preferences and usage patterns. Personalized dashboards can prioritize metrics and visualizations based on what’s most relevant to each user. For example, an operations manager might see real-time production data, while a finance executive views high-level financial KPIs, all within the same dashboard environment.
Predictive and Prescriptive Analytics: AI enables predictive analytics by forecasting future trends based on historical data, and prescriptive analytics by recommending actions to optimize outcomes. For example, in a product management dashboard, AI might predict product demand for the upcoming quarter and suggest changes to the supply chain to meet that demand efficiently.
Design Consideration: To incorporate AI-powered elements, ensure your dashboard design includes space for dynamic insights, recommendations, and alert systems that can update in real-time as new data comes in. Use UXPin’s interactive components to simulate how these AI-driven features would behave in a live environment.
2. Augmented Analytics: Making Dashboards More Actionable
Augmented analytics is a growing trend that enhances traditional dashboards by integrating advanced analytics features like natural language processing (NLP), conversational analytics, and automated data preparation. This trend is making dashboards more accessible to non-technical users and enabling more sophisticated data analysis without requiring advanced data science skills.
Natural Language Processing (NLP): NLP allows users to interact with dashboards using simple language queries, such as “What were our top-selling products last quarter?” or “Show me sales trends over the past year.” This capability democratizes data access, allowing users to ask complex questions without needing to know SQL or other programming languages.
Conversational Analytics: Integrating chatbots and voice-enabled assistants within dashboards provides an intuitive way for users to explore data. For example, a user can ask the chatbot to “Show me the highest performing campaigns in the last month,” and receive an instant, visual response.
Automated Data Preparation: Augmented analytics tools can automate time-consuming tasks like data cleansing, normalization, and aggregation. This ensures that the data displayed on dashboards is always up-to-date and ready for analysis, reducing the chances of errors and inconsistencies.
Design Consideration: Designers can support augmented analytics by incorporating search bars, chatbot interfaces, or dedicated panels for conversational queries. UXPin’s prototyping tools can help visualize these interactive elements, enabling designers to test and refine these features.
3. Data Privacy and Security Considerations
As dashboards become more sophisticated and data-driven, ensuring data privacy and security is paramount. With increasing regulatory scrutiny and data breaches making headlines, it’s essential to incorporate best practices for data security and compliance in dashboard design.
Data Encryption and Secure Access: All data presented on the dashboard should be encrypted, both in transit and at rest, to protect against unauthorized access. Implement secure authentication methods, such as single sign-on (SSO), multi-factor authentication (MFA), and role-based access control (RBAC) to ensure that users only have access to the data they’re authorized to view.
Compliance with Regulations: Ensure that dashboards comply with relevant data privacy laws and regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU or the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in the U.S. This includes providing users with options to view, export, or delete their personal data as required by law.
Data Anonymization: For dashboards that handle sensitive or personally identifiable information (PII), use data anonymization techniques to mask identities and prevent data breaches. This can include aggregating data at a higher level or using pseudonyms to replace sensitive fields.
Audit Trails and Monitoring: Implement audit trails to track who accesses the dashboard and what changes are made. This helps ensure accountability and provides a clear record of data usage. Use monitoring tools to detect and respond to suspicious activities in real time.
Design Consideration: To address security and compliance concerns, design dashboards with clear user permissions and access levels. Include visual indicators to show which data is sensitive and consider implementing features like secure data download or export options with additional authentication layers.
Recommended Resources for Dashboard Design
Here’s a list of resources that offer a well-rounded approach to mastering dashboard design—from foundational concepts and practical guides to community engagement and hands-on tools.
Books:
Practical Reporting: A guide covering practical strategies, visualization techniques, and design principles for creating effective dashboards.
The Big Book of Dashboards by Steve Wexler, Jeffrey Shaffer, and Andy Cotgreave: Features real-world scenarios and practical advice for designing dashboards across industries.
Information Dashboard Design by Stephen Few: Explores best practices and visual design principles to create at-a-glance monitoring dashboards.
UXPin: Create fully interactive dashboard prototypes using real components, enabling designers to test complex interactions.
Tableau Public: Experiment with different dashboard layouts and visualizations in a free and open platform.
Communities:
Reddit: r/DataIsBeautiful: Share your work, get feedback, and discover inspiring dashboards from the community.
Tableau Community Forums: Engage with other Tableau users to learn advanced techniques and get support for dashboard projects.
Create Stunning Dashboard Designs with UXPin Merge
The article outlines the key elements required for designing effective dashboards that are visually compelling, user-centric, and impactful for business decision-making. It provides an in-depth look at different types of dashboards (analytical, operational, strategic, and tactical) and their specific use cases. By exploring essential design principles such as visual hierarchy, consistency, minimizing cognitive load, and ensuring accessibility, the article helps designers create dashboards that present data clearly and effectively.
Additionally, the article identifies common pitfalls in dashboard design and offers actionable strategies to avoid them, ensuring a seamless user experience. The future trends section highlights AI-powered dashboards, augmented analytics, and data privacy considerations, positioning the article as a comprehensive resource for both current best practices and forward-looking strategies.
Why UXPin Merge is Effective for Dashboard Design
UXPin Merge bridges the gap between design and development, making it an ideal solution for creating highly interactive and data-driven dashboards. With UXPin Merge, design teams can sync live components directly from a code repository like Git or Storybook, ensuring that the design uses real, production-ready elements. This alignment between design and development enhances collaboration and consistency, reducing the risk of discrepancies between prototypes and final products.
Benefits of UXPin Merge:
Interactive Prototyping with Real Components: UXPin Merge enables designers to create fully interactive prototypes that mirror the final product’s behavior, making it easier to test interactions like drill-downs, filters, and dynamic data updates.
Faster Iteration and Feedback Cycles: Since the prototypes are built with real components, changes and iterations are reflected in the design immediately, allowing teams to gather more accurate feedback and streamline the development process.
Enhanced Collaboration: Merge fosters better collaboration between designers, developers, and product managers, as everyone works with the same components, ensuring consistency and reducing miscommunication.
Production-Ready Prototypes: Designers can hand off prototypes that are practically ready for production, shortening the development cycle and minimizing the need for extensive rework.
By integrating real UI components into the design process, UXPin Merge allows designers to build complex, data-driven dashboards that are not only visually appealing but also behave exactly like the final product, making it an invaluable tool for efficient dashboard design. Request access to UXPin Merge.
AI tools are software applications powered by machine learning algorithms that automate tasks, analyze data, and simulate human-like thinking. For designers and developers, AI tools have become essential for streamlining workflows, enhancing creativity, and delivering personalized user experiences.
From design automation and code generation to user research and content creation, AI enables professionals to work more efficiently and make data-informed decisions. By integrating AI into your workflow, you can amplify your capabilities and create better, more innovative products—faster and with fewer resources.
Looking for a tool that combines the power of AI with the speed of building functional user interfaces? Try UXPin Merge. It enables designers and developers to work seamlessly together by integrating live, code-based components directly into your design environment. With the addition of the AI Component Creator, UXPin takes your interface-building capabilities to the next level, allowing you to create and iterate faster than ever. Request access to UXPin Merge.
Reach a new level of prototyping
Design with interactive components coming from your team’s design system.
What Are AI Tools?
AI tools are software applications powered by advanced machine learning algorithms. These tools can analyze vast amounts of data, automate repetitive tasks, and even simulate human-like thinking processes. For designers and developers, AI tools have become indispensable for boosting creativity, speeding up workflows, and enhancing user experiences.
In the context of UX design and development, AI tools can assist in various ways.
Developers can leverage AI-powered coding assistants to suggest code snippets, auto-complete complex functions, or even generate boilerplate code based on natural language descriptions. This can be useful when building a code-backed design system.
Similarly, AI-driven SDKs can assist in integrating AR/VR features more efficiently. For example, digital try-on plugin allows users to preview products in real time, while face-tracking tools enable interactive experiences. These solutions help streamline development, reducing the need for extensive custom coding while enhancing user engagement
Using an AI humanizer can further improve output quality by making the language sound more natural and reader-friendlyz
Personalization
AI can personalize user experiences based on behavioral data. For instance, recommendation engines (think of those used by Amazon or Netflix) can be integrated into websites to offer personalized content or product suggestions.
Some apps go even further by enabling users to customize products in real time—letting them personalize colors, styles, or features within minutes. This level of instant, interactive personalization is becoming a key differentiator in modern UX. Banuba highlights this personalization trend across industries, showing how AI-powered tools are shaping more responsive, user-centric product experiences.
Why AI Tools Matter for Designers
The integration of AI into design and development workflows isn’t just about automation—it’s about amplification. AI tools such as AI logo makers allow designers to explore more possibilities faster and help developers write cleaner code by automating tedious debugging processes. Ultimately, these tools enable teams to create better products in less time.
In the fast-evolving landscape of technology, staying ahead means embracing tools that enhance your capabilities. AI is not here to replace designers or developers but to empower them, making it easier to deliver innovative, user-centered products.
How to Measure the Usefulness of an AI Tool as a Designer
To determine whether an AI tool is beneficial in your design workflow, consider evaluating it based on the following criteria:
Time Saved: Measure how much time the tool saves compared to manual processes. Does it automate repetitive tasks like resizing elements, adjusting layouts, or generating variations faster than you would do it yourself? Use time-tracking tools to quantify these savings.
Quality of Output: Assess the quality of the AI-generated designs or suggestions. Are the results consistent with your design standards, or do you often need to make additional tweaks? The best AI tools should minimize rework and help you achieve high-quality outcomes faster.
Ease of Integration: Evaluate how easily the AI tool integrates into your existing design workflow. Does it seamlessly fit with your preferred prototyping tool or require cumbersome adjustments? The more frictionless the integration, the more useful the tool.
User Experience Improvements: Measure how the AI tool impacts the final user experience. Tools like heatmap analyzers or AI-powered user testing platforms can reveal if the tool’s insights lead to better usability, increased engagement, or reduced friction for end-users.
Feedback from Team Members: Gather feedback from your team members (other designers, developers, or project managers) on how the AI tool affects collaboration and productivity. A useful AI tool should enhance team collaboration rather than create bottlenecks or confusion.
ROI and Cost-Benefit Analysis: Consider the financial impact of the AI tool. Compare the cost of the tool with the value it provides in terms of time saved, higher quality designs, or reduced need for additional tools or resources. Tools that offer a high return on investment are more likely to be valuable additions to your toolkit.
Creativity Enhancement: Finally, evaluate whether the tool enhances or restricts your creativity. Useful AI tools should free up cognitive space by handling mundane tasks, allowing you to focus on strategic ideation and experimentation.
By systematically evaluating an AI tool against these criteria, you can determine its effectiveness and suitability for your design needs.
15 Best AI Tools for Designers
AI Component Creator by UXPin
The AI Component Creator is a built-in feature of UXPin Merge. It leverages artificial intelligence to automate the creation of UI components, significantly accelerating the design and development process.
This feature enables designers and developers to generate fully functional components with just a few inputs. Here’s how it works and why it’s useful:
Speeds Up Design Work: It automates creating buttons, forms, and other elements by generating components that match your design system and code, saving you a lot of time.
Ready for Developers: The components it makes aren’t just for show—they’re functional and ready for developers to use immediately. This means less back-and-forth between designers and developers.
Easier Collaboration: With real-time updates and changes, everyone on the team can see the latest designs without needing to manually share files.
The tool has received positive reviews on Product Hunt, with users appreciating its ability to generate real UI components. Many designers find it to be a valuable addition to their toolkit, enhancing both productivity and the overall quality of the design process.
Lummi AI is a design assistant that generates design concepts, provides layout suggestions, and offers creative prompts to kickstart the design process. It uses AI to analyze your inputs and produce multiple iterations based on design principles.
Lummi AI helps overcome creative blocks and allows designers to quickly visualize various design directions without starting from scratch, making the ideation process faster and more efficient.
According to reviews on Product Hunt, users highlight the tool’s efficient filters and wide variety of categories that make it easy to find the perfect image for different needs. Patrizia Slongo, a UI/UX designer, mentions that Lummi is an “exceptional resource for web design” with its professional-grade images, while another user, Gilbert Anka, notes that it’s a “must-have for small businesses” due to its usability and variety of images available (Source).
If you’re a designer looking for an AI-powered solution to quickly access high-quality images without the typical hassle of searching through traditional stock photo libraries, Lummi AI could be an excellent tool to explore.
PNG Maker AI
PNG Maker AI specializes in removing backgrounds from images, creating transparent PNGs with a high degree of accuracy. It uses AI to differentiate between foreground and background elements, providing clean extractions.
Many users appreciate the accessibility and free core features, which make PNG Maker AI a go-to option for basic image creation needs. Some have pointed out that while the tool is highly functional, advanced features are gated behind a premium subscription (Source).
Background removal is a time-consuming task. PNG Maker AI’s precision and speed can save hours, making it ideal for creating assets for UI designs, marketing materials, or any context requiring isolated image elements.
Color Magic App
Color Magic uses AI to generate harmonious color palettes based on specific themes or emotions. You can upload images or enter keywords, and the app will suggest color combinations that align with your brand or design goals.
Users can view real-time previews of their palettes and receive suggestions based on different themes like “Winter” or “Sunset,” ensuring the tool provides highly relevant and visually appealing results for diverse design needs (Source).
Overall, Color Magic is a well-regarded tool for generating unique and thematic color palettes, but it might not meet the needs of those requiring extensive editing capabilities or offline use.
If user research feels overwhelming, this tool can help by organizing and analyzing feedback quickly, allowing you to make data-driven design decisions without the usual time investment.
Board of Innovation AI
This AI tool generates innovative ideas and concepts by using prompts related to business challenges, design thinking principles, and industry trends. It’s built to support strategic brainstorming sessions.
This tool is great when you need inspiration for out-of-the-box solutions or want to explore new design and business opportunities within your projects.
Chart AI
Chart AI generates data visualizations based on raw data or even natural language descriptions. It offers a wide range of charts, from basic bar graphs to complex scatter plots.
Chart AI supports a wide range of chart types, such as flowcharts, Gantt charts, pie charts, sequence diagrams, ER diagrams, mind maps, and class diagrams. This variety makes it versatile for different use cases, whether you’re mapping out complex systems or creating simple visual summaries.
Users can customize the appearance of charts with different styling options, helping them create visuals that align with their branding or specific design preferences.
Data visualization is crucial in UX design, especially for user research and presentations. Chart AI simplifies the process, making it easy to communicate insights visually. Its ability to interpret natural language inputs, support for a wide array of chart types, and real-time data integration make it a powerful tool for creating visually appealing and informative diagrams.
Miro Assist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9nzSH77nNU
Are you using Miro for brainstorming and design sprints? Great! Here’s something for you. Miro Assist is an AI-powered feature within Miro’s collaborative whiteboard platform. It automates the organization of sticky notes, mind maps, and project plans, suggesting logical groupings and connections.
Miro Assist enhances real-time collaboration by reducing time spent on structuring information, so your team can focus on generating and refining ideas.
Descript
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk1TxDKzb68
Descript is an audio and video editing tool that uses AI for transcribing, editing, and producing multimedia content. It can convert spoken words into text, making editing as simple as revising a text document.
If your design process includes creating video tutorials, presentations, or voiceovers, Descript’s powerful AI tools make content editing faster and more accessible. The same goes for those of you who include videos in your web design. Descript can help you make the videos more engaging and user-friendly.
Prompt Board
Prompt Board is an AI-powered brainstorming tool that generates creative prompts for design projects. It’s built to stimulate creative thinking and encourage exploration of unconventional ideas.
The tool offers access to over 2,000 curated AI prompts, making it easy for designers to get inspired and generate creative ideas quickly. The prompts cover a wide range of topics and can be customized for different creative projects.
Prompts can be shared across multiple AI models like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, enabling designers to use the same prompts for various generative tasks, from image generation to brainstorming content ideas.
Designers often need inspiration to get started. Prompt Board’s diverse prompts can help you explore new directions and keep the creative juices flowing.
The AI tool excels at understanding context, tone, and audience preferences, making it ideal for creating user-focused copy that aligns with the brand voice. This is useful for UX designers who need to craft messages that resonate with users and enhance the overall experience.
This AI copywriting tool supports multiple languages, making it a good choice for UX teams targeting a global audience. Designers can generate and test copy in different languages to ensure consistency and effectiveness across regions.
Good copy is integral to effective design. Headlime can help you craft compelling text that complements your visuals, saving time and ensuring a cohesive message.
Vance AI
Vance AI is a suite of image enhancement tools that use AI to upscale images, reduce noise, and sharpen visuals without losing quality.
Use Vance AI to improve the quality of low-resolution assets and maintain high standards in your designs.
Fontjoy
Fontjoy is an AI-powered tool that helps designers find balanced font pairings. It suggests typeface combinations based on contrast, similarity, or user preference.
Users can adjust the contrast between fonts—ranging from very similar to highly contrasting—allowing for flexibility in how the fonts are paired based on project requirements. Designers can lock specific fonts they like and let Fontjoy generate complementary fonts for a cohesive design.
Designers can replace sample text with their own copy to see how the font combinations work in real-world scenarios, such as for headings, subheadings, or body text. This feature is particularly useful for UI projects where consistency and legibility are critical.
Font selection can be challenging. Fontjoy simplifies this process, ensuring that your typography choices are visually appealing and complement each other.
Designs.AI
Designs.AI is an all-in-one creative suite that offers tools for logo design, video creation, banner generation, and more. It uses AI to automate creative processes, making it easier to produce high-quality designs quickly.
While Designs.ai provides a good range of features and tools for its price point, it may not be the best option for users seeking high-level customization or complex design projects. It’s better suited for those looking to quickly create content with minimal manual input, making it a practical tool for early-stage branding or content creation.
Adobe Sensei and Firefly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raDbbpj7cIE
Adobe has introduced two powerful AI tools fully integrated into its Creative Cloud applications: Adobe Sensei and Adobe Firefly. Each tool serves a distinct purpose, making them indispensable assets for creative professionals.
Adobe Sensei focuses on productivity by automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks. It handles actions like background removal, content-aware fills, and smart tagging in Photoshop and Lightroom. These features streamline workflows, allowing users to spend less time on technical manipulations and more on the creative aspects of their projects.
Adobe Firefly, on the other hand, is Adobe’s generative AI tool designed for content creation. It specializes in generating new content such as images, illustrations, and text effects based on detailed text prompts.
Firefly’s capabilities extend to generating realistic or abstract visuals, recoloring vectors, and even creating 3D graphics, all through simple text commands. This tool is integrated across Adobe’s applications like Photoshop, Illustrator, and Adobe Express, making it easy to create and edit graphics in real-time.
Both Sensei and Firefly work in harmony to enhance creativity and productivity, offering a balanced approach for both automation and innovation. While Sensei simplifies complex processes, Firefly pushes creative boundaries by enabling unique, AI-driven content generation. Together, they provide substantial benefits for Adobe Creative Cloud users looking to streamline their workflows and elevate their creative projects to new levels.
Use the Power of AI Tools in Design
AI tools are transforming the way designers and developers work by automating repetitive tasks, enhancing creativity, and enabling data-driven decisions. From design automation and code generation to user research and content creation, these tools allow professionals to streamline their workflows and produce high-quality results with greater efficiency.
Whether you’re a designer looking to explore new creative possibilities or a developer wanting to optimize your code, integrating AI into your process amplifies your capabilities. The key is to find the right tools that fit your workflow and enhance your productivity without compromising quality.
AI isn’t here to replace creativity—it’s here to amplify it. Embrace these tools, and you’ll find yourself delivering better, more innovative products in less time, making a lasting impact on your projects and your team. Keep experimenting, keep creating, and let AI help you take your work to the next level!
UXPin Merge combines the power of AI and code-based components to help designers and developers build user interfaces more efficiently. The AI Component Creator automates the creation of functional UI elements, allowing teams to create production-ready components with just a few inputs. Request access to UXPin Merge.
Design-to-code is a familiar workflow. Designers create a prototype using a design tool, and developers convert it to code–a simplified version of the standard product development process.
UXPin Merge turns this process upside down with a revolutionary code-to-design workflow. This article explains code to design and how it enhances the product development process with four case studies, including FinTech giant PayPal. Learn more about UXPin Merge.
Design UI with code-backed components.
Use the same components in design as in development. Keep UI consistency at scale.
What is Code to Design?
Code to design is a UX workflow developed by UXPin using Merge technology. With UXPin Merge, you can use coded UI components to build fully interactive interfaces, and once you’re done with your design, export production code. The components aren’t translated from design to code. They are code.
The code-to-design workflow offers several benefits for designers, stakeholders, and engineers:
Designers build fully interactive prototypes, increasing testing scope during the design process.
Designers don’t design from scratch, thus reducing time to market.
Teams share a design system which adoption is no longer an issue.
The drag-and-drop workflow makes product design more accessible to non-designers, and developers, stakeholders, researchers, and more can create a prototype on their own.
The biggest challenge with a design-to-code workflow is that it creates a gap between designers and engineers. To bridge that gap, designers must use external tools, write detailed documentation, and meet with devs to explain how prototypes and interactions must function.
Even with all this extra work and explanation, the final product often doesn’t meet the designer’s specifications and expectations. Designers and engineers argue over who is to blame, but the real issue is a language barrier. Designers work with vector graphics tools, while engineers work with code.
Code to design boosts collaboration
A code-to-design workflow bridges the gap between designers and engineers. They still speak different languages, but a technology like Merge facilitates the translation between design and development.
Design teams work with visual UI elements, while engineers work with the code powering them–the same component from two perspectives.
Teams working with a design system benefit most from this code-to-design workflow.
With design-to-code workflow, teams work with two versions of the design system:
Image-based UI kit for design tools
UI component library for programming
Code to design eliminates this separation because design teams and engineers use the same component library from the same repository–creating a true single source of truth.
Code to Design Use Cases
You’re probably thinking, “this code-to-design thing sounds great, but how does it translate to real-world product development?” Glad you asked. Here are four use cases where companies use code-to-design for product development.
PayPal
In 2019, PayPal completely redesigned its internal product development process using UXPin Merge. PayPal’s internal UX team had a unique challenge–they had five designers to over one thousand engineers managing 60+ products. No two products looked the same, and each had usability and design inconsistency issues.
Erica Rider, UX Lead EPX at PayPal, was tasked with solving this problem. To add a layer of complexity, Erica had to create a workflow that enabled PayPal’s product team to design, test, and deliver products. They lacked design skills and had little design tool experience.
PayPal’s stakeholders wanted to test the effectiveness of this new code-to-design investment. Erica’s experiment involved creating two versions of a one-page prototype: one using an image-based tool and the other using the UXPin Merge. The results were better than expected:
Image-based tool: over one hour
UXPin Merge: 8 minutes
The Merge prototype had far superior fidelity and functionality. And, with some coaching, PayPal’s product teams achieved the same results.
Stage four: a fully integrated single source of truth with no design or code required for releases
Iress was stuck on stage three, unsure how they would bridge the gap between design and development to reach the final goal–until the team discovered code-to-design approach.
This workflow ticked all the boxes for Iress at that moment:
A single repository serving designers and engineers the components they need to build and release products.
Better alignment between designers and engineers, with seamless design handoffs.
No designing or front-end programming from scratch.
No design drift or inconsistencies across the organization.
Realistic, interactive prototypes give testing participants and stakeholders an accurate representation of the final product.
The opportunity to experiment with theme switching for dark mode or multi-brand design systems.
The first two use cases were enterprise products. But what can code-to-design do for startups and small teams? TeamPassword operates in the highly competitive password management market. The startup’s biggest challenge is that they don’t have any UX designers.
For a startup entrusted with people’s passwords and sensitive data, usability issues and design inconsistencies erode trust, ruining TeamPassword’s reputation and resulting in churn.
TeamPassword’s engineers did all the design and user testing using code prototypes. While these prototypes accurately represented the product’s functionality and user experience, building and iterating on ideas was time-consuming.
In 2022, TeamPassword switched to the MUI design system, which they synced to UXPin using Merge. Instead of developing prototypes, engineers used their custom MUI React library in UXPin. This code-to-design workflow significantly reduced time-to-market while eliminating usability issues and design drift.
When TeamPassword’s developers update the design system repository, the change automatically sync to UXPin, so they always have the latest version. Merge’s Version Control allows the team to track changes and switch between versions during testing.
Design with interactive components coming from your team’s design system.
dotSource
dotSource is a German-based digital product consulting and development agency. The company uses multiple design systems to deliver products and solutions to clients.
dotSource’s biggest problem in delivering these products was redundant processes and duplicate work with two design systems–a UI kit for design and a component library for development. The design system’s documentation created a third piece the team had to maintain.
dotSource’s “single source of truth” was actually three sources, not one–a problem many organizations encounter with design systems.
dotSource knew they had to make their single source of truth code-based but didn’t know how to achieve this workflow using traditional image-based design tools–until they discovered UXPin Merge.
dotSource uses Merge’s Storybook Integration to sync its design system to UXPin. Storybook allows dotSource to update the design system’s repository, documentation, and UXPin’s components with every release.
“Switching to a code-based design workflow is the only way around these image-based limitations. A code-based prototyping tool like UXPin with Merge technology enables this workflow by rendering code (instead of vector graphics), just like a browser. In UXPin, UI components look and behave exactly as they do for developers, effectively bridging the gap between design and development–a real single source of truth.” – dotSource
The Git and Storybook integrations are a little more complex, requiring technical skills to complete the Merge setup with UXPin’s Technical Support Team.
Ready to get started with code to design? Set up a trial and see how it speeds up your product development process and keeps your team on the same page. Try UXPin Merge for free.
AI in design, animated icons, cross platform UX are some of the most exciting 2024 UX and UI design trends. Our research has also noticed an interesting UX UI trend toward larger screens, with Instagram improving its desktop experience to accommodate the growing demand.
Create high-quality, fully functioning prototypes to test your UI design ideas with UXPin. Sign up for a free trial to explore UXPin’s advanced features today!
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Design better products with States, Variables, Auto Layout and more.
Trend 1: AI-integrated Design
From brainstorming design solutions, constructing research plan to complex UX design decisions, artificial intelligence is becoming integrated into the design process. ChatGPT took most industries by the storm and design is no different.
In 2023, designers shared prompts left and right and design tools like Framer and other integrated AI processes to help users come up with initial UI to iterate on. We believe that AI-integrated design will be a thing that will help put most repetitive tasks on autopilot. Let’s put our energy into solving complex problems, right?
UXPin is another tool that added AI to its arsenal. Our Merge technology for code-first design has an AI Component Creator built into it. The creator generates a fully-coded Tailwind UI component based on the prompt you write. Check out this to see how it works: ChatGPT in UI design.
Trend 2: Cross-Platform UX
While cross-platform UX isn’t new to most of you, it will be taken to another level in 2024. Last year we reported that apps like Instagram have upgraded their desktop versions to take advantage of large-screen monitors. YouTube, on the other hand, embraced TikTok-like stories format, making it better suited for hand-held devices.
An approaching trend is personalization within cross-platform experience. Apps want to stay relevant and give the users content that they may enjoy to make them stay longer.
Trend 3: Location-Based UX
The buzz around location-based experiences is growing. The apps that offer it will be the epitome of user-centric design next year, as users are starting to value experiences that are both personalized and effortlessly convenient. Picture this: having public transport recommendations more suitable to your lifestyle.
AI takes center stage in shaping the future of location-based experiences. It helps predict user movements and behaviors. Product teams may use AI to anticipate user preferences, intuitively suggesting relevant places, events, or services—often before users actively seek them out.
Trend 4: Animated Icons
Animated icons have officially made their grand entrance into iOS17, injecting life into your Apple apps. Whether you prefer solid icons or lean towards the elegance of outline icons, now is the time to infuse movement into your visual elements.
Get ready to breathe new life into your interface with animated icons that resonate seamlessly with the dynamic spirit of iOS17.
Trend 5: 3D Visual Elements
Are you trying to visualize complex data, building a UX of a VR app or trying to enhance brand recognition? Include 3D elements in your work! Such interfaces are going to be big in 2024.
3D elements help designers draw the user’s eye and add depth and realism that draws users in. We can’t say what originated the trend but some of the designs look like something that was created using Midjourney – another AI tool.
Trend 6: Emotionally Intelligent Design
Emotionally Intelligent Design means creating products, services, or experiences that take into account users’ emotions. It acknowledges and addresses the emotional aspects of human interaction with technology. Examples of emotionally intelligent design might include features like empathetic error messages or interfaces that adapt to users’ moods.
Key aspects of emotionally intelligent design include:
Empathy: Understanding and empathizing with users’ needs, desires, and emotions. This involves considering the user’s perspective, emotions, and potential pain points throughout the design process.
Anticipation: Predicting and responding to users’ emotions and needs before they explicitly express them. This can involve using data, user research, and intuitive design to anticipate user reactions and proactively address potential issues.
Feedback and Communication: Providing clear and supportive feedback to users, acknowledging their actions, and communicating effectively. This includes using language, visuals, and interactions that resonate emotionally with the user.
Adaptability: Designing interfaces that can adapt to users’ emotional states or changing needs. This might involve customization options, personalization features, or dynamic content that responds to user behavior.
Inclusivity: Recognizing and accommodating a diverse range of users with different emotional responses, cultural backgrounds, and preferences. Inclusive design ensures that products and experiences are emotionally resonant for a broad audience.
Ethical Considerations: Ensuring that design decisions consider the ethical implications of the product or service, including potential emotional impact. This involves avoiding manipulative practices and prioritizing the well-being of users.
Trend 7: Focus on Typography
The latest trend in typography for 2024 can be summarized in three words: big, bold, and capitalized. It’s fantastic strategy for UI designers looking to grab users’ attention. Even the global web trends website, Awwwards, uses capitalized bold typography for its homepage H1 and header callout.
UI designers also mix typefaces and styles to emphasize words or draw users’ attention. For example, this hero from Lacoste’s Draw it Yourself campaign uses bold capital styling combined with solid and outlined text for its H1.
Tennis star Venus Williams also uses big, bold, capitalized typography throughout her website design. The font helps reinforce Venus’ status as a strong, dominant world number one.
If you want to stand out and position your brand as a dominant market leader, big, bold, capital typography can help achieve that in 2024! For a softer, calmer approach, you can use thin, condensed, and capitalized lettering–like this example from the Aussi-based creative initiative Hip Opera.
Take your UI design to the next level with UXPin–the world’s most advanced design and prototyping tool.
Improve user testing and get meaningful stakeholder feedback with fully interactive prototypes that look and feel like the final product. Sign up for a free trial to explore UXPin’s advanced prototyping features.
Design system is a set of components, rules, style guides, and documentation used to build a coherent and on-brand interface of a product. Most brands create their own design system and we prepared a list of thirteen most popular design systems that you can learn a lot from. Those and other design system examples can be found in our design system repository called Adele.
Boost design system adoption and governance with UXPin Merge. Bring all interactive components from your design system to the editor, build fully interactive prototypes, and keep your designs consistent. Read more about UXPin Merge.
Reach a new level of prototyping
Design with interactive components coming from your team’s design system.
What is a Design System?
A design system is a collection of all design resources that a product team may use to build user interface of their app, website, eCommerce store or any other UI design they need to develop.
Design systems aren’t only for designers. They are also for developers, as they contain all code snippets and development resources with necessary front-end code together with documentation as well as design guidelines, relevant plugins, design patterns, style guides, reusable components, rules plus guidelines, and all other building blocks useful for web design and development workflow.
These design systems are then hosted as websites online and can be publicly available (they are open-source design systems) or internal, whatever the brand decides.
We can think of a design system as a vast data library that acts as a valuable document with applicable instructions and examples, product design and coding guidelines, and a part of the UI kit all at the same time.
Consistency – design systems act as a single source of truth for design and development.
Transparency – developers can use the design system components directly, without needing to interpret design decisions.
Scale – designers are able to build prototypes faster and streamline developer handoff.
Reusability – design systems facilitate the creation of prototypes with consistent components that can be shared within the organization.
Clarity – design systems help ensure that design decisions are based on shared knowledge, making it easier for team members to understand and contribute effectively.
What is There to Learn from Design Systems?
The majority of design systems follow rather general setup patterns.
The system often features its top navigation with the main categories: Design, Code, Language, Components, etc.
Each of these main categories has its subcategories that discuss things in more detail, making the most out of the atomic design structure. For instance, these subcategories could be something like Typography, Color, Forms, Banners, etc.
Following this intuitive navigation can get you valuable information about best practices in terms of design.
The Benefits of Creating a Design System
With a well-built design system in place, businesses can considerably improve their teamwork and streamline decision-making process, but that’s not all that you can get from creating a design system.
Such collection of guidelines, elements, and data minimizes communication issues between designers and developers and minimizes the room for potential UX design bugs or acquiring UX debt.
What’s more, having such a reference-rich library significantly reduces the necessary time to go from a prototype to an actual product.
For example, PayPal uses Fluent UI together with Merge technology. This allows them to incorporate the interactive components to the UXPin library. That way, both designers and product team members alike can easily access these components and design with them over and over again.
Design systems are a great way to minimize the disconnect between designers and developers but are still not the ideal solution on their own. Thanks to the Merge technology revolution, product team members can easily use the same tools and improve their DesignOps workflow processes. This means that both developers and designers can access and use the same UI elements from one single source.
Design System Challenges and Solution
Even when companies try to create their design system, specific issues and consistency disconnects can still happen, especially when maintaining all the elements, documentation and code.
Learn more about design system challenges and solutions from one of the top design leaders – Johnson & Johnson. During our webinar, the J&J team shared all their best practices.
Example 1: Porsche Design System
The Porsche Design System is an exemplary model due to its comprehensive, well-documented, and high-standard approach to design and implementation, making it a valuable reference for anyone looking to create top-tier web applications.
The Porsche Design System stands out because it provides the essential design fundamentals and elements required for creating visually appealing and high-quality web applications. One of its key strengths lies in its pixel-based libraries for Figma and then coded ones in UXPin, which streamline the design process for digital creators. Additionally, it includes coded Web Components and detailed usage guidelines, ensuring that the implementation is as smooth and consistent as the design.
What truly sets this system apart is its adherence to the rigorous Porsche quality standards and corporate design principles. Every component is meticulously built and tested, guaranteeing not only aesthetic excellence but also functional reliability. This holistic approach ensures that the final products are both beautiful and robust, reflecting the esteemed Porsche brand.
Example 2: Google Material Design System
One of the most popular design system is Google’s Material Design. Google created and publicly shared their Material Design System that goes into the tiniest details regarding everything there is to know about the design and design principles. Every UXPin user can easily use the Material Design components as they are one of the UXPin libraries.
Material Design allows other brands and individuals to have a strong foundation for building upon when it comes to their own approach to atomic design, industry innovation and unique brand expression.
The main features of the Google Material Design System include:
Starter Kits
Design Source Files
Material Theming
Layout
Typography
Color
Components
Mobile Guidelines
Google’s Material Design System looks very mature. It has a lot of design guidelines, but it also contains documentation about UI components that are used in development. Did you know that such components can be used in design? Bring your developers’ components to design with UXPin’s Merge technology. Request access to UXPin Merge.
Example 3: Apple Human Interface Guidelines
Apple has one of the top design system. It is called Apple Human Interface Guidelines and it presents a vast and rather valuable design system resource for the web design essentials and pattern libraries but downloadable templates. The iOS UI kit library is also available with a UXPin account.
The system follows Steve Job’s design principles:
Craft with great precision and attention to detail
Emphasize user experience and connection with the users
Focus on what’s truly important on a larger scale
Generate wanted user reactions thanks to the specific design language and practices
Utilize the friendly aspect of high tech for both novice and advanced users
Simplify everything
Features of Apple Design System
Apple Human Interface Guidelines consist of practical resources, visual guidelines and style guides for both designers and developers for iOS, macOS, vOS and watchOS.
Atlassian Design System is one of the best out there. Atlassian Design System focuses on providing valuable assistance to teams from all over the world by making their collaboration seamless and easy. Atlassian Design Guidelines are also a part of UXPin’s library collection.
Atlassian design philosophy is all about utilizing the digital experience to improve the productivity and overall potential of teams and individual team members, perfectly reflected in their globally used collaboration tools Trello and Jira.
That said, Atlassian Design System features agile practices and efficient tracking of every single step within a project that ultimately yields valuable results in terms of product delivery and development.
According to Uber, movement ignites opportunity and that’s how they structured their design system.
After all, Uber service bases on movement with ride-hailing, peer-to-peer ridesharing, food delivery and micro-mobility involving scooters and electric bikes.
For this type of service to work impeccably, from sub-brands to internal ones and products to programs, Uber requires an effective design system that the company shares with the rest of the world.
Features of Uber Design System
Main features of Uber Design System to copy to your design system example:
Brand Architecture
Composition
Tone of Voice
Motion
Illustration
Photography
Iconography
Color
Logo
Typography
Example 6: Shopify Design System Polaris
Shopify is a global eCommerce platform that provides everything a brand may need to run and grow its business in one place.
It’s no wonder that their design principles focus on creating a better and more accessible commerce experience.
Shopify’s public design system called Polaris encompasses the company’s core values:
Be caring and considerate to the users
Provide people with the right tools to accomplish whatever they set out to do
Enjoy the top level of craftsmanship that matches the brand image
Minimize the hustle by providing accurate and quick solutions
Always build upon users’ trust
Make the users feel comfortable with using the products
Polaris Design System provides an easy-to-follow and practical style guide for designing for the Shopify platform. It offers a vast knowledge base on utilizing UI components, visual elements, content, and design language for creating a better user experience and product in general.
Features of Shopify’s Design System
Shopify’s design system example includes main features that follow the practices mentioned above to a tee:
Data Visualization
Accessibility
Interaction States
Colors
Typography
Icons
Illustrations
Spacing
Sounds
Resources
Example 7: Carbon IBM Design System
IBM operates on a global scale by meeting large enterprise IT needs.
Their services range from business consulting and financing, software development and IT hosting/management to software-to-hardware products.
IBM’s core belief revolves around making constant progress, be that human condition, society or a brand, by utilizing science, reason and intelligence.
According to IBM, a good design is not only a mere requirement but an actual responsibility to the users.
Features of IBM’s Design System
This is where their Carbon Design System shines with its main features, offering plenty of tools and visual resources for Adobe, Axure and Sketch designers as well as developers:
Data Visualization
Patterns
Components
Guidelines
Tutorials
UXPin users can conveniently find everything they need from Carbon in their account as well.
Example 8: Mailchimp Design System
Mailchimp has come a long way from being a renowned email marketing leader to providing an all-in-one marketing platform that goes beyond email only.
Mailchimp has one clear goal: to help small businesses grow while remaining true to their brand identity and image.
Features of Mailchimpr’s Design System
That is also one of the many reasons behind creating the Mailchimp Design System and its main features that focus on creative expression, better user experience and top quality:
Data Visualization
Grid System
Color
Typography
Components
Example 9: Salesforce Lightning Design System
Salesforce goes above and beyond to deliver a personalized experience to its users through the integrated cloud-based CRM software.
The purpose of the Salesforce CRM is to improve marketing, commerce, IT, service and sales efforts – and allows their users to do the same with their users.
Their design philosophy is reflected in the Hawaiian word for intentional family, Ohana, with four core values that drive their company actions and overall culture:
Innovation
Equality
Trust
Customer Success
Features of Salesforce Design System
Salesforce has put out their own Lightning Design System that allows everyone working with content management systems to learn and benefit from its main features:
Pinterest created a design system that they named Gestalt. The company goes above and beyond to create a visually rich and personalized experience for its users, enabling them to discover, collect, and curate ideas from across the web. Through its intuitive platform, Pinterest empowers users to explore a vast array of topics, from home decor to recipes, and beyond, making it a leading destination for creative inspiration.
The purpose of Pinterest’s design system is to enhance every aspect of the user experience by promoting consistency, scalability, and accessibility across its platform. By leveraging the design system, Pinterest ensures that both internal teams and external partners can create cohesive, user-friendly interfaces that align with its core visual discovery mission.
Pinterest’s Design Philosophy: Pinners First
Pinterest’s design philosophy is driven by a commitment to empowering users (“Pinners”) with a seamless and delightful experience, anchored by these core values:
Inspiration: Encouraging creativity and helping users discover ideas that fuel their passions.
Simplicity: Delivering an intuitive, easy-to-navigate interface that puts the user experience at the forefront.
Empathy: Designing with the understanding of users’ diverse needs and backgrounds.
Scalability: Creating a system that can grow and adapt as Pinterest evolves, while maintaining consistency across all platforms.
Features of the Pinterest Design System
Pinterest has developed its own design system to ensure that designers and developers can create unified, visually consistent experiences.
Design Guidelines
Responsiveness
Accessibility
Reusability
Example 11: Capital One Design System
Capital One goes above and beyond to deliver a user-centric and personalized experience across its digital financial services. Through its intuitive platform, Capital One empowers users to manage their banking, credit cards, and personal finance with ease, offering tools and resources that cater to diverse financial needs.
The purpose of Capital One’s design system is to ensure consistency, scalability, and accessibility across its products, enabling designers and developers to create seamless, secure, and engaging experiences for millions of customers. This system drives the creation of unified interfaces and interactions that align with Capital One’s mission to make banking smarter, faster, and easier.
Capital One’s Design Philosophy: Customers First
Capital One’s design philosophy is anchored in a commitment to providing customer-centric, intuitive digital experiences. It reflects the company’s dedication to putting customers at the heart of every design decision. The core values that guide their design efforts are:
Innovation: Constantly exploring new technologies and design patterns to stay ahead in the digital financial space.
Simplicity: Prioritizing easy-to-use interfaces that streamline financial tasks for users.
Trust: Building secure, reliable digital products that foster customer confidence in managing their finances.
Accessibility: Ensuring inclusive designs that accommodate all users, regardless of their abilities or backgrounds.
Features of the Capital One Design System
Capital One’s design system offers a robust framework that enables designers and developers to create cohesive, scalable digital experiences. It is built with the flexibility to support a wide range of financial products while maintaining a consistent look and feel across platforms.
Through its thoughtfully crafted design system, Capital One ensures that its digital products provide a cohesive, intuitive, and accessible experience for its users. The system empowers teams to create financial tools that are not only functional but also user-friendly and secure, driving customer satisfaction and trust across every touchpoint.
Example 12: Intuit Design System
Intuit goes above and beyond to deliver intuitive, user-friendly experiences that simplify financial management for individuals and businesses alike. From TurboTax to QuickBooks, Intuit’s suite of products is designed to make complex financial tasks easier, helping users manage their taxes, accounting, and personal finances with confidence.
The Intuit design system serves as the backbone for creating consistent, scalable, and efficient experiences across its wide range of financial products. By using a unified design framework, Intuit ensures that its customers can seamlessly navigate their financial journey, whether they’re filing taxes or managing business finances.
Intuit’s Design Philosophy: Design for Delight
Intuit’s design philosophy is centered around delivering delightful user experiences that simplify complex financial processes. The company is guided by key principles that ensure every interaction is crafted with care, empathy, and innovation. These principles include:
Empathy: Designing with a deep understanding of users’ financial challenges and needs.
Craftsmanship: Striving for the highest quality in both design and functionality to make financial management easier.
Speed: Ensuring that users can complete tasks quickly and efficiently, reducing the time spent on financial work.
Trust: Building experiences that foster trust through transparency and reliability in financial data.
Features of the Intuit Design System
Intuit’s design system provides a robust framework for designers and developers to create seamless, consistent, and scalable experiences across its products. It equips teams with the tools and guidelines needed to deliver intuitive and delightful user interfaces.
Example 13: Adobe Design System
Adobe has long been at the forefront of delivering innovative tools that empower creatives, designers, and businesses to bring their visions to life. From Photoshop to Illustrator and beyond, Adobe’s suite of products is known for its powerful functionality and user-centric design. To ensure a consistent and seamless user experience across its diverse portfolio, Adobe developed a robust design system that harmonizes its visual language, components, and interactions.
The Adobe design system, called Spectrum, acts as a foundational framework that enables designers and developers to build cohesive, scalable, and accessible experiences across Adobe’s extensive product lineup. This system helps unify the creative tools while allowing for flexibility and innovation in how products evolve.
Adobe’s Design Philosophy: Create for All
Adobe’s design philosophy is centered around empowering users to unlock their creativity, whether they are professionals, hobbyists, or businesses. The company is guided by core principles that inform every design decision, ensuring its products are accessible, powerful, and inspiring. These principles include:
Creativity: Enabling every user to express themselves through intuitive and powerful tools.
Consistency: Providing a unified experience across Adobe’s products, so users can seamlessly switch between them.
Inclusivity: Designing for all users, regardless of their abilities or backgrounds, ensuring that creativity is accessible to everyone.
Scalability: Building a design system that grows with Adobe’s expansive product suite, ensuring future-proofed design decisions.
Features of the Adobe Design System
The Adobe design system is a comprehensive toolkit that supports designers and developers in creating consistent, scalable, and user-friendly experiences across all Adobe products. It combines design guidelines, reusable components, and accessibility features to create a seamless experience for users.
Make the Most of Design System: the UXPin Merge Way
Building and maintaining a design system can be challenging when there’s a communication gap between design and development teams. UXPin Merge eliminates these issues by enabling designers to work with the exact same components developers use in production. This means no more inconsistencies between your designs and the final product.
With UXPin Merge, your design system becomes more than just a static library of assets. It evolves into a dynamic, code-powered toolkit where each component is linked directly to the source code. Every UI element in your design matches production code perfectly, reducing the need for handoffs and extensive reviews.
Why UXPin Merge?
Create with Production-Ready Components: Drag-and-drop coded components directly into your designs. Forget about “faking” interactions or aligning to colors—your prototypes now use the exact same code components developers will use in the final build.
Effortless Consistency: When your design system components are updated in the codebase, they’re automatically updated in UXPin. This ensures that every change is reflected across the entire design, reducing time spent on maintenance.
Real-Time Collaboration: No more back-and-forth between teams. Designers can leverage Merge to build and test fully functional, high-fidelity prototypes without waiting on developers. This accelerates the design process and shortens project timelines.
Scalable and Reliable: Easily manage complex design systems with Merge’s seamless integration with code repositories like Git or Storybook. As your design system scales, Merge helps maintain a single source of truth, ensuring all teams have access to the latest components and documentation.
See Your Vision Come to Life—Exactly as You Imagined
With UXPin Merge, you’re not just designing the look and feel—you’re building the final product’s foundation. Avoid costly inconsistencies, improve collaboration, and watch as your design system evolves into a powerful bridge between design and development.
Ready to build the perfect design system with UXPin Merge? Start your journey today and experience the efficiency, consistency, and satisfaction of turning your design vision into reality. Request access to UXPin Merge.
On the other end, developers get the prototype preview and continue to work with the available production-ready elements.
Which Design System Example is Your Favorite?
Design systems consist of tons of UI components and guidelines that are meant to optimize and improve the design efforts and promote consistency among the teams.
However, if the design system is poorly maintained and implemented, the said system can turn into nothing more than many clunky and confusing code snippets, libraries and components.
A design system can quickly help team members to promote consistency while also allowing designers to deal with more complex UX issues. And when you add revolutionary Merge tech to the mix, you can truly take your design system organization to the next level. Learn more about UXPin Merge.
There are many important UX design principles organizations must consider when building products. These UX principles complement the design thinking process, placing the user at the center of all decision-making.
This article looks at 16 UX design principles organizations can use to build better products.
UXPin’s advanced prototyping and testing features allow design teams to minimize usability issues to create better user experiences. Sign up for a 14-day free trial today!
Focus on the User
While it might seem obvious to focus on the user, many designers still make decisions based on personal preference or bias rather than fully understanding their users.
Designers also get sidetracked with design and technical innovation that doesn’t always solve users’ problems or add significant value to the product.
The best design decisions come from understanding your users and fulfilling their needs. Why?—because you’re designing products for people!
Many experienced UX professionals believe focusing on users rather than humans creates a disconnect where designers forget they’re dealing with human beings.
Reframing the term to human-centered design helps UX teams shift from solving design and technical issues to helping people.
Building a framework based on design thinking principles will always keep the user front and center:
Design consistency is a vital ingredient to providing a good user experience. An inconsistent user experience means people will have trouble using parts of a product or might have to relearn how to use it with every feature release or update!
A designer’s goal is to build a product that fulfills users’ needs without worrying about inconsistencies, ultimately building trust and loyal customers.
Creating a design system can help develop consistency, so designers, product teams, and developers always use the same elements, typography, colors, components, assets, etc.
Create content and experiences that users can easily digest. Designers must recognize that people will always look for the easiest route. If you don’t provide something easy to use in this highly competitive tech landscape, someone else will!
If your product requires onboarding, ensure your documentation is easy to understand with step-by-step instructions.
The UXPin documentation is a perfect example. Firstly, we categorize instructions, so it’s easy to find what you’re looking for. Next, we organize content with subheadings, step-by-step instructions, and explainer videos, making the information easy to follow and digest.
Don’t Make Users Think
Information architect and user experience professional Steve Krug states in his book, Don’t Make Me Think, “As a user, I should never have to devote a millisecond of thought to whether things are clickable or not.”
UX designers must follow design standards for product, app, and web design. For example, don’t hide navigation where users wouldn’t expect to find it. Make sure buttons, CTAs, and links are obvious to find and take users to their intended destination.
Creativity and innovation come from solving problems competitors haven’t thought of, not creating experiences where users have to relearn fundamental standards and processes.
How human psychology and cognitive load relate to UX design is something every designer must learn. Optimizing product design to minimize cognitive load will foster better user experiences and trust in the brand.
Understand Visual Grammar
First defined by the Bauhaus school in the early 1900s, the building blocks of all design comprise of three core elements: points, lines, and planes.
The best UX designers understand how to use these three elements to minimize design complexity, making products easier to navigate thus creating better user experiences.
If you feel your designs are getting too complex and complicated, return to the basics and figure out how to create the same user experience using simple design elements.
Identify the Problem First
Identifying problems comes from thorough UX research and testing—not designer intuition.
UX researchers should keep asking why a problem exists to understand the root cause and find the right solution. Testing and iterating prototypes play a crucial role in helping to identify and solve problems.
If you don’t have proper prototyping and testing tools, you might get inaccurate results or even create problems that don’t exist!
UXPin is the world’s most advanced prototyping and testing tool. Designers can use a design system to build high-fidelity prototypes for testing quickly. Share prototypes straight from UXPin to identify problems through testing, make changes, and iterate!
Sign up for a 14-day free trial to discover how UXPin can identify and solve user problems better than any other design tool.
Simple Language Is Best
Language should be as simple as possible, and designers should avoid using jargon or insider terms that people won’t understand. Alienating people through complicated language is a quick way to lose customers!
Readability can have a significant impact on cognitive load, even for highly educated users. It goes back to point four, Don’t Make Users Think.
According to the widely-used writing aid Grammarly, you should use eighth-grade language (13 years old in the United States) for written content.
Have Empathy for Your Audience
Empathy is the heart of human-centered design—taking designers beyond understanding to connect with users on a deeper level. Designers use empathy so they can relate with users, their struggles, and their environment.
An empathy map is a UX research tool that helps designers empathize by identifying what users:
See
Hear
Think
Feel
Teams use empathy maps during initial research and usability testing to identify different feelings and emotions. Understanding users on a deeper level can help identify problems they might not express or verbalize.
Provide Feedback
Use microinteractions and animations to communicate with your users to provide feedback and context for their actions.
For example, if your product needs time to process an action, use a throbber or loading icon to let the users know to wait. Ensure error messages help users correct the problem, like highlighting missed required form inputs.
Use consistent feedback that aligns with brand messaging to ensure you always provide a positive user experience.
Don’t Forget the Business Value
Designers must satisfy two entities, users and the brand. While focusing on users is vital to building a successful product, designers must also ensure designs create business value.
Business value and human-centered design often overlap. For example, a smoother, faster eCommerce checkout experience will improve the user experience (user-centered) while increasing conversion rates (business value).
Whenever you’re trying to solve user problems, always look for opportunities to create business value simultaneously.
Ewelina Łuszczek from the Polish-based agency, HERODOT, summarizes a designer’s obligation to business value in one concise sentence, “A great UX designer will manage to link user goals with business goals so that both users and the company reap benefits.”
Here are four great examples from a 2014 INFRAGISTICS study, The Business Value of User Experience:
Bank of America
Designer action: user-center redesign of the registration process
Result: registration up 45%
Anthropologie (clothing company)
Designer action: UX redesign of the checkout process
Result: sales up 24%
GFK (consulting firm)
Designer action: buy button redesign
Result: sales up $500 million
United Airlines
Designer action: user research
Result: online ticketing up 200%
You can read INFRAGISTICS’ complete 12-page study for more information about creating business value through UX design here.
User testing
Like point six, Identify the Problem First, user testing is crucial for designers to understand real user issues rather than making educated guesses.
Usability testing provides UX teams with valuable feedback and user insights, including:
Validating design concepts to solve users’ problems
Exposing usability problems to fix
Discovering opportunities for improvement
Learn more about the users
Identifying business value opportunities
Teams should test from conceptualization to final design handoff—constantly looking for problems to solve and validating their solutions.
Visual hierarchy helps organize a product or screen layout so users can identify important elements and quickly scan to find what they need.
Designers create visual hierarchy by using distinct variations in color, contrast, scale, and grouping.
An excellent example of visual hierarchy is how writers use header tags to structure and organize content in an article—as we’ve done with this blog post!
Accessibility is an important design consideration to make products inclusive for users with impairments or disabilities. Accessibility should also consider who Google calls the “Next Billion Users” (people using technology for the first time).
Some key accessibility considerations include:
Ensuring screen readers can interpret content and instructions
Ensuring colors and contrast don’t impair readability
Using a combination of icons and text so that all users understand links and navigation
Using legible fonts and text sizes
UX designers often forget about these considerations because design tools don’t provide accessibility checker functionality.
At UXPin, “We believe no one should feel excluded from digital experiences because of their visual disabilities.” So, we built Accessibility Features into our design editor.
Where possible, always make it easy for users to change their minds or edit the information they submit. For example, providing a back button on every screen in a checkout flow gives the user control to fix errors or make changes.
Never force people to commit to a decision they’ve made, and always ensure your product does not mislead users—whether it’s intentional or not.
Many organizations intentionally make it difficult for users to cancel a subscription by hiding the option in settings or making them contact support (where they usually try to offer incentives to continue the subscription).
Limiting the controls users have to change their minds or edit information creates distrust in the brand and pushes customers to find other solutions.
Design Handoff
Although it’s an internal process, a poor design handoff can adversely affect users by causing unnecessary delays or introducing technical errors.
UX teams, product designers, and developers must work together to develop processes and protocols, so design handoffs run smoothly with minimal errors.
UXPin Merge can help bridge the gap between design and development. Firstly, Merge allows designers to sync components with a repository (via Git or Storybook integrations) so design teams can build fully functioning high-fidelity prototypes—improving testing and reducing usability issues.
Secondly, UXPin’s Spec Mode facilitates an easy handoff process where developers can get detailed information about designs.
Inspect properties: grab CSS for elements and components, including sizing, grids, colors, and typography
Distance measurement: hover over elements for the distance between elements and the canvas edge
Style guide: a summary of the product’s design system with the option to download assets when applicable
Explore the power of UXPin Merge and how to connect your preferred technology, either through our Git integration for React or Storybook for other popular front-end libraries.
Reevaluate and Revise
One of the beautiful things about UX design is that it’s constantly evolving, allowing organizations to improve products and user experiences continuously.
Once you launch a new product or release, the work of analyzing data and reviewing designs begins.
How does the product perform when thousands or millions of people use it?
Do users use the product as intended?
Do users take shortcuts that you can use to improve their experience?
When analyzing a product’s performance, teams should always look for ways to improve the user experience while exploring avenues to increase business value.
Summary
Hopefully, you can use these 16 UX design principles to improve workflows and create better product experiences for your users. This is by no means an exhaustive list, so we recommend you always look for ways to improve your processes.
UXPin is a collaborative design tool that can help foster healthy UX design principles for your company. It’s the only design tool that successfully bridges the gap between designers, product teams, and developers to improve every aspect of the UX design process.
Get started with a 14-day free trial to explore a new world of design with UXPin!
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