Design Patterns for UX
Maybe you are questioning yourself about this article’s title… And you are right for having that kind of positioning!
Is it about how hard it is or how obvious it is?!
I invite you to discover with me.
First of all, you have to know that as in the back-end development, there are also so many patterns for the front-end and the UX, properly saying.
Today we are going to talk about some those I’ve figured out as important as the syntax is for coding something.
My favorite pattern on UX, and maybe it’ll turn to be your too, is what is called the Illusion of Control.
Think of the experience of your customer and let himself feels that he is in control, but your customer has no idea from who is the real control.
The Illusion of Control takes action when someone thinks that they’re capable to do whatever they want and instead they’re just doing the necessary, and, in some cases, the obligatory things.
But, wait! Don’t you think it is a bit obscure?
In fact, it is. Although, you should see the necessity of having a fluent and controlled process is better for business, and, for sure, for the user.
The illusion of control can act as a motivational factor for conducting certain behavior that is either unsafe or that we believe will bring us closer to a goal.
Another really interesting design pattern is the way you build the system to accomplish the most default features those smooth the usage over all.
It’s called Status-Quo Bias.
Let’s take an explanation about the term itself. So, it is a Latin expression that means on the “on the state of things”. Then, the system can be built in a way that the user does not need to do a lot, but the necessary. Something that doesn’t makes the user lazy about the system.
Looks like something ordinary, but it’s not. When the user looks at something that facilitates his life, it’s just a piece of cake to start on the way to success.
Simply pre-filling a form with default options is often enough to make people choose them. Alternative options that seem too cumbersome to comprehend will make people stick with the status quo.
Facebook came to it about a few years ago, when the privacy police just kept the rate of incoming new users, by not having the necessity of user to change any settings in his profile and passing security to their customers about it.
And, what about the Blank Slate?!
You may be more common with this one because it’s being adopted by many companies on websites and nowadays more reliable to mobile applications.
Simple as it seems to be, it can bring a lot of satisfaction and good feedback from customers.
There are many ways to perform this kind of pattern. One of them is to show how the application goes empty, in other words, how the system act when there is nothing to do.
And of course, it can be applied to the opposite, by showing how the app works with life, full of information.
This pattern motivates the users on achieving some of the goals that are showed in the display. So you have some work to do right now 😉
After all this walk-through we are ready to know another pattern that is called nothing less than Playthrough.
As the word mention, imagine a scenario where you don’t realize something special will happen. Then, suddenly a little “guy” appears on your screen telling you that there is something new and you would love to use it.
Some times you have to truly think about what to present to the user. Be careful to not treat everything as a Feature Discovery, such this pattern is called as well.
A Playthrough must be to help the users discover new functionalities and how to use them.
It’s risky to always have in mind that the feedback will be spontaneous or the user will love the fact that the system has a new feature. It has to be accomplished to the user needs.
You must have realized that almost everything about UX is about thinking and thinking is doing the new on the visual system.
Keep in mind that there are lots of others designs and there is always a new strategy to keep your business and customers/users increasing.
Why can’t you be the next one to create a new great pattern? Good luck!
