We live in a hyper-connected reality that compels us to interact with technology daily, hourly, and sometimes minute-by-minute. A study conducted across 16 countries indicates that 48 percent of the youth (aged between 18 and 34) say that it is possible to have a “human connection” in a fully automated conversation.
Tech has made pace with our evolution.
Designing for humans involves understanding people’s needs and motivations and makes room for a more efficient, viable, and relevant design approach in times to come.
Human-centric design hinges on addressing user pain points by leveraging a human perspective to arrive at solutions.
What Constitutes Human Design?
Designing for humans ultimately boils down to eliminating cognitive load.
Cognitive load is the level of complexity required to handle an application.
Humans are unassuming when it comes to tech; most of us gravitate towards what’s easy to use and remember. Bad design does the opposite; it forces users to “figure out” what each aspect of the application is for and translates into difficulty with comprehending the entire product altogether.
Remember, zero cognitive load is chemical X to achieving minimalistic, compelling UI UX design.
Four Tenets to Designing for Humans
- Keeping it Simple
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” — Leonardo da Vinci.
Spotify helps users beat Monday Blues by gifting them with a curated playlist Discover Weekly, based on their taste in music. The feature is unique, helping the users discover new earworms.
The real beauty, however, lies in how it simplifies the interface.
Car View for instance, is Spotify’s special mobile viewing mode that turns on automatically when the user is driving. This simplified interface with no bells and whistles, proves to be satisfactory and gives users just what they want – focus on the road while listening to a great soundtrack.
Takeaway: Fresh and innovative is great, but simplicity takes you to the finishing line, making you a winner.
- Decoding Application Usability
A lot has been spoken about the importance of application usability.
It’s the quality of the user’s experience, while they are interacting with the products or systems. It takes into account how effective, efficient the product/system is for the user. And also, how satisfactory was their experience.
That said, usability is a sum of the following factors:
- Intuitive design
- Ease of learning
- Efficiency of use
- Memorability
- Error frequency and severity
- Subjective satisfaction
Once these factors are in place, it’s also important to move ahead with Usability testing to gain a competitive advantage.
- Familiarity + Space for Innovation = A Winning Formula
Creating comfortable user interactions is the backbone of empathy-driven design.
While it could be tempting to go all out and design for a futuristic world, adding a few familiar elements goes a long way in simplifying the interface for users. Adopting standard design conventions shortens the time taken and streamlines the process of understanding what each component does, thus engaging them on a deeper level.
A great example where familiarity meets innovation is that of interactive menus.
- Addressing the Big Picture
It is an app’s overall theme and background are the first things that get subconsciously noticed. Most users gravitate towards themes and imagery, which is easy on the eyes and resonate across different backgrounds and geographies.
Pro Tip: Experiment with classic and vintage designs to provide a neutral albeit classy look and feel to your product.
No design is ever sustainable without the human element for inspiration. Humanized UI/UX is the future in design tech and will continue to shape trends for years to come. Above all, keeping designs consistency is the key to fortifying the user experience.
Here’s another read that will help you explore- Why an engaging UI is needed for in-car audiences.
Top comments (1)
Great article! You've nailed the importance of human-centric design. Focusing on simplicity and usability is crucial for creating truly exceptional user experiences. The Spotify example perfectly illustrates how to balance innovation with user needs. I completely agree that understanding and addressing cognitive load is key to success. Looking forward to more insights on this topic!