UX design process is systematic, iterative, and structured series of actions that is necessary for designing a product’s user experience. It helps teams to follow easy-to-replicate protocols to deliver products while meeting the organization’s quality standards.

Speed up your design process by building prototypes with the same UI components that devs build apps with. Meet tight deadlines and release quality products. Discover UXPin Merge.

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What is UX Design?

UX design (user experience design) is a digital product design methodology to solve a human problem. This human-centered design approach ensures design teams make decisions based on users’ needs rather than assumptions.

Empathy is at the core of this human-centered approach. UX designers must understand what a user wants to achieve using 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. It 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.

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.

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
• Enables designers to test and iterate on many ideas to find the best solution
• Promotes collaboration between teams and departments
• Reduces the risk of rework by following set protocols
• Allows stakeholders to track a project’s progress 
• Identifies hidden risks and opportunities

What are 7 Steps of UX Design Process?

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:

• Business – explains business requirements and goals for the project.
• Design – communicate what they need to do prior to design and manage expectations.
• Product – shares context, help plan the timeline and resources needed for design.
• Technical – define feasibility and technical constraints of a UX design.

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.
• Product research: Analyzing insights and analytics from an existing product to understand user behavior.

Step 3: Create rough draft of a solution

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.

Some of these low-fidelity techniques include:

• Sketching: Hand-drawn sketches of user interfaces
• Paper prototyping: Paper versions of a prototype
• Wireframing: Digital versions of paper prototypes featuring basic lines and shapes
• Low-fidelity prototypes: Digital prototypes using wireframes to test user flows and information architecture

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:

• Validate ideas
• Identify usability issues
• Test accessibility

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.

Read about 5 Mistakes that Kill Collaboration Between Designers and Developers.

Step 7: Launch your Product

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 design 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.

Level up Your UX Design Process

UXPin Merge allows designers to get better results during testing while streamlining the design handoff, thus reducing time to market and costs. 

Instead of designing from scratch, designers drag and drop components to build fully functioning code-based prototypes that look and work like the final product. Discover UXPin Merge.

The post UX Design Process – An Actionable, 7-Step Guide appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Calculators break down complex numerical problems into user-friendly solutions. This guide dives deep into calculator UI design, navigating its multifaceted dimensions, from types and fundamental principles to the nuances of mobile vs. desktop design. We also explore how designers can use React components in the design process to test complex calculator functionality.

Key takeaways:

• Effective calculator UX design seamlessly merges utility with user experience, enhancing user engagement.
• The type of calculator—simple, scientific, financial, or graphing—dictates its application and targeted user base.
• Core design principles, such as simplicity, consistency, and intuitive layout, underpin successful calculator interfaces.
• Adapting calculator designs across devices, from mobile to desktop, demands unique considerations like touch inputs and cross-platform consistency.
• Leveraging React components in the design process through platforms like UXPin Merge offers dynamic interactivity, bridging the design-development gap.

How do you design interactive calculator prototypes using React components without writing a single line of code? Discover how UXPin’s Merge technology bridges the gap between design and development to significantly enhance prototyping capability for better testing and outcomes.

Reach a new level of prototyping

Design with interactive components coming from your team’s design system.

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What is the Function of a Calculator in UI Design?

Calculators help users do instant, on-the-spot numerical computations. Its primary function is to offer users a streamlined interface to input data, perform operations, and see results without leaving the primary application or platform. 

Digital products rely on key UX metrics like engagement, completion rate, etc. When needed, presenting users with a calculator UI improves these vital metrics, increasing the product’s business value while serving user needs.

Types of Calculators in UI Design

There are four types of calculators designers can use:

• Simple
• Scientific
• Financial
• Graphing

Simple calculator

Common use cases:

• Meal planning apps (calculating total ingredients)
• E-commerce platforms (quick price additions or subtractions)
• Note-taking tools (swift arithmetic on written content)

The simple calculator handles standard arithmetic operations—addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Designers use this type when embedding a quick calculation feature in applications like note-taking tools or basic finance apps.

Scientific calculator

Common use cases:

• Educational apps for high school and college students
• Engineering applications (computing formulas or solving equations)
• Physics or chemistry simulators (calculating reactions or forces)

The scientific calculator aids complex computations, from trigonometry to calculus. It’s essential for applications targeting students, engineers, or professionals dealing with scientific tasks.

Financial calculator

Common use cases:

• Mortgage calculators in real estate platforms
• Salary calculators in job portals
• Investment calculations in stock trading apps
• Loan interest and payoff calculators in banking apps

Financial calculators help with operations like interest calculations, annuities, or ROI evaluations. Designers embed these in banking apps, investment platforms, or e-commerce sites to assist users in making informed financial decisions.

Graphing calculator

Common use cases:

• Educational platforms teaching algebra, calculus, or statistics
• Market trend analysis tools in stock and forex trading platforms
• Research tools for data scientists visualizing complex datasets

A graphing calculator visualizes mathematical equations, showcasing graphs and plots. Predominantly found in educational tools or advanced analytical platforms, it allows users to grasp trends, intersections, or data relationships through visual representations.

What are the Principles of Good Calculator App UI Design?

Simplicity and clarity:

Users require a straightforward interface to easily input data and get results without unnecessary options or distracting visuals.

Example: Apple’s native calculator app focuses on essential functions. Users can instantly understand and use a clean, minimalist layout without wading through extraneous features.

Consistency in design

Uniform button shapes, colors, and typography facilitate swift navigation and reduce cognitive load.

Example: Apple’s calculator iOS app groups arithmetic operators–addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division–by colors, allowing users to identify and apply them without thinking.

Intuitive layout

An intuitive layout draws from familiar calculator designs and arranges functions logically, aiding rapid data entry and function application.

Example: Financial calculators often position compound interest or annuity functions prominently, reflecting their frequent usage in monetary contexts.

How to Design a Calculator’s Layout & Structure

Grid layout and the arrangement of keys

Establish a grid layout to ensure logical button placement. This foundational design aspect arranges buttons systematically, with most calculators displaying characters in a recognizable four-column by five-row grid. When users see this familiar format, they don’t have to think about how to use it.

Hierarchy of operations and functions

Prioritize operations based on frequency of use. Positioning common operations, such as arithmetic operators, at easily accessible points optimizes user experience. This approach ensures that primary functions stand out, guiding users seamlessly through their tasks.

Importance of spacing and grouping

Implement precise spacing between keys to minimize accidental presses. Group functions by similarity to aid swift location and use. Users can intuitively navigate and select the needed operations when you group related buttons, such as all trigonometric functions.

Designing for different screen sizes and devices

Adapt your calculator design for versatility. A responsive design adjusts and optimizes its layout depending on the device–i.e., smartphone, tablet, or desktop. Ensure your calculator remains user-friendly and maintains its functionality regardless of screen size.

How to Use Visual Design to Improve Calculator User Experience

Color psychology in calculator design

Choose shades that invoke precision, reliability, and clarity, such as blues and grays. Complementary colors can differentiate functions, while muted tones minimize distractions. Always prioritize user comfort and focus.

Typography and readability

Select typography that enhances legibility. Fonts with clean lines and ample spacing ensure users can quickly discern numbers and functions. Consider weight and style variations to distinguish between primary actions and secondary information.

Iconography for functions

Craft icons that immediately convey purpose. Simplify complex ideas into recognizable symbols, ensuring users identify functions at a glance. Uniformity in icon style and size promotes a cohesive look and avoids misinterpretation.

How to Enhance Your Calculator UI with Advanced Features and Functionality

Memory functions and history logs

Memory functions and history logs help save users time by storing calculations for later use, allowing for quick reference or modifications. For example, a financial analyst working on yearly projections might use memory functions to save critical figures and easily refer back to them, streamlining their workflow.

Custom themes and personalization

Custom themes and personalization options enhance the comfort of prolonged usage. For example, a user might switch to a dark theme to reduce eye strain.

Integrating AI and voice recognition

AI and voice recognition integration accelerate input and aid in accessibility. For example, with their hands occupied in a lab, a researcher might voice a complex formula and, with AI assistance, receive instantaneous results and scenarios, optimizing productivity.

How Calculator User Interface Design Differs for Mobile vs. Desktop

Designing for touch vs. mouse/keyboard inputs

For touch, prioritize larger, discernible buttons, ensuring they’re tap-friendly. Conversely, you can optimize for precision for mouse and keyboard-driven interfaces with compact layouts and keyboard shortcut functionalities.

Utilizing mobile features

Integrate haptic feedback to confirm input or signal errors, providing a tactile response for mobile app users. Harness gestures like swiping to clear entries or pinching to toggle between basic and scientific modes to streamline user interactions.

Optimizing cross-platform user experience

Users should transition seamlessly between mobile, desktop, or wearables (iOS, Windows, Android, etc.) without relearning the interface. Utilize unified native and web design principles, maintain consistent functionality, and prioritize data synchronization for those using multiple devices.

Calculator UI Design Inspiration

Here are five calculator designs we found on Dribbble.

Example 1: Simple calculator design by Hikmet Atceken on Dribbble.

We like how Hikmet uses the full screen for this simple calculator example. There is adequate spacing between buttons, and Hikmet uses subtle colors to differentiate functionality and hierarchy.

Example 2: Neuromorphic design by Mariana Konstantynova on Dribbble.

Mariana’s savings calculator uses a trendy neomorphism style–perfect for targeting a younger audience. This aesthetically pleasing UI catches the eye, encouraging engagement.

Example 3: Mortgage calculator design by Paramveer on Dribbble.

Paramveer’s mortgage calculator is an excellent example of incorporating many features and functionalities into a compact viewport. Paramveer uses a mix of mobile-friendly components, like sliders and buttons with large touch targets, to optimize the mobile experience.

Example 4: Good example of using color by Ramona Tăbuşcă on Dribbble.

Ramona uses color brilliantly to allow for consistency in light and dark modes. The calculator’s functionality is separated into three distinct color groups, making it easy to identify which buttons to press.

Example 5: Mortgage calculator design by LLT Group on Dribbble.

The LLT Group’s mortgage calculator is an excellent example for users on large screens. The use of whitespace, hierarchy, font size, and color makes it easy for users to identify key values and digest data instantly.

How to Improve Calculator Prototypes With React Components in the Design Process

While image-based design tools like Figma or Sketch are powerful UI design tools, the designs are fundamentally static. These tools can visualize the calculator’s aesthetics but fall short of simulating its intricate interactivity. Creating an effective interactive calculator takes hours of prep and setup–taking valuable resources from actual prototyping and testing.

UXPin is a code-based tool. Instead of producing vector graphics, UXPin renders HTML, CSS, and Javascript behind the scenes. Designers can also import live components from React, Vue, Ember, and other Javascript-based libraries via Storybook–including foundational elements, patterns, interactive widgets, and UI templates.

Using React components in the design process via UXPin Merge proves pivotal for complex, interactive applications like calculators. React’s component-based structure means every UI element is modular and reusable, allowing for real, live interactions within UXPin–without writing any code. 

This dynamic interactivity mimics the final product much closer than any static design tool can. As calculators demand immediate and precise feedback to user inputs, such real-time functionality testing becomes indispensable, ensuring that design and function align seamlessly.

Using React’s live components in UXPin via Merge bridges the gap between design and development, letting designers test actual functionalities in real-world scenarios. This difference accelerates the design-validation loop and reduces the chances of oversight, ensuring a robust and user-friendly calculator app design.

Go from static and time-consuming to fully interactive, fast, and effortless with UXPin and Merge technology. Visit our Merge page for more details and how to request access.

The post Calculator Design – How to Prototype a Functioning Calculator with a Design Tool appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

User Experience (UX) 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.

However, not all UX design tools are equal and there are some that just focus on one part of the design process (like wireframing tools) whereas others are more comprehensive and can take the design from idea to reality, plus help you keep consistency by using design systems’ elements in your projects.

So, depending on your needs, you may find yourself needing an advanced tool that allows for personal coding inputs, or you may just need a tool that provides you with a library of features that you can simply drag and drop into your design.

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

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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.

One of the greatest benefits of UXPin is its one-of-a-kind Merge technology which allows for a high level of team collaboration on a project. It allows you and your team to work on the same code components as the actual developers. In simple terms, you can import a piece of the coded app into UXPin and use it to further improve your designs.

On top of that, instead of having to manually create standard design elements, UXPin provides a library of thousands of components that you can use, customize, and simply drag and drop into your design. This includes animations and icons as well as components that are specifically designed for other systems like iOS and Bootstrap.

If you want to create your own animations, you can, or you can simply use Photoshop or some other program and download the file to UXPin. There is no need to worry about the layers of the animation being erased as UXPin will preserve the layers for easy integration.

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.  

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.

Sketch

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.

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.

The post Top UX Design Tools to Try Before 2023 Ends appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

One of the best things about being a part of the design community is that most designers love to exchange ideas, spread knowledge, and share their experiences regardless of their seniority level. You can be a starting designer or an established thought leader, and it’s almost a given that you find a design conference that may teach you something new.

What’s also great about UX conferences is that not all of them target the UX/UI community, but the people who work with them on a daily basis. Product managers, developers and other professionals who work closely with design can find an event for themselves.

Increase design maturity with UXPin Merge. Build a more collaborative design process and bridge the gap between designers and devs by using a single source of truth in your prototypes: interactive components. Discover more about UXPin Merge.

Reach a new level of prototyping

Design with interactive components coming from your team’s design system.

Discover UXPin Merge

January 2024 Conferences

 QRCA 2024 Annual Conference

QRCA stands for Qualitative Research Consultants Association. The conference covers research methods, tools, and lessons that will prepare designers for the next era of qualitative research.

• Date: Jan 22-25, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual & Denver
• Audience: UX researchers, marketing researchers
• Common topics: qualitative research, research methods, research tools

UX360 Research Summit 2024

We will welcome the third edition of a conference dedicated entirely to research. The line up includes UX researchers from top companies: Google, Meta, Dropbox, Delivery Hero, and more.

• Date: Jan 30-31, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual
• Audience: UX researchers, UI designers, UX designers
• Common topics: research, design strategy, human-centered design

Design Matters Mexico

Join Design Matters and listen to Mexican designers telling you about local design and the intersection between technology and humanity.

• Date: Jan 31-Feb 1, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: Mexico City
• Audience: UX researchers, UI designers, UX designers
• Common topics: inclusivity, design future, technology

February 2024 Conferences

What about the second month of the year? We’ve found a couple of conferences that may catch your eye. Let’s see them.

AXE CON 2024

Sign up to attend a virtual accessibility conference focused on building, testing, and maintaining accessible digital experiences.

• Date: Feb 20-22, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual
• Audience: designers
• Common topics: accessibility, UX

Product World [Hybrid]

Product conference that concerns itself with sharing the product success stories from tech product professionals at Silicon Valley’s top tech companies.

• Date: Feb 21-29, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual and San Francisco Bay Area
• Audience: product managers, developers, product designers
• Common topics: collaboration, leadership, growth

ConveyUX 2024 [Hybrid]

Learn about what is going on in the world of user experience in this AI-driven era. 

• Date: Feb 27-29, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual and Seattle, US
• Audience: product managers, developers, product designers
• Common topics: design process, design future, AI

HUCCAP 2024

At the same time as ConveyUX, there’s a Human-Computer Interaction Conference hosted in Rome, Italy. Join to discuss HCI matters in an interdisciplinary environment.

• Date: Feb 27-29, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual and Seattle, US
• Audience: product managers, developers, product designers
• Common topics: human-computer interaction.

March 2024 Conferences

Leading Design New York

One of the design conferences by Clearleft will be hosted in New York.

• Date: Mar 20-21, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: New York, US
• Audience: UX designers
• Common topics: career, leadership, future of design

UX Copenhagen [Hybrid]

It’s the 10th edition of annual “Human Experience” conference. This year it will examine overconsumption and tackle degrowth.

• Date: Mar 20-21, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual & Copenhagen, Denmark
• Audience: UX designers, UX researchers
• Common topics: UX design, leadership, future

ACM IUI 2024

Interested in AI for design? If so, you can’t miss out on this conference! It focuses on the advances at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).

• Date: Mar 18-21, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Sydney, Australia 
• Audience: product designers, researchers
• Common topics: information architecture, artificial intelligence

April 2024 Conferences

Information Architecture Conference

It’s one of the leading conferences for information architects, designers, and others who create and manage UI and information environments. This year theme is to examine the impact of AI on information architecture.

• Date: Apr 9-13, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual 
• Audience: product designers, researchers, product managers
• Common topics: information architecture, artificial intelligence

UX Research Festival [Hybrid]

Being a brainchild of UXInsights, the largest UX research communities in Europe, UX Research Festival invites you to Breda (in the Netherlands) to hear out amazing talks about UX research.

• Date: Apr 15-17, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual and Breda, Netherlands
• Audience: researchers, designers
• Common topics: UX research, ResearchOps

May 2024 Conferences

CHI 2024 [Hybrid]

This year’s annual ACM Computer Human Interaction conference is hosted in beautiful Hawaii. It embraces the theme of Surfing the World – which means reflecting the focus on pushing forth the wave of cutting-edge technology and riding the tide of new developments in human-computer interaction. 

• Date: May 11-16, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual & Honolulu, Hawaii
• Audience: researchers
• Common topics: research tools, research methods

UXDX Community USA [Hybrid]

UXDX is a popular conference for UX designers, developers and product people around the world, sharing with them collaboration ideas.

• Date: May 15-17, 2024
• Free: Yes
• Where: Virtual and on site
• Audience: UX designers, UX researchers, developers and product managers
• Common topics: leadership, collaboration, design system

UXLx

Join fellow designers in sunny Lisbon. Soak up UX knowledge, network with like-minded individual, and hone your design skills.

• Date: May 21-24, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Lisbon, Portugal
• Audience: designers
• Common topics: UX, design process

From Business to Buttons 2024

Spend one day in Stockholm to discuss user experience and customer expaerience. Great conference for business-savvy designers.

• Date: May 24 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Stockholm, Sweden
• Audience: designers, product managers
• Common topics: design process, design impact, leadership

WebExpo

Travel to Prague, an extraordinary European city, to join fellow web designers, developers, marketers, and more discussing innovations in web design and development.

• Date: May 29-31, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Prague, Czechia
• Audience: designers, developers, product managers
• Common topics: web design, front-end design, UX

June 2024 Conferences

DRS 2024 BOSTON

Hosted by Design Research Society, this conference is about 4 Rs: resistance, recovery, reflection, and reimagination, which we’re sure are relevant to the state of design in 2024.

• Date: Jun 24-28, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Boston, US
• Audience: design research
• Common topics: research, leadership, future of design

August 2024 Conferences

UX Nordic [Hybrid]

Sharpen your skills and nurture your growth as a UX researcher, designer or writer. Meet other design professionals and explore your interests.

• Date: Aug 28-29, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual & Aarhus, Norway
• Audience: UX researchers, UX designers, UX writers
• Common topics: design process, leadership

UX Australia [Hybrid]

It’s the 16th edition of UX Australia. The conference focuses on UX, product and service design, and the surrounding disciplines of research, content, operations, management, and more.

• Date: Aug 27-30, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual & Melbourne, Australia
• Audience: UX researchers, product managers, product designers
• Common topics: research operations, leadership, research methods, research tools

November 2024 Conferences

Leading Design London

Let’s meet in London to discuss design.

• Date: Nov 6-7, 2024
• Free: No
• Where: London, UK
• Audience: UX designers
• Common topics: career, leadership, future of design

May 2023 Conferences

May will be the month for on-site UX and product conferences. Let’s see where we can travel to. Are you ready?

Product Day by ADPlist

Elevate your career in product design with ADPlist. The conference has four tracks: entrepreneurship, career growth, trends, and groundbreaking work, so everyone can find something for themselves.

• Date: May 10, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: virtual
• Audience: product designers, product managers, design leaders
• Common topics: design career, design leadership, innovation

DIBI Conference

DIBI stands for Design it, Build it, and it’s one of the best conferences in the UK for everyone who’s involved in the product development process.

• Date: May 11-12, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: Edinburgh, Scotland
• Audience: product designers, product managers, design leaders
• Common topics: design process, design leadership

UXistanbul

Organized by UXServices, this conference is a place for gathering Web3 enthusiasts and designers interested in the field. Come and join them online on Discord.

• Date: May 22-26, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual 
• Audience: product designers, researchers, product managers
• Common topics: NFT, metaverse

ACE!

This Polish conference has two tracks: Agile Software Development and Product Design & Management. Yet, there will be a lot of content for product designers, too.

• Date: May 18-19, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: Kraków, Poland
• Audience: product managers, developers, product designers
• Common topics: leadership, product strategy, product growth

June 2023 Conferences

That month looks very exciting for those of you who got used to participating in events from the comfort of their homes. In other words, there will be a few interesting online design conferences and meetups.

UX STRAT Europe

Sign up for a European edition of a popular UX STRAT conference. Learn from the product design and innovation experts.

• Date: Jun 5-7, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: Amsterdam
• Audience: product designers, researchers
• Common topics: design strategy, future of design

Pixel Pioneers

It may be just a day-long, but the Pixel Pioneers is fully-packed with inspirational presentations from leading UX/UI designers and front-end developers.

• Date: Jun 16, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: Bristol, UK
• Audience: product designers, developers, researchers
• Common topics: human-centered design, inclusive design, future of design

UXPA 2023

Looking for inspirational talks? San Diego’s UXPA conference may be your cup of tea. It is a design conference in the USA.

• Date: Jun 20-22, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: San Diego, US
• Audience: product designers, researchers
• Common topics: human-centered design, leadership, research

July 2023 Conferences

The summer season is on, but there are a few exciting events coming. Curious what are they?

ProductCon

Organized by Product School, ProductCon is a 1-day conference for product people who want to learn more about managing products. This is an online design conference, so you can watch it whenever you are.

• Date: July 2023
• Free: Yes until April 2023
• Where: Virtual
• Audience: product managers, developers, product designers
• Common topics: leadership, product innovation, collaboration

HCI INTERNATIONAL 2023

That international conference on human-computer interaction that is usually held in Gothenburg, Sweden, but this year it will be hosted in Copenhagen, Denmark. We highly recommend to attend. It’s a great treat for the interaction designers.

• Date: Jul 23-28, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual
• Audience: product designers, researchers
• Common topics: human-centered design, research, leadership

#mtpcon Digital Americas

The summer edition of the Mind the Product conference for both Americas.

• Date: Jul 10-14, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: Virtual
• Audience: product designers, product managers, developers
• Common topics: leadership, future of product, product growth

August 2023 Conferences

UX Australia 2023 [Hybrid]

You don’t need to be located in Australia (but if you are, we’re jealous) to attend this. Designers from the vast fields like UX, product and service design, research, content, operations, etc. meet to discuss product design.

• Date: Aug 22-25, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: Sydney, Australia
• Audience: product designers, UX researchers, content designers
• Common topics: design process, leadership, DesignOps

‍UX Nordic [Hybrid]

Almost on the exact same date, another conference is taking place – UX Nordic. This one is great if you want to hone your skills and to grow as a user experience designer in 2023.

• Date: Aug 24-25, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: Aarhus, Denmark
• Audience: product designers, researchers, content designers
• Common topics: accessibility, case studies, design process

September 2023 Conferences

SmashingConf Freiburg 2023

Are you a UX Architect, UI Developer, or a Product Designer that needs to work a lot with engineers? You can’t miss this UX design conference that oh-so-smoothly merges development and design.

• Date: Sep 4-6, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: Freiburg, Germany
• Audience: product designers, developers
• Common topics: accessibility, web development, design process

The UXConf 2023

Brought to you by The School of UX, The UXConf has an incredible lineup. Designers from Hotjar, TripAdvisor, HubSpot, Skyscanner, Goldman Sachs, Eurostar, and more will walk you through important UX-related topics.

• Date: Sep 13, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: London, UK
• Audience: product designers, UX researchers
• Common topics: tutorials, design process, tools

UX+ Conference 2023

Gain creativity and inspiration by attending Asia’s biggest UX conference in 2023. This year’s theme is “Redefining the UX path: embracing growth, inclusivity, and impact.”

• Date: Sep 17, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: Manila, Philippines
• Audience: product designers
• Common topics: design leadership, design process, design future

Design Matters Copenhagen [Hybrid]

This well-known design conference advertises itself as, “Made for designers, by designers.” And it truly is so! We highly recommend you attend it, but if you can’t, check their library of talks.

• Date: Sep 27-28, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: Copenhagen, Denmark
• Audience: product designers, UX researchers
• Common topics: tutorials, design process, leadership

October 2023 Conferences

See October conferences for designers and product teams.

World Usability Conference

Let’s meet in Austria and discuss usability with other UX professionals and participate in talks and masterclasses where handpicked speakers share meaningful hands-on insights.

• Date: Oct 10-12, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: Graz, Austria
• Audience: product designers, UX researchers
• Common topics: design process, usability, sustainability

Productized Conference 2023

Come to Lisbon for a product conference that gathers people interested in product development, design thinking, and product management. It is an exciting two-day event for anyone who works in SaaS or enterprise solutions.

• Date: Oct 11-12, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: Lisbon, Portugal
• Audience: product designers, front-end developers
• Common topics: design process, design thinking, product growth

Push UX 2023

From Lisbon travel to a lovely Munich to meet like-minded UX professionals that will discuss design research, presentation, and other aspects of daily UX designer’s activities.

• Date: Oct 19-20, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: Munich, Germany
• Audience: product designers, UX researchers
• Common topics: design process, design leadership, product growth

George UX Conf [Hybrid]

Are you designing a FinTech or banking app? Then, this UX design conference is a must-watch. Connect with experts in the field coming from Revolut, Wise, Deutsche Bank, and more.

• Date: Oct 19, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: Vienna, Austria
• Audience: product designers, UX researchers
• Common topics: design process, design leadership, product growth

November 2023 Conferences

Web Summit Lisbon

Come to a sunny Lisbon to participate in lively discussions on web design and development.

• Date: Nov 13-16, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: Lisbon, Portugal
• Audience: product managers, developers, product designers
• Common topics: web design, web development

UXDX APAC 2023

It’s yet another UXDX event, but this one is an Audio-Pacific version. It’s dedicated to Product, UX, Design and Development teams that want to find a way of working together.

• Date: Nov 14-16, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: San Diego, USA
• Audience: product managers, developers, product designers
• Common topics: product direction, scaling design, validation, product growth

7th Design Thinking Summit [Hybrid]

Get inspired and discuss innovations in design thinking in Europe. Discuss the methodologies of managing design systems and discover innovations that make human-centered design even more relevant in 2023.

• Date: Nov 15-17, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: Prague, Czechia
• Audience: product designers, UX designers, developers
• Common topics: design thinking, design process, leadership

ProductCon San Francisco

Another Product School’s ProductCon is happening in November. It is a 1-day product design conference for those who want to learn more about managing products and the future of product management.

• Date: Nov 16, 2023
• Free: No
• Where: San Francisco
• Audience: product managers, developers, product designers
• Common topics: leadership, future of product management, product growth

Which Design Conferences Are You Attending in 2023?

It seems as if 2023 is going to be full of inspiring and educational content coming from the best speakers in design and product management. Have you found a conference for you? We will definitely keep you posted if any new event comes our way.

Use the knowledge that you acquired from design conferences in practice. Instead of working in siloed environment, unite your team with a single source of truth: interactive components that can be used across design and product. Discover more about it. Check out UXPin Merge.

The post Best Design Conferences in 2024 appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Personalization, scrollytelling, data storytelling, and buttonless UIs are some of the most exciting 2023 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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Top UX UI Trends in 2024

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. 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?

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.

The post 10 UX UI Design Trends that Will Dominate 2024 appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

One of the most critical choices any app development company will make is the design of the app icon. Good icons are inviting and will increase interaction, while a bad design can slow down adoption and make users less likely to use it. Their first impression will be your app’s icon – it’s what they’ll first see from whatever store they first download your newly-released product, and it’s what they’ll look at every time they launch it. 

Getting the right depiction is not just nice to have; it’s essential if you want your app to be successful. Fortunately, when it comes to crafting icons, there are plenty of places and companies from which to draw inspiration. In this article, we’ll talk about what five top tech companies are doing for app icon design – and what you can learn from these amazing designers.

Key takeaways:

• App icon design needs to meet a combination of criteria, including aesthetics, functionality, brand representation, and platform-specific considerations.
• When considering designing your own icons, consider tips by top companies, such as Apple’s emphasis on simplicity or Microsoft’s Fluent Design System balancing innovation with legacy.

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What is App Icon Design?

App icon design involves creating the perfect icon for your app. It often encapsulates the app’s brand, purpose, and primary features, distilling these elements into a simple, memorable image. Consider color choice, shape, and scalability factors when designing an app icon. 

Furthermore, designers must keep in mind platform-specific guidelines. iOS, Android, and other operating systems have unique design standards to ensure a coherent user experience. We’ll discuss those in more detail when we look at what popular tech companies do for their app icons. 

In essence, app icon design is a blend of aesthetics, functionality, and brand representation, all confined within a small visual space. Given its impression on users and the limited pixel space, getting the best app icon design is crucial.

What Top Companies Say about App Icon Design?

When it comes to design, there’s a lot to learn from the top tech companies as they often employ some of the highest-talent designers on the market. And their market leader position means they usually can set some of the trends. Here’s what Apple, Microsoft, IBM, Atlassian, and Google are doing for app design.

1. Apple

Many people regard Apple as the leader in design. From iconic devices to amazing apps, countless companies look to them for inspiration. Like many platform developers, Apple lists their best practices online. In terms of icon design, here are the three key takeaways from the brand.

First, simple is better. Think about all the memorable icons you’ve seen. Let’s take Facebook or Twitter’s old logo. These are simply a bird and an “f,” respectively. Now, think about Apple’s designs. Apple Music, for example, is nothing but a couple of notes. Each of these icons embraces simplicity. Remember, these graphical depictions tend to be pretty small on user devices. Crafting intricate details gets lost quickly. Great app icon design is bold and recognizable – it’s simple and easy to spot in a sea of apps. Think about how you can make your icon design process result in something simple!

Next, remove text, if possible, or at least keep it to a minimum. Only include text if it is a vital part of your brand. Too many people want to include a company name or a tagline, but that’s often hard to read, especially on smaller devices. Keep your app icon graphical, if possible.

Finally, consider your platform and create alternate app icons if necessary. What looks good on iOS with the rounded corners may not look as good on Android with the circular design. By considering (and tailoring your app icon, too) the platform, you’ll create a unique but unified experience, no matter where people use your app.

2. Microsoft

Microsoft’s Fluent Design System encapsulates the future of user interface and experience design, all while ensuring a profound connection with the company’s historical roots. Regarding app icon design through Fluent, there’s an evident synthesis of past, present, and future – something that designers of modern apps should consider!

Fluent-based icons go beyond mere aesthetics. While they embrace depth, light, motion, and materiality for a modern and interactive user experience, there’s a foundational respect for Microsoft’s legacy. The challenge lies in striking a balance: how does one innovate while respecting and recalling the iconic imagery from earlier software generations? Microsoft wanted to create a facelift for their products while keeping much of that history. Here are a couple of rules they applied: 

Going beyond monochrome. Microsoft’s answer is layered and dynamic icons that nod to the past. These icons maintain familiarity, ensuring long-standing users feel at home while drawing new users with their contemporary look. Color palettes resonate with both legacy themes and modern design paradigms. The textures and materials are current and modern but reminiscent of a tactile, real-world experience.

Balancing legacy with innovation. If your company is not entirely new, there’s much to learn from what Microsoft did with Fluent. In the design process for your app icon, nodding to your company’s history while simultaneously conveying your company’s fresh, new app is vital. By looking at what Microsoft did with Fluent, you can see how to balance that rich history while conveying the bold future you want for your app and company.

3. IBM

People may not think of IBM when they think of apps, but they have developed a compelling design system called the IBM Design Language. Designers should consider a few things that IBM has noted, as these concepts serve as guidelines for our app icons. 

Central to their icon design philosophy is the categorization into four distinct groups: “stroke” and “fill” icons, hero brands, third-party logos, and the unique IBM Plex app icons. This concept hints at something very critical for app icon design – space. Is your icon a stroke icon? A fill one? How are you using the app icon’s available space, or are you using negative space? These are essential considerations.

Additionally, IBM applies the same grid for all icons. Designers craft every IBM icon on a pixel-based grid measuring 32px x 32px for uniformity. This serves as a foundational guideline, ensuring each piece of artwork snaps perfectly into place. However, designers are encouraged to make fine-tuning adjustments during creation to achieve the desired shape.

IBM also maintains icon consistency by creating icon groups. This is vital if you have more than one app because it lets people subtly know that your company is behind all of them. It is not just IBM that does this, of course – so do Apple and Microsoft. You can often tell which company is behind an app just by looking at the icon!

If you’re a designer, it’s worth flipping through the IBM Design Language, as it has many fantastic pointers to achieve the perfect design.

4. Atlassian

As is often the case with any visual art form, various designers and companies have different perspectives. Atlassian emphasizes some things the previous companies have not mentioned – accessibility and avoiding inundating users.

In today’s modern world, accessibility is not a nice to have. It’s a must. Ensure your app’s icon is accessible. This means it should adhere to WCAG contrast ratios and there should be no text with unfamiliar icons. You want people to immediately grasp what your icon and app are about, regardless of their abilities. 

Additionally, Atlassian also encourages people to avoid going overboard with icons. Keep them simple and clean to minimize “icon fatigue.” People look at dozens of app icons daily, and if yours is too visually cluttered or intricate, they will tune out from your app rather than lean into it.

5. Google

Like all the companies above, Google also significantly emphasizes its icons through Material – Google’s app icon design system. While Material has numerous paradigms, three that designers should consider stand out.

First, think about color. The Material guidelines specify which colors to use for active and inactive icons. Additionally, you should differentiate between active and focused versus just active. Designers often leave out the focused state, especially for apps with touch capabilities. 

Next, make complex icons legible. As the companies above note, these must be readable, and Google is no exception to this policy. If you need to adjust icons to ensure they are legible and clear, do so, even if they are system icons.

Finally, Google’s system icons with Material are bold, symmetrical, and minimal. They convey just the amount of information necessary for the user to determine what the action behind the icon does. This design principle is worth considering with your app icon design.

For example, the icons below show just enough information to convey their meaning without being overly complex.

Use UXPin to Prototype Your App Icons

UXPin is the leading solution for crafting user interfaces and prototyping apps. It is also one of the best ways to prototype your app icons and see how users will react to them before finalizing every single little detail across multiple platforms. As you can likely see from the examples above, companies put tremendous thought into app icons to ensure they convey the right message and feel for an app.

If you’re in the design phase for your app, try UXPin for free and prototype your perfect app icon!

The post App Icon Design – 5 Amazing Ideas from Tech Companies appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Overwhelmed by the plethora of Adobe XD alternatives? Are you looking for an upgrade to Adobe XD rather than a copy of your existing workspace? Discover why UXPin is the best Adobe XD alternative and the benefits of using a code-based design platform. We also introduce Merge and how this revolutionary technology bridges the gap between designers and engineers while creating a single source of truth for design systems.

Key takeaways:

• Adobe XD was a prominent vector-based design tool, but its standalone version is no longer available for new buyers.
• Consider intuitive UI, prototyping capabilities, design systems, collaboration features, and cost-effectiveness when seeking an Adobe XD alternative.
• UXPin Merge is a great choice, offering advanced code-based design capabilities over traditional vector-based tools.
• Unlike many Adobe XD alternatives, UXPin Merge addresses challenges across the product development spectrum, streamlining workflows for all stakeholders.

Connect design and development teams with a single source of truth – coded components that can be used across prototyping, design handoff, and app development stages of product creation. Learn more about it. Discover UXPin Merge.

Reach a new level of prototyping

Design with interactive components coming from your team’s design system.

Discover UXPin Merge

What is Adobe XD?

Adobe XD is a vector-based UI/UX design software developed and maintained by Adobe. It caters to web and mobile app design, an end-to-end solution for designers to create wireframes, mockups, and prototypes.

Some noteworthy features include:

• Vector Design and Drawing Tools: Adobe XD enables designers to create and edit intricate vector designs, ensuring sharp outputs regardless of the display size.
• Repeat Grid: This feature streamlines design processes. Designers can replicate elements like lists or photo galleries with a few clicks, reducing tedious, repetitive tasks.
• Prototyping: Designers can link artboards, adding animations and microinteractions to mimic interactivity. 
• Voice Design: Adobe XD supports voice commands, making designing voice user interfaces and integrating voice triggers possible.
• Responsive Resize: Automatically adjust and resize elements to fit different screen sizes, ensuring designs look good on all devices.
• Collaboration Tools: Adobe XD isn’t just for solo designers. Teams can comment, share, and co-edit in real time with in-app collaboration tools.
• Integration Capabilities: It seamlessly integrates with other Adobe Suite applications and some third-party tools, bridging the gap between prototype and final output.

Is Adobe XD Discontinued?

Contrary to speculation on social media, Adobe has not discontinued Adobe XD. While it’s no longer available as a single application for new buyers, it will continue supporting existing customers. You must purchase the Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps subscription to access Adobe XD as a new customer.

What to Look for in an Adobe XD Alternative?

If you’re an avid Adobe XD user, then you’ll want a design tool that’s comparable or better. Here’s a breakdown of essential aspects:

• User-Friendly UI: Design tools should simplify, not complicate. An intuitive interface speeds up the design process, reduces learning curves, and increases efficiency.
• Prototyping Capabilities:
  • Real-time Previews: Witness design changes as they happen.
  • Interactive Prototyping: Add life to prototypes with interactive elements, microinteractions, and animations.
  • Responsiveness: Your tool must allow you to create multiple viewports for designs with minimal effort.
• Design Systems: A must-have feature in modern digital product design. Guage a design system feature by its ability to bridge the gap between designers and engineers.
• Collaboration Features:
  • Commenting: Offer insights directly on designs.
  • Sharing: Distribute prototypes for feedback.
  • Real-time Collaboration: An integrated chat feature allows design teams to collaborate without leaving the workspace.
• Design Handoff: A seamless transition curtails back-and-forths between design and development teams. Look for tools that generate accurate specs, assets, and code snippets.
• Platform Integration: Integration capabilities mean less juggling between applications, promoting a unified workflow.
• Cost-effectiveness: A stellar design tool won’t drain budgets. Opt for solutions that offer robust features without a hefty price tag, ensuring value for every dollar spent.

What’s an Alternative to Adobe XD?

While vector-based tools like Adobe XD, Figma, and InVision have dominated the design scene for years, there’s a notable shift towards code-based platforms like UXPin. 

With UXPin’s Merge technology, designers can go beyond basic prototypes to advanced code-based replicas that look and feel like the final product. Some advantages of using Merge and code-based design platforms include:

• Realistic Interactive Prototypes: Code-based tools like UXPin mirror the final product, allowing designers to get high-quality insights from testing.
• Dynamic Elements: Unlike static elements in vector-based tools, UXPin has live code UI components with states, styling, logic, and real data.
• Seamless Handoff: Designers and developers speak the same language based on code via Merge, creating a smoother workflow with seamless handoff and fewer revisions.
• Superior Performance: Merge components have complex interactions and animations without lag or stutter, accurately replicating a final product experience.
• Desktop and Web Applications: Designers can use UXPin’s desktop application offline (Windows and MacOS) or web app with a comparable user experience in both environments.
• All Features Built-in: UXPin is a full-stack design tool with everything designers need from concept to final delivery, eliminating the need for plugins, extensions, and other third-party apps and subscriptions.

How is UXPin Used for Prototyping?

Merge creates a drag-and-drop prototyping environment in UXPin–like Logo blocks for designers. Every component has styling, interactivity, content, and other properties programmed into it from the design system’s repository, ready to start prototyping.

The design system team can include foundational UI elements to complete screen templates so designers can build prototypes faster. Any API components with connections are also available for designers to use in UXPin.

The design system team uses React props (or Args for the Storybook Integration) to give designers access to component properties, like text styles, sizing, colors, interactivity, and more.

Designers grab a component from UXPin’s Design System Libraries and adjust its properties via the Properties Panel. They can also switch to JSX mode to view and make changes in code.

Testing in UXPin with Merge

These fully interactive prototypes increase prototyping scope, allowing designers to build and test complex interfaces and user flows that usually require technical input from devs.

Designers can test prototypes in the browser using Preview and Share or UXPin Mirror for native iOS and Android app testing. They can send stakeholders a link to view the prototype and share feedback by annotating using UXPin’s Comments.

“Our stakeholders are able to provide feedback pretty quickly using UXPin. We can send them a link to play with the prototype in their own time, and UXPin allows them to provide comments directly on the prototypes. UXPin’s Comments functionality is great because we can follow along and mark comments as resolved once we address them.” Erica Rider, Product, UX, and DesignOps thought leader.

How is UXPin Used for the Design Handoff?

Design handoffs with Adobe UX and other vector-based design tools are notoriously challenging, often fraught with friction and many calls with designers trying to explain mockups and prototypes to devs and developers trying to explain technical limitations to design teams.

UXPin’s Merge technology smooths the transition from design to development because every team and department works with the exact same component library, from the exact same repository. This single source of truth means design handoffs require less documentation and explanation.

Engineers simply import the component repository into their project, copy interfaces from UXPin, and apply the same component properties using props or Args.

How is UXPin Used for Design Systems?

UXPin offers a design system solution for every stage of maturity, from creating a design system to a fully integrated UI library using Merge technology where designers and engineers use the same components.

Merge enables organizations to sync a UI library from a repository to UXPin’s design editor so designers use the same design system components in the design process as devs use to develop the final product.

Any changes to the repository automatically push to UXPin and notify teams of the latest release. UXPin’s Version Control allows designers to decide when they switch to the new release, and they can revert to earlier versions whenever they want. 

This code-based approach to design systems gives organizations a real single source of truth, where every team uses the same UI library, and powerful Merge automation keeps everyone in sync with a single release–no need to update code and design separately.

How is UXPin Used for Collaboration?

UXPin’s Comments are perfect for modern digital product design where teams work asynchronously. Slack and Jira integrations keep cross-functional teams in sync and constantly updated.

Comments functions like a chat app within UXPin. Team members can assign comments and mark them as resolved once actioned. Email notifications keep everyone updated. Designers can invite stakeholders to collaborate in UXPin, even if they don’t have an account, reducing the need to purchase extra seats.

Why UXPin Merge Beats the Best Adobe XD Alternatives

Where do Zeplin, Proto.io, Marvel, Figma, and other Adobe XD alternatives get wrong? These graphic design, prototyping, and editing tools focus on optimizing the designer workflow and UI design, neglecting other vital stakeholders and interactivity prototyping.

UXPin and Merge technology benefit the end-to-end digital product development process, including designers, product managers, engineers, DesignOps, and DevOps, by facilitating a single source of truth for cross-functional teams.

While there are many Adobe XD alternatives, UXPin is the only platform that solves many product development challenges by bridging the gap between design and development.

Are you still working with image-based tools with multiple platforms to achieve code-like results?

Switch to UXPin and instantly sync design and development with a single full-stack product design solution. Visit our Merge page for more details and how to request access.

The post The Code-Based Adobe XD Alternative – UXPin Merge appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

A UX Architect is a person responsible for the structure of the product and user flow. She or he works on the verge of UX design and engineering. This role has emerged as the UX space is continually growing and evolving, with new UX roles and departments popping up from time to time.

We’ll explore what a UX architect does, and the roles and responsibilities for UX designers and UX architects differ and overlap. At the end of this article, we provide a brief overview of how UXPin can help UX teams collaborate effectively.

Key takeaways:

• UX architect is a hybrid role that sits in between design and engineering.
• UX architects build information architecture, create wireframes, and take care of technical feasibility of the project.
• They differ from UX designer in that they have engineering skills and they prioritize clear information architecture.

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Who is a UX Architect?

A user experience architect is essentially a UX specialist with a high-level view of a product or design. UX architects are concerned with the structure and flow based on in-depth user and market research.

To achieve this, UX architects will often work closely with research teams or even conduct research themselves. This research guides UX architects to make informed decisions about how a user will use the product and organize the information architecture accordingly.

What Does a UX Architect Do?

Here’s a brief outline of a UX architect’s responsibilities:

• Ensure the product fulfills the user’s needs
• Makes sure information is organized and easily accessible
• Fixes usability and accessibility problems

Organizing Content

Rather than creating content and assets, a UX architect organizes and arranges content to best serve the user. This organization falls into three categories:

• Content inventory—a list of all the product’s digital content.
• Content grouping—a logical structure for organizing the product’s content, defining the relationships between different pieces of information and how they all connect.
• Content audit—a regular review of the product’s content to determine what needs updating and if new content is required.

UX architects must organize the content on each page and determine where to add titles, subheadings, links, and navigation to help users find what they’re looking for.

Hierarchy, Sitemaps, and Navigation

Information architecture arranges a product or website’s hierarchy, sitemaps, and navigation. These crucial elements determine how easy and accessible an app or website is to use.

• Sitemap – all of the app or website pages.
• Hierarchy – how to arrange a page’s content in order of importance.
• Navigation – how a user moves through an app or website.

Internal Wireframing & Low-Fidelity Prototyping

UX architects create wireframes and low-fidelity prototypes for internal UX teams to use as an architectural reference for designing a product or website. 

UX teams will only use these mockups for design purposes and usually won’t use them for usability studies or sharing amongst stakeholders.

Who is a UX Designer?

A UX designer is a broad term encompassing design and research roles. But in the context of a UX designer vs. a UX architect, the designer is responsible for designing user interfaces. Ultimately, a UX designer makes a product usable.

A UX designer will take a UX architect’s wireframes, prototypes, and architectural instructions and turn them into a high-fidelity prototype that resembles the end-product the most out of every design deliverable. UX designers also work with UX researchers as well as content designers to determine which fonts, colors, buttons, and other design elements to use.

Persona Development

UX designers are responsible for early research and creating user personas. Larger organizations might have a dedicated UX researcher or team, but they still fulfill a UX design role.

User personas tell UX designers about the user’s demographic information, motivations, desires, potential responses, and more to design user interfaces that accommodate these user needs.

Wireframes, Mockups, and Prototypes

UX designers create wireframes and mockups for the product’s pages and flows with initial user research and the UX architect’s information architecture.

UX designers also look at the UX architect’s sitemap to link the pages and navigation to make working low-fidelity and high-fidelity prototypes.

Research teams will use these high-fidelity prototypes for usability studies to learn how users interact with the final product.

User Testing

Where companies don’t have a dedicated research team, UX designers conduct the necessary usability studies. This crucial part of UX design provides UX designers with valuable feedback on how users will interact with the final product.

With the results from usability studies, UX designers tweak their designs to improve the user experience.

The Main Differences of UX Architect and UX Designer

The most significant difference between a UX architect and a UX designer is that the UX architect looks at the bigger picture while the UX designer focuses on the details.

The UX architect focuses on navigation and user flows while the UX designer creates the user interfaces and interactions for each screen or page.

While both UX architects and UX designers review research, the UX architect considers what features and content the user needs. In contrast, the UX designer wants to know how the user will interact with these elements.

We can summarize the roles of a UX architect vs. a UX designer as follows:

• UX architect – who are the users, and what do they need?
• UX designer – who are the users, and how do we meet their needs?

How UX Architects & UX Designers Work Together

It’s important to note that a UX designer performs the UX architect’s responsibilities in many companies, especially small businesses. 

Where these roles are split, the UX designer is often referred to as a UI designer (user interface designer) because they focus on the interfaces and interactions. 

A UX architect is a UX specialist in information architecture rather than focusing on design.

UX architects and UX designers work closely on content. The UX designer focuses on the content’s details while the UX architect decides how to structure the content. To get this right, designers and architects must work closely together.

A Typical UX Architect & UX Designer Workflow

The following workflow is a broad overview to show the separation of responsibilities between a UX architect and a UX designer. 

1. A project will start with a UX architect analyzing market and user research to determine what the project needs and how to structure the content—similar to an architect designing a physical structure.
2. The UX architect puts together a blueprint (wireframes & prototypes) for the UX designer to start the build process.
3. The UX designer analyzes user research and the UX architect’s blueprints to start designing each user interface.
4. The UX designer will create wireframes, mockups, and high-fidelity prototypes for stakeholders and usability studies.
5. During usability tests – the UX architect wants to know how the user accesses content and navigates through the product. The UX designer wants to see how the user interacts with the elements and content on each screen.
6. Once a product is live – the UX architect’s job is to ensure accurate and up-to-date content. They will also look at accessibility issues and recommend updates accordingly. The UX designer will take the UX architect’s recommendations and analyze interaction data to optimize each screen to best serve the user.

Does Your Company Need a UX Architect & a UX Designer?

With each team focusing on different design aspects, separating the UX/UI designer and UX architect roles can improve the quality and efficiency of a product or website.

There might not be enough work for a dedicated UX architect for smaller projects and cash-strapped startups. It’s important to note that UX designers are capable of fulfilling a UX architect’s role.

As projects scale, information architecture becomes complex and time-consuming to manage. In situations like this, a UX architect is critical to a project’s success.

While agencies generally work in small teams, they often work on multiple apps and websites for clients. Having a UX architect can help to streamline productivity by handing UX designers all the information they need to start building immediately—effectively creating a tech production line.

Businesses should ask a series of questions to determine if they need a UX architect:

• How much time do UX designers spend on building layouts and information architecture?
• Do these tasks create production delays?
• Do users often struggle with navigation issues in usability studies?
• What is the cost of a dedicated UX architect in relation to the benefits from an increase in quality and efficiency?
• Does your product frequently struggle with usability and accessibility issues?
• Is someone monitoring your product’s content? Do you regularly find out-of-date content or unused product features?

UXPin Increases Productivity for UX Teams

UXPin is a powerful design tool for UX teams to build better products collaboratively. UX architects can use UXPin to create layouts, wireframes, and lo-fi prototypes, with comments for guidance and context.

UX designers can use this information to design beautiful screens and interfaces with mockups to present to stakeholders and use for usability studies.

Get a free UXPin trial and see how this design tool can help your UX teams collaborate effectively to build better products for your customers. Try UXPin today.

The post UX Architect vs. UX Designer – What’s the Difference? appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Design System Engineers don’t just bridge gaps; they ensure a smooth transition from pixel to code. This comprehensive guide digs deep into what a DSE does, the skill set required, and how they fit into the product development cycle. Whether you’re an aspiring DSE, a hiring manager, or just intrigued, read on to unravel the multifaceted role of a Design System Engineer.

Key takeaways:

• A Design System Engineer is the crucial link between designers and developers, standardizing UI components and design guidelines.
• Beyond code and design, DSEs play an active role in quality assurance, documentation, and cross-team collaboration.
• Mastery of front-end development languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, as well as design tools like Sketch and Figma, is essential for a DSE.
• DSEs are instrumental throughout the product development cycle, ensuring design systems are consistently implemented and updated.
• Familiarity with version control systems like Git and frameworks like React enhances a DSE’s ability to manage and scale design systems effectively.

Bridge the gap to serve designers and engineers more efficiently with UXPin’s Merge technology. Visit our Merge page for more details and how to request access.

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Who is a Design System Engineer?

A Design System Engineer ensures a seamless transition from visual concept to functional code. 

DSEs curate and maintain the design system, a centralized repository standardizing UI components and design guidelines. They share the responsibility of code with developers and user experience and design principles with the UX design team.

DSEs have a broad skill set from design tools and design thinking to writing code (HTML, CSS, and Javascript) and using front-end technologies (React, Vue, Angular, etc.). DSEs are the go-to experts for design system’s consistency, component’s structure, and cross-team collaboration within a design system team. They keep the design and development workflows cohesive and streamlined.

How is a DSE different from a UX designer or front-end engineer?

Filling all three roles, designer, developer, and design system engineer, facilitates a seamless transition from a user’s need to a functional, well-designed product. Each position complements the other, ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks.

• UX Designers: focus on the overall user experience of the product. Their realm is user-centric design, not code.
• Developers: turn designs into functional applications. They may or may not have a deep understanding of UX principles.
• Design System Engineers (DSE): DSEs bridge the gap between design and development. They implement design systems, ensuring consistency and scalability across products.

How these three complement each other in developing and maintaining a design system:

• User Insight: UX designers bring invaluable user insights, guiding the team on what works best for the end-user.
• Technical Implementation: Developers make sure everything runs smoothly under the hood. No user insights or design systems matter if the application doesn’t work.
• Design Scalability: DSEs ensure that design remains consistent and easily implementable across different parts of a project. They allow both design and engineering teams to work more efficiently.

What are a Design System Engineer’s Responsibilities?

• Create and Update Design System: Build the foundational design system and keep it updated to ensure it aligns with project requirements.
• Quality Assurance: Implement automated testing for UI components to guarantee they meet design and functionality standards.
• Documentation: Produce clear, actionable guidelines that help designers and developers understand the design system.
• Version Control: Use tools like Git to manage changes, ensuring every update is adequately tracked and documented.
• Code Reviews: Participate in code reviews to ensure adherence to design guidelines and code quality.
• Cross-Team Collaboration: Act as the liaison between the design and development teams, ensuring design principles are implemented accurately in code.
• Training: Conduct workshops and training sessions to familiarize team members with the design system’s components and best practices.
• Tool Integration: Set up and maintain tools like Storybook that facilitate easier design system implementation.
• Performance Optimization: Regularly audit the design system to remove redundancy and improve load times.
• Stakeholder Communication: Regularly update stakeholders on the state of the design system, any changes made, and how it impacts projects.

What Skills Does a Design System Engineer Need?

While the design system engineer is a specialist role, their skill set must be broad to meet the position’s multifaceted demands. Here are the hard and soft skills you’ll need to be a design system engineer.

Hard Skills

• Front-End Development: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are non-negotiable. It’s the bedrock for implementing a robust design system.
• Frameworks and Libraries: Familiarity with React, Angular, or Vue is often required, given that these technologies power modern web applications.
• Version Control: Proficiency in Git is another non-negotiable for tracking and managing design system changes.
• Design Tools: Competency in Sketch, Figma, or UXPin facilitates collaborating with design teams to create and modify UI components.
• Automated Testing: Skills in Jest, Mocha, or similar testing frameworks guarantee the design system’s quality and reliability.
• Accessibility Standards: Understanding WCAG guidelines ensures the design system is inclusive and legally compliant.

Soft Skills

• Communication skills: Clear articulation of complex technical ideas to designers, developers, and stakeholders makes everyone’s life easier.
• Attention to Detail: Minor visual or functional inconsistencies can derail a project. Accuracy is key.
• Problem-Solving: Design systems are complex, requiring an ability to troubleshoot issues swiftly and effectively.
• Collaboration: The role sits at the intersection of design and development; teamwork skills are crucial.
• Time Management: Juggling design, development, and stakeholder meetings means strong organizational skills are essential.

What is a Design System Engineer’s Role in the Product Development Cycle?

DSEs ensure that design and functionality merge into a coherent, scalable product throughout the product development cycle. They act as the bridge between different departments, ensuring the design system remains consistent and up-to-date.

Inception phase

During the idea validation and planning stage, DSEs assess potential design systems or components that can be reused or adapted. They work closely with product managers and designers to define the design system’s scope, feasibility, and technical requirements.

Design phase

DSEs actively collaborate with UX/UI designers in design critiques and offer technical guidance on implementing design systems without compromising functionality.

For example, when a UX designer proposes a new button style, a DSE ensures the design fits existing patterns and is easily implementable in code.

Development phase

DSEs turn approved design elements into reusable code components. They also provide documentation to facilitate implementation by developers.

For example, if a designer creates a new card layout, the DSE transfers it to code, makes it a reusable component, and documents how to implement it in different scenarios.

Post-launch

After release, DSEs monitor design system components’ usage and make updates for scalability and performance. Additionally, they collect feedback for continuous improvement.

For example, analytics indicate a navigation component is not as intuitive as expected, DSEs work with the designers and developers to optimize it.

How to Become a Design System Engineer

Educational and career steps to becoming a design system engineer

1. Earn a Bachelor’s Degree (+- 4 years): Usually in Computer Science, Graphic Design, or a related field.
2. Learn Relevant Skills: Parallel to your degree, master HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and familiarize yourself with design tools like Figma, UXPin, and Sketch.
3. Entry-Level Position: Start as a Junior Developer or Designer, typically requiring 1-2 years of experience.
4. Specialized Training: Take specialized courses in Design Systems or UX/UI Design–a few months to a year.
5. Mid-Level Role: Move to a role like Front-End Developer or UX Designer.
6. Gain Experience in Design Systems: In your mid-level position, focus on projects that allow you to work with design systems.
7. Transition to DSE: With adequate experience and a strong portfolio, transition into a Design System Engineer role.

Growth prospects for a design system engineer

• Lead Design System Engineer: Lead projects and teams. Requires at least 2-3 years as a DSE and proven leadership skills.
• Design Systems Manager: Oversee multiple projects and multiple design systems. Requires 4-6 years of specialized experience.
• Director of Design or Engineering: Reach the pinnacle by heading an entire department. Generally requires 10+ years in the field and extensive leadership experience.

What are a Design System Engineer’s Tools of the Trade?

Here’s a breakdown of essential tool categories and examples for a DSE. Familiarizing yourself with these tools will help your career prospects and enhance your understanding of this complex role.

Version control systems

• Git: The gold standard for version control, essential for tracking changes and collaborating with others.
• SVN: Less popular than Git but valuable in certain enterprise environments.

Design tools

• Sketch: Offers powerful design functionalities; however, it’s Mac-only.
• Figma: Cloud-based and collaborative; allows real-time changes.
• UXPin Merge: Unique in allowing design and code components to be combined and reused.

Programming languages and frameworks

• HTML: The building block for web development.
• CSS: Critical for styling and layout.
• JavaScript: Enables interactivity and controls web behavior.
• React: A go-to library for design systems due to its component-based architecture and cross-platform efficiency.

Utilizing UXPin Merge and React to Design, Develop, Maintain, and Scale Design Systems

Building and maintaining a design system is a complex, time-consuming undertaking involving a multi-disciplinary team and a vast tool set. UXPin and Merge technology combined with your framework (React, Vue, Angular, and other popular front-end technologies) simplify design system management and governance while bridging design and development.

A single source of truth

The holy grail of design system maturity is a single source of truth, but few organizations ever reach this stage–even though they claim to possess one. High costs and tool constraints mean most design systems maintain two versions:

• Design tool UI kit
• Development component library

Design and development must have platform-specific documentation, adding to maintenance and costs.

Merge facilitates a genuine single source of truth by importing UI components from a design system repository into UXPin. This integration means designers use the same UI library during the design process as engineers use to develop the final product.

Any changes to the repository automatically sync to UXPin and notify design teams of the update. Merge’s Version Control lets designers choose when to switch to the latest release or revert to an older version.

Using UXPin’s Patterns to scale design systems

Design system engineers can collaborate with design teams to scale design systems using UXPin’s Patterns. Rather than starting from scratch, Patterns allows designers to combine UI elements from multiple design systems to create new component, pattern, and template prototypes.

Designers can test these Patterns thoroughly in UXPin before working with DSEs to promote the new component to the design system’s library. 

Smoother design handoffs for design system engineers

Design handoffs are one of the biggest product development challenges. Even with a DSE’s competency on both sides of the fence, the process of converting designs to code is time-consuming and error-prone.

Using code components for design and development streamlines the handoff for design system engineers. Creating new components with Patterns means design teams never have to design from scratch, leveraging existing open-source libraries to scale while making it easy for DSEs and developers to implement.

If UXPin Merge and design system engineers have one thing in common, it’s bridging the gap between design and development.

Simplify your design system management with the world’s most advanced design tool. Visit our Merge page for more details and how to request access.

The post Design System Engineer – Job Description, Responsibilities, and Skills appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

When optimizing development across many platforms, it’s wise to consider using a component library. By offering an accessible, open-source repository of production-ready, customizable, and reusable code components—like buttons and accordions—component libraries let UI and UX designers leverage faster development and growth.

Key takeaways:

• A component library is a set of pre-made, tested, and well-documented UI components that can be easily reused across the user interface of a product.
• It ensures that the product has a consistent look and feel and promotes efficiency and scalability.
• With component libraries, designers and developers can quickly add new features and pages while preserving the overall design consistency.

Share a single source of truth between designers and engineers. Use UXPin Merge to bring one of the component libraries to our design tool and use its elements to create interactive prototypes that can be easily passed to developers for production. Learn more about UXPin Merge.

Reach a new level of prototyping

Design with interactive components coming from your team’s design system.

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What is a Component Library?

UI component library is a collection of pre-designed and pre-built user interface elements used to create user interfaces for digital products, such as websites and applications that have a unified look.

These libraries include a range of pre-made UI elements, such as buttons, forms, navigation menus, icons, and more, each designed with a consistent look and feel.

UI component libraries are particularly useful in collaborative design and development environments, as they help ensure that all team members are using the same source of truth and that the end product maintains a professional and polished appearance.

Component Library Can Offer a Single Source of Truth

Component library can reduce the risk of any variation between products, or ending up with different components in different places. They handle the source code for UI elements and usually leverage CSS and JavaScript.

React is a prime example of a popular open-source framework, developed by Facebook as a component library but since grown into a large ecosystem for creating apps, static sites, and desktop applications.

There are many more advantages of using a component library that are worth highlighting: 

• Accessibility: As a single repository for housing ready-made, reusable components, a component library offers quick access to developers and designers everywhere. This improves collaboration and communication between developers and designers working across teams.
• Reduced code duplication: Often, code gets duplicated across varying designs and projects. But with a component library, there’s no need to convert every pixel to code. Instead, you can use already coded components with no further development.
• Consistency: Promoting a single source of truth is more likely with a component library. By enabling consistent UI and UX across entire projects, it’s easier to achieve uniformity. And this is a key advantage that makes you work faster and more efficiently.
• Speed: By avoiding building from the bottom up, teams save time. Instead of recreating or designing a calendar, it’s already there to use. Plus, thanks to a set of ready-made, pre-set components, teams can avoid any drawn-out, time-draining decision-making processes they may have once faced. 
• Compatibility: Frontend developers can struggle with ensuring cross-browser and cross-device compatibility. But a component library will go a long way to avoiding incompatibility through standardization.

When Is It Best to Use a Component Library?

There are some particular situations where a component library can add measurable value to a project. So let’s look at what they are: 

Code-first prototyping

Projects that focus on functionality over visual design are more likely to benefit from a component library. Plus, prototyping with code is more efficient than starting with images and then converting them into code. So rather than expecting developers to interpret image-based designs and then create the codes, they simply take the code component from the ready-made design.

This also opens up the chance for developers to design with pre-built components without worrying about any lack of design skills.

When you lack the skills or experience to build your own

Creating your own component library or developing one as part of your own enterprise design system may be your dream. But this may not be a reality when your team lacks experience in building reusable UI components or you’re working to tight project deadlines. 

Instead, integrated component libraries provide all the code components designers and developers need to test functionality, usability, and design before conversion to digital products.

If you’re a smaller company or team

Startups and small or medium-sized businesses may need to be more careful with financial resources. And with a wide range of effective, versatile, open-source component libraries around, smaller companies can set themselves up to scale, step by step. After all, no industry giant got there overnight. And many of them continue to stick with their original component library throughout their evolution.

There Are Some Exceptional Tools Available to Help You Scale 

If it’s not yet clear how you’ll benefit from a component library, then here are some questions that could prompt your thinking:

1. Do you see developers building the same components for each project but with slight variations?
2. Are any developers confused about which UI or UX convention they should use in interfaces?
3. Do you need to release updates and changes fast?
4. Do you need a lot of customization?
5. Are you looking for a combined design system and component library?

If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then consider one of the tools below.

1. Merge Component Manager

Merge Component Manager is a design operations tool for managing React UI components in UXPin. You can bring your own component library and use Component Manager to manage component’s properties. It’s perfect for those of you who lack active development support.

Once you upload UI components, you can use them to design UI in UXPin. The components have their full interactivity in UXPin since they’re coded in React.

2. Merge npm integration

One of the ways to bring UI components from your component library to UXPin is through NPM package integration. All you need to import the components is a library name. Then, you would use Merge Component Manager to set up props and write desicriptions, etc. Read more about npm integration.

3. Merge Storybook integration

Storybook is an open-source tool for developing UI components in 15 different frameworks, among others the most popular ones: React, Vue, and Angular. It’s a combined coded design system and component library that acts as a sandbox for effective components and page development, testing, and documentation. Your developers can take a more effective component-driven approach over a visual one.

As Storybook is used by developers, there’s an integration with UXPin that can help you with designing as well.  With UXPin Merge technology, you can sync any Storybook with UXPin editor to design with code components. The fully functional UI elements will show up in one of the UXPin libraries so that you have access to them right away. 

Be the First to Design with Code Using Innovative Merge technology

Component libraries offer the chance to standardize development, reduce code duplications, improve collaboration between teams, and drive scalability. And with so much influence over your project deliverable and team motivation, it’s important to choose the right solution for your needs.

But if you’re looking to improve design consistency and development productivity, UXPin’s Merge technology offers a unique point of integration with Storybook, as well as its own tool, Merge Component Manager for managing components in design. Discover more about UXPin Merge.

The post What is a Component Library, and Why Should You Use One for UI Development? appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

As a web developer, you may have heard of React, a popular JavaScript library for building user interfaces. One of the key features of React is its component-based architecture, which allows you to break down your user interface into reusable and independent building blocks called components.

In this article, we will explore two types of components in React: functional components and class components.

Key takeaways:

• Class components employ JavaScript classes that extend the React.Component class. 
• Functional components are similar to JavaScript functions that receive properties (props) and return React elements for rendering.
• Class components are preferred for complex components that demand precise control over state and lifecycle behavior.
• Functional components shine in simpler scenarios, embracing a more functional programming approach.

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What are Class Components?

Class components have been the traditional way of creating components in React and are still widely used in many existing codebases. They offer a more familiar syntax for software engineers coming from object-oriented programming backgrounds and provide more fine-grained control over the component’s behavior.

Class components in React are created using JavaScript classes, which extend the React.Component class provided by React itself. This inheritance grants class components access to React’s features and functionalities.

One fundamental capability of class components is their ability to manage their own internal state using the setState method. This method enables class components to update and handle data that changes over time, allowing the component to re-render when the state is modified.

Additionally, class components make use of lifecycle methods, which are predefined functions that execute at different stages of a component’s existence. They help developers orchestrate specific actions or behaviors at different phases of a component’s lifecycle, enhancing control and customization over how the component behaves and interacts within the application.

Advantages of Class Components vs Functional Components

Let’s see the advantages of class components over the other type.

• Performance: Class components can optimize performance by reusing instances and updating only necessary parts. This comes in handy when handling large datasets.
• Internal State Management: They can maintain their own internal state using setState. This allows for handling dynamic data changes within the component itself.
• Precise Control over Behavior: They offer detailed control and structure, which can be beneficial when dealing with components requiring intricate control over their behavior.

Downsides of Using Class Components

While class components have their benefits, they also come with some drawbacks. One of the main drawbacks is their complexity. Class components have a steeper learning curve compared to functional components, especially for developers who are new to React. The syntax and concepts used in class components, such as the use of this and the lifecycle methods, can be confusing for beginners.

Class-based components are also more verbose compared to functional components. They require more code to achieve the same functionality, which can result in more boilerplate code and make the code harder to read and maintain.

Another drawback of class components is that they can lead to code that is tightly coupled and harder to test. Since class components encapsulate both the UI and the behavior, it can be challenging to isolate and test specific parts of the component. This can make it harder to write unit tests for your components and make your code less modular and reusable.

What are Functional Components?

Functional components are the simpler form of React components. They are essentially JavaScript functions that don’t have their own internal state. They rely on props (short for properties) to receive data and return the JSX that represents the component’s output.

Functional components gained popularity with the introduction of React Hooks that gave the stateless class components the ability to handle state and lifecycle features. Introduced in version 16.8, hooks closed the gap between functional and class components. From that point, functional components could do what a Class component did, but they were simpler and easier to reuse.

Advantages of Functional Components vs Class Components

There are at least three advantages to using functional components in your React project. 

• Easier to reuse and compose: Since they are just functions, you can easily extract logic into separate functions and reuse them in multiple components.
• Promoting Functional Programming: They encourage a functional programming style, leading to more modular code that’s easier to reason about and debug.
• Easier to test: Functional components, lacking internal state and lifecycle methods, are easier to test as they involve straightforward input-output testing based on props.

Best Practices for Using Functional and Class Components

Regardless of whether you choose to use functional or class components, there are some best practices you can follow to write clean and maintainable code. Here are a few tips:

• Keep your components small and focused: Break down your UI into smaller, reusable components. This makes your code more modular and easier to understand.
• Use descriptive names for your components: Choose meaningful names for your components that accurately describe their purpose and functionality. This makes your code more readable and easier to navigate.
• Separate concerns: Separate your UI logic from your business logic. Keep your components focused on rendering the UI and move any data fetching or state management logic outside of the component.
• Follow the single responsibility principle: Each component should have a single responsibility and do one thing well. This makes your code more maintainable and easier to test.
• Write unit tests for your components: Test your components to ensure they behave as expected. Use tools like Jest and React Testing Library to write unit tests for your components.

Time to Build a React App Layout

Understanding the strengths and limitations of functional and class components empowers developers to make informed decisions while building React applications.

React Hooks extend the capabilities of functional components, while class components provide control over state and lifecycles. By grasping these concepts and adopting best practices, developers can create robust and efficient React applications.

Now that you have a better understanding of functional and class components, it’s time to put your knowledge into practice. Build your first React app user interface with UXPin Merge, an intuitive design technology that makes it easy to create prototypes with coded components. See how easy it is to build your first frontend design. Discover UXPin Merge.

The post Functional vs Class Components – What Do You Need to Know? appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

React, the popular JavaScript library for building user interfaces, has revolutionized web development. Most of you are no stranger to its power and flexibility. But, how can you elevate your React game and ensure your projects are easy to maintain and scale? That’s where this article with React best practices comes into play.

In this guide, we’ll delve into ten essential React best practices to help you create efficient, maintainable, and error-free code. From mastering React components to employing the latest techniques, we’ll equip you with the knowledge you need to excel in building new features for your React projects.

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Master Component Nesting and the Parent-Child Relationships

If you’ve been building React applications for a while, you’re no stranger to component nesting. But have you ever explored just how deep this rabbit hole goes? Understanding the intricate parent-child relationships within React components is essential.

Parent components, also known as container components, are at the top of the component hierarchy in React. They act as the guardians of state and serve as the glue that binds together smaller components called child components. While child components handle specific functionalities or UI elements, parent components manage the overall structure and data flow of your application.

By diving deep into this structure, you gain the power to design applications that are not just functional but elegant in their architecture.

Optimize Re-Renders

In React, optimizing re-renders is crucial for enhancing performance. Two key components, PureComponent and React.memo, aid in this optimization process by preventing unnecessary re-renders.

Both PureComponent and React.memo are powerful tools for optimizing re-renders in React applications. While they differ in their implementation—PureComponent for class components and React.memo for functional components—they both aim to prevent unnecessary re-renders by efficiently comparing props and state. Understanding their nuances and considering the nature of your data can significantly contribute to a smoother and more performant React application.

Using PureComponent

PureComponent is a class component that comes with a built-in shouldComponentUpdate method, automatically performing a shallow comparison of props and state before deciding to re-render. If there’s no change detected in the props or state, it prevents the component from re-rendering, thus optimizing performance. However, it’s important to note that PureComponent performs a shallow comparison, so for deeply nested data structures or complex objects, it might not efficiently detect changes, potentially leading to unexpected re-renders.

Using React.memo

React.memo is a higher-order component (HOC) in functional components, offering similar optimization capabilities. It works by memoizing the rendered output of a component based on its props. When the component is re-rendered, React.memo compares the previous and new props. If they remain the same, it avoids re-rendering, optimizing performance. Like PureComponent, React.memo also uses a shallow comparison, so caution is necessary when dealing with deeply nested objects or complex data structures to ensure accurate optimization.

Master Prop Drilling and Context API

Prop drilling is a common technique in React. But to truly master it, you need to explore the nuances. Learn how to pass data efficiently between deeply nested components without making your code unwieldy. And when it comes to state management, don’t stop at basic state or prop passing – take the leap into the world of Context API. Unlock its potential to streamline state management and make your codebase more elegant and maintainable.

Employ React Hooks

React hooks have changed the game when it comes to managing state and side effects in functional components. As an experienced software developer, you should embrace this modern approach.

useState

Use case: for managing component state

While class components have been the traditional home for managing state, functional components with hooks have proven to be more concise and readable. The useState hook is your gateway to efficient state management. It allows you to declare state variables and set their initial values, all within the function body. Gone are the days of constructor methods and this.setState() calls.

With useState, you not only simplify your code but also gain a deeper understanding of the state’s lifecycle, ensuring that your components behave predictably. Whether you’re working on a small project or a large-scale application, the useState hook becomes your go-to tool for handling component state.

useEffect

Use case: for handling side effects, like data fetching and DOM manipulation

Managing side effects, such as data fetching and DOM manipulation, is a fundamental part of many React applications. The useEffect hook provides an elegant solution to this common challenge. It allows you to perform these actions within your functional components without compromising on readability or maintainability.

Dive into the power of useEffect by understanding its lifecycle and dependencies. With it, you can orchestrate a symphony of asynchronous requests and fine-tuned updates, ensuring that your application responds seamlessly to user interactions. As an experienced developer, your ability to wield useEffect effectively is your ticket to crafting smooth, responsive user experiences.

useContext and useReducer

Use case: to simplify complex state management

For complex state management, React hooks like useContext and useReducer offer a lifeline. These hooks simplify the management of shared state and the handling of intricate application logic.

useContext empowers you to access context values from a higher-level component without the need for prop drilling. This results in cleaner, more maintainable code. As an experienced developer, you can harness the full potential of useContext to create a more intuitive and collaborative development process.

When faced with complex state transitions, useReducer comes to the rescue. It streamlines state updates and provides a structured approach to managing more intricate application logic. By implementing useReducer, you enhance your ability to manage complex state flows and improve the predictability and reliability of your applications.

Maintain a Consistent Code Style

In the world of React development, code consistency stands as a guiding principle that experienced developers understand is not to be taken lightly. Whether you’re working on a solo project or collaborating within a team, adhering to a uniform code style is more than just a best practice – it’s a cornerstone of efficient collaboration and enhanced code readability.

Why is Code Consistency Important in React?

Imagine you’re part of a team working on a complex React project. In this scenario, code consistency acts as the unifying force that keeps everyone on the same page. It ensures that no matter who is working on which part of the codebase, the overall structure and formatting remain consistent.

As your React project grows, consistent coding standards facilitate easier maintenance and debugging. It means you can confidently navigate through the codebase, swiftly locate issues, and make changes without constantly adjusting to different coding styles.

Embrace Automation with Prettier and ESLint

For the experienced developer, two indispensable tools come to the forefront: Prettier and ESLint. These tools automate the process of code formatting and style checking, respectively. Prettier, with its ability to automatically format your code, eliminates the need for debates on code formatting during code reviews. It’s your virtual code stylist, ensuring that your code looks clean and polished.

ESLint, on the other hand, is your code quality guardian. It enforces coding standards, identifies potential issues, and helps maintain a consistent coding style. These tools work in harmony to not only enhance your code quality but also make the entire development process more streamlined.

Establish Coding Standards for Consistency

In a team environment, the establishment and enforcement of coding standards are paramount. Experienced developers recognize that creating and adhering to a set of coding guidelines is a fundamental aspect of maintaining consistency throughout the project.

These standards encompass everything from naming conventions for component names and indentation to how to handle comments and spacing. It’s a collective agreement that ensures all team members are speaking the same coding language.

Keep a Clear Folder Structure

Complexity often goes hand in hand with the number of components involved. As a seasoned developer, you understand that managing numerous components within your project requires a systematic approach. The cornerstone of this approach lies in a well-structured component hierarchy, which greatly enhances the manageability of your codebase.

Clear Folder Structure for Improved Organization

The first step in achieving a well-organized React project is to define a clear folder structure. Picture your project as a library, and these folders as neatly arranged bookshelves. Each folder serves as a dedicated space for specific categories of components, ensuring that you can swiftly locate and keep clean code.

Efficient Grouping of Related Components

Within these folders, the grouping of related components is where the magic happens. By categorizing your components logically, you create an easily navigable code landscape. This approach allows you to access, modify, and extend different parts of your React project with ease, even when dealing with a multitude of React components. This systematic grouping not only simplifies your component management but also provides a clear framework for your development team, promoting effective collaboration.

Component Management for Large-Scale Applications

Now, consider the impact of this organization, especially in the context of large-scale applications. With a well-structured component hierarchy and a clear folder structure, you can seamlessly handle the complexities of expansive projects. The ability to maintain, troubleshoot, and scale your application becomes not just achievable but straightforward.

For the experienced developer, the practice of organizing components isn’t a mere technicality; it’s a strategic move. It’s a commitment to efficient code management and collaboration within your team. By maintaining an organized component hierarchy and implementing a systematic folder structure, you’re ensuring that your complex React projects are not just functional but also elegantly structured and highly maintainable.

Agree on Naming Conventions

Consistency in naming conventions is more than just a formality in React development – it’s the keystone of code readability and collaboration. To ensure your React projects are easy to understand and work on, follow the naming guidelines listed below.

Explore Common Naming Conventions

Start by exploring the most prevalent naming conventions used in the React community. Commonly, you’ll encounter conventions for components, variables, and files. Understanding these conventions provides a foundation for creating code that others can easily comprehend.

Learn When and How to Use Different Casing Styles

Naming conventions often involve casing styles, including camelCase, PascalCase, and kebab-case. Each of these styles has a distinct purpose and use case. Dive into when and how to employ each style:

• camelCase: Typically used for variable and function names. It starts with a lowercase letter and uses uppercase for subsequent words (e.g., myVariableName).
• PascalCase: Commonly used for naming React components and classes. It starts with an uppercase letter and capitalizes the first letter of each subsequent word (e.g., MyComponent).
• kebab-case: Frequently used for file and directory names. It employs hyphens to separate words (e.g., my-component.js).

Prioritize Self-Explanatory Names for Clarity

While adhering to conventions is essential, it’s equally crucial to prioritize names that convey the purpose and function of the component, variable, or file. The goal is to make your code as self-explanatory as possible, reducing the need for extensive comments or documentation.

Optimize Component Loading

In the dynamic realm of React development, performance optimization is key, and lazy loading emerges as a valuable technique to achieve just that. Lazy loading, a concept that experienced developers embrace, involves deferring the loading of components until they’re actually needed. This approach holds a myriad of benefits for React applications, from improved initial load times to efficient resource allocation.

Experienced React developers recognize that one of the primary advantages of lazy loading is its ability to optimize initial load times. By loading only the most critical components required for the initial view, your application can start faster and provide users with a more responsive experience. This strategic resource allocation ensures that your application conserves bandwidth and minimizes the initial page load, particularly beneficial for applications with extensive component hierarchies.

To implement lazy loading in your React applications, the combination of React’s Suspense and React.lazy() proves to be a powerful duo. By suspending the rendering of specific components until they’re actually needed, you can significantly enhance the efficiency of your application, reducing the load on the client-side and improving the overall user experience. As a seasoned developer, incorporating lazy loading into your React projects is a step toward building applications that are not just functional but exceptionally responsive and resource-efficient, catering to the demands of modern web development.

Make Use of Functional Components

Functional components have gained prominence in React development. They have numerous advantages over class components.

Class components, which were the conventional way of building React applications, can become verbose and harder to follow as a project grows. They often require more boilerplate code, making it challenging to quickly grasp the core functionality of a component.

In contrast, functional components with hooks offer a cleaner and more straightforward approach. Learn when and how to refactor class components into functional components. Also, choose the right component type based on your project requirements.

Set up Error Boundaries

Handling errors gracefully is essential for creating robust applications. Experienced frontend developers understand that while preventing errors is ideal, preparing for them is equally essential. This preparation involves exploring the concept of error boundaries in React, a practice that not only safeguards your application from unexpected crashes but also ensures a seamless user experience.

To begin, delving into the realm of error boundaries is crucial. It involves understanding the architecture of React components that can gracefully intercept errors and prevent them from affecting the entire application. This level of control allows you to implement error boundaries strategically, enhancing your application’s stability.

Experienced developers recognize that this process involves wrapping specific components or sections of your application in error boundary components. By doing so, you gain the ability to capture and handle errors gracefully, preventing them from cascading throughout the entire application and potentially crashing it.

As you progress in your React development journey, implementing error boundaries in various components becomes second nature. These boundaries act as safety nets, ensuring that even if an error occurs, your application can continue to function and provide valuable feedback to users. Beyond safeguarding your application, well-implemented error boundaries offer valuable insights into the root causes of errors, enabling you to troubleshoot and fine-tune your code for even greater reliability. This approach extends to not only the React code itself but also to other crucial elements of your application, such as CSS and JavaScript, ensuring a comprehensive and robust solution.

Build React Applications with our Best Practices

By deepening your understanding of React components, employing hooks, maintaining code consistency, and following best practices, you’ll be better equipped to tackle any React project with confidence. Combine these practices with a well-structured component hierarchy, naming conventions, lazy loading, functional components, and error boundaries, and you’ll be well on your way to becoming a React virtuoso.

Ready to build apps with React? Before you jump into development, create your app’s layout with UXPin Merge, a drag-and-drop UI builder that will help you design a responsive layout 10x faster. Discover UXPin Merge.

The post React Best Practices – A 10-Point Guide appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Maps are integral to app design, shaping how users interact with location-based services. From ride-sharing to local discoveries, intuitive map UIs make these experiences seamless and user-centric. As the intersection of geographical data, UI map design, and digital evolution unfolds, mastering the art of Map UI becomes essential for modern products. 

Key takeaways:

• Effective Map UI design bridges complex geographical data with an intuitive user experience.
• Balancing aesthetics with functionality is pivotal for user engagement and satisfaction.
• Adapting to various screen sizes and ensuring accessibility is essential for broad usability.
• Customization options in tools like Mapbox and Leaflet allow for brand-specific map experiences.
• Interactivity, such as panning, zooming, and layer toggling, enhances user navigation and exploration.

Design intuitive map UIs with UXPin’s advanced interactive prototyping features. Sign up for a free trial and design experiences your customers will love with UXPin.

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What is a Map UI?

A Map UI, or Map User Interface, is a visual component displaying geographical information. Location-based services are pivotal in modern digital products–from hailing rides to discovering nearby restaurants–so making them accessible, interactive, and user-centric is essential.

As digital products evolve, so does the demand for visually appealing and functionally robust maps. Balancing aesthetics with functionality, a well-designed Map UI allows users to navigate, explore, and engage with their environment seamlessly. It bridges the gap between complex geographical data and an intuitive user experience, making it crucial for modern digital products.

What are Popular Map UI Layouts?

Full map

A full map covers the entire viewport of a device or screen. It’s immersive, offering users a complete view of the geographical scope. For example, navigation apps like Waze or Google Maps use full maps to ensure drivers get an unobstructed view of their route and surroundings.

Partial map

A partial map occupies only a section of the user interface, typically combined with other UI elements such as text, images, or filters. Travel blogs might use this layout to show a specific location while providing content or insights alongside the map.

Reference map

Reference maps display natural and human-made landmarks without emphasizing specific data. For example, a city tourism app might employ a reference map to show general locations of attractions without going into detailed analytics about each spot.

Embedded map

Designers integrate embedded maps within a larger content structure, often within articles or product pages. For example, an online article about the best coffee shops in New York might use an embedded map to pinpoint locations, allowing readers to visualize the spots within the article’s context.

The Basics of Map UI Design

Understanding map UI elements

• Labels: Textual annotations on maps help identify locations or features. For example, city names, street labels, or landmarks ensure users can easily recognize and navigate areas.
• Points of Interest (POIs): Specific locations or landmarks users find helpful or intriguing. POIs could be tourist attractions, restaurants, or historical sites.
• Routes: Visual representations of paths or directions from one location to another. Routes are essential in navigation apps to show users how to reach their destination.
• Overlays: Data layers placed over a base map to provide additional context or information. For example, weather maps show rainfall or temperature variations across regions using overlays.

Map scales and zoom levels

Ensuring the correct scale and zoom level is pivotal for map utility. Scale dictates how much of the real world is represented on the map, impacting detail and clarity.

Zoom allows users to access granular information, like street names, and zoom out for broader views, like city overviews. Consistent legibility, irrespective of zoom, guarantees user confidence in navigating and utilizing the map.

Cross-platform considerations for map UIs

When designing Map UIs across platforms, understanding the nuances of each is crucial to ensuring a consistent and optimized user experience for mobile applications and desktops.

• iOS: Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines offer a clean and minimalist approach. Focus on native components, maintaining consistent iconography, and leveraging features like Force Touch for map interactions.
• Android: Adhere to Material Design principles, capitalizing on Google’s extensive tools and resources. Consider device fragmentation and ensure map elements scale effectively across screen sizes and resolutions.
• Web: Prioritize responsive design to accommodate both mobile and desktop views. Given the diversity of browsers and devices, testing is essential to ensure map functionalities work seamlessly and consistently.

How to Design Maps for Different Use Cases

Navigation apps

In navigation tools, the prime focus is routes and the user’s current location. It’s essential to provide clear, unambiguous pathways, minimizing distractions. Dynamic updates, such as traffic alerts or alternative route suggestions, enhance user experience. Designers ensure the user’s current position remains prominently visible, facilitating real-time navigation.

Local business directories

When designing for business directories, it’s pivotal to spotlight businesses and relevant reviews. The map should clearly indicate business locations using distinct icons. Integrating review scores or popular tags directly on the map lets users quickly decide which establishment to visit without switching user interfaces.

Event and festival apps

For events or festivals, maps are vital in guiding attendees and assisting with health and safety. These maps must pinpoint stages, facilities, restrooms, and emergency exits. Visual hierarchy, aided by color coding or icons, can help attendees quickly locate what they need, ensuring enjoyment and safety.

Real estate platforms

Displaying properties requires filters like price range, property type, proximity, and amenities. Designers emphasize clear location markers and only show properties based on users’ filters to streamline the search process.

Travel apps

Travel maps cater to explorers, highlighting landmarks, popular tourist spots, and suggested tour routes. These designs should offer rich visuals, using custom icons for different attractions. Additionally, directly integrating quick-access info or audio guides on the map can elevate the tourist’s exploration experience.

How to Approach Map UI Layout and Composition

Adapting to screen sizes

• Mobile: Prioritize essential functions, use widgets where necessary, and streamline controls for touch.
• Tablet: Utilize larger screen real estate but remain touch-optimized.
• Desktop: Offer expansive view with detailed controls, capitalize on hover interactions.

Positioning map controls

• Zoom: Place in an easily accessible location, typically bottom right or left corner.
• Map Type: Allow toggling between satellite, terrain, and standard views with clear icons.
• Orientation: Provide intuitive rotation or compass tools, especially vital for mobile users.

Balancing information density:

• Prioritize essential info: Surface the most relevant data to the user’s current task.
• Use layers: Allow users to toggle between different layers of information.
• Streamline visuals: Use distinct markers and icons to avoid overloading with text.

Responsive map layouts:

• Portrait: Stack controls and ensure key map regions remain visible.
• Landscape: Utilize width for broader map views and reposition controls for easy reach.

How to Design Map Interactions

Here are some typical map UI interactions and how designers should approach mobile app vs. desktop/web design.

Panning and scrolling

Panning lets users explore different regions on a map, while scrolling ensures fluid navigation within a digital product.

• Mobile: Implement touch-drag for smooth panning; consider a locked map mode to prevent unintentional scrolls.
• Desktop: Utilize click-and-drag for panning and ensure the scroll wheel doesn’t interfere with page scrolling.

Zoom in/out:

Zoom functionality lets users go closer or further to a specific location.

• Mobile: Implement pinch gestures for zooming and provide visible “+” and “-” buttons for touch functionality.
• Desktop: Use the scroll wheel for zooming in/out and include “+” and “-” controls as an alternative.

Click/tap interactions

Direct interactions allow users to access more information or perform specific tasks on the map.

• Mobile: Ensure touch targets are large enough and provide immediate visual feedback upon tapping.
• Desktop: Highlight clickable areas with hover effects and employ cursor changes to signify interactivity.

Routing and waypoint setting:

Users often need to visualize routes or set specific points using location markers on maps, especially in navigation apps.

• Mobile: Enable touch-and-hold to set waypoints and use clear icons and visual paths for route displays.
• Desktop: Implement click-to-set waypoints and provide drag-and-drop flexibility for adjusting routes.

Layer toggles

Layers allow users to customize their map view, displaying only relevant information.

• Mobile: Use intuitive icons for layers and ensure toggles are easily accessible without cluttering the user interface.
• Desktop: Position layer controls on the map’s periphery and use tooltips to describe each layer’s content.

What are Map UI Design Techniques for Accessibility

Color contrast and legibility

Effective map design ensures that all users can digest information and complete tasks. Optimal color contrast ensures that labels, routes, and points of interest are visible against their backgrounds. Prioritize high-contrast color schemes and routinely test legibility across different devices and lighting conditions.

VUI and screen reader compatibility

Not every user interacts with map apps visually or with constant internet; offline functionality is essential. Integrating voice user interface and screen reader compatibility ensures visually impaired users can access and understand map data. To optimize for these tools, use semantic markup, provide descriptive alt text, and regularly test with leading screen reader technologies.

Keyboard navigation

Some users rely solely on keyboards for navigation. Guaranteeing that all map functions–panning, zooming, selecting waypoints–are keyboard-accessible is pivotal. Use focusable elements, provide clear visual feedback for keyboard selections, and follow best practices for keyboard shortcuts.

What are Some Tools and Platforms for Designing Map UIs?

Mapbox

Who uses it?:

• Instacart home delivery service
• General Motors in-car navigation
• Rivian electric vehicles
• AllTrails hiking app
• AccuWeather weather app

Mapbox stands out for its flexibility and customization options. It lets designers create unique map experiences tailored to specific brand identities or user needs. With its suite of design tools and a robust API, Mapbox suits those who need more than the standard map look and crave deep integration capabilities.

Google Maps API

Who uses it?:

Too many to mention! Most home delivery, ride-sharing, and automotive applications.

A familiar choice for many, the Google Maps API allows seamless integration of Google’s vast map database into apps and websites. Designers often opt for it due to its extensive documentation, widespread user familiarity, and rich feature set. It’s ideal for projects that benefit from Google’s vast Points of Interest database and street view functionalities.

Leaflet

Who uses it?:

• Foursquare cloud-based location technology platform
• Pinterest social media application
• Facebook social media application
• Evernote productivity app

Leaflet is the go-to web service for designers searching for a lightweight, open-source option. It’s particularly valuable for embedding interactive maps with custom layers into web projects. With its plugin-rich environment and compatibility with various mapping services, Leaflet is preferred for projects that demand performance without overhead.

How to Design Better Map User Interfaces With UXPin

Maps are highly interactive, with many microinteractions and animations. With UXPin’s advanced features, designers have many triggers and user actions, including mobile devices and desktops, to create realistic map UI prototypes.

UXPin’s interactive prototypes enable design teams to test complex UI patterns and components, including maps, to solve more usability issues during the design process.

Go beyond static UI kits and enhance your design process with the world’s most advanced digital product design tool. Build an interactive map prototype with UXPin. Sign up for a free trial.

The post Map UI – The Most Popular Layouts and Design Tips appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Design handoff tools facilitate smoother transitions from design to development. These tools provide engineers with practical documentation, high-fidelity prototypes, and features to communicate and collaborate effectively.

Without an effective design handoff process, designers and engineers spend hours, days, or even weeks of back and forth trying to bridge the gap between design and development.

Streamline your design handoffs by designing with the same components that your developers use to build the end-product. UXPin Merge allows you to bring components from npm, Storybook, or Git repo and drag and drop them in the editor to assemble advanced prototypes. Learn more about UXPin Merge.

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UXPin Merge

With UXPin Merge, you can design and hand over code-based high-fidelity prototypes built with React or Storybook components. This single source of truth enables designers and engineers to work with the same UI elements which speeds up time to market.

Once prototypes are ready, designers share them with engineers who using the Spec mode can see the documentation, style guide, comments, as well as copy the JSX code of components that’s fully usable in development.

Since UXPin Merge makes you design with components that are fully coded, you can be certain that you get quality code and no miscommunication.

Check out Design Handoff: What it Looks Like with UXPin Merge for a detailed look at how Merge can optimize your design process and handoffs.

Zeplin

Zeplin is a popular design handoff tool making it easy for designers, engineers, and other team members to communicate and collaborate effectively. It integrates with collaboration tools like Jira, Slack, Trello, and Microsoft Teams.

With Zeplin, designers can create user flows with annotations to provide engineers with context. A style guide allows designers to save colors, text styles, spacing/layouts, design tokens, and components.

The tool also includes code snippets and other styling so engineers can use to kickstart development.

Marvel

Marvel is a popular design tool with similar design handoff features to Zeplin. You can use Marvel-generated mockups to build prototypes or import from other popular design tools.

Marvel generates starter code and CSS from mockups to save time and bridge the gap between design and development. Engineers can inspect each component and download assets from Marvel, avoiding miscommunication and switching between tools.

Sympli

Sympli is a purpose-built version control and design handoff tool. You could say that Sympli is the designer equivalent of the component directory Storybook.

It integrates with popular prototyping tools to sync UI elements and design systems. Teams can review and collaborate on different elements to provide explanation and context.

Engineers can also view a style guide, spec mode, and specs and assets to start the development process. One of Sympli’s biggest benefits is its ability to sync with IDEs through plugins for Xcode and Android Studio for mobile app development.

Avocode

Avocode creates a design handoff file for the development team. Its “one-click” integrations save designers time by generating downloadable assets, spec mode, and snippets for ten code languages.

Another great feature is Avocode’s design review, allowing designers to invite other teams and stakeholders to critique designs and provide feedback. Designers can iterate on feedback and resync the changes creating a new version so that everyone is aware of the updates.

Design teams can use Avocode’s review feature to discuss inconsistencies and fixes.

InVision

InVision is a design tool with similar features to UXPin. Invision lets you prototype from InVision Studio designs or import files from other popular image-based design tools.

Inspect is InVision’s design handoff tool that automatically generates design specs and code snippets. Designers and engineers can also communicate via comments to keep collaboration and feedback in one place.

With Inspect’s Storybook integration, InVision will inform engineers which components exist in code repositories, saving time searching libraries and preventing accidental rework.

InVision also integrates with software like Jira, Confluence, Trello, and others to sync communication and project management tasks.

Framer

Framer is a leayout design tool with a code editor to sync and edit React components–a fantastic feature for developers but doesn’t help designers with limited code knowledge and experience.

Designers can’t edit the component’s props in the properties panel as they would in UXPin. Instead, they have to make changes in Framer’s code editor–again, not ideal for those with limited code knowledge.

Designers can, however, use these React components for prototyping and testing, giving designers better fidelity and functionality than other popular image-based tools.

Framer’s high fidelity and functionality make design handoffs smooth and efficient. Engineers can copy code from React components to build new products and UIs.

While Framer’s code-based design technology is excellent for React products, it lacks features for other popular front-end frameworks that UXPin’s Storybook integration provides.

Spectrr

Spectrr is a design specification tool with automated annotations for engineers to inspect components and layouts, including colors, fonts, spacing, and more.

Designers can include notes for each component and instructions for creating responsive layouts. Spectrr also generates a complete CSS file for the project, giving engineers an excellent starter template to begin development.

Adobe XD

Adobe XD got discontinued. It was a widely used UX design and prototyping tool. Designers can hand off to engineers via Adobe XD’s Share feature, including specifications and CSS starter code.

Designers and engineers could collaborate using comments and Adobe XD integrated with popular project management software like Jira, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and others. 

Adobe XD’s Share feature was limited by comparison to other design handoff tools, but you could sync designs to Zeplin for more features and better collaboration.

Figma

Figma is arguably one of the most popular design tools. The original release was similar to Sketch but has since evolved to offer prototyping and testing functionality.

In Figma’s Share Mode, engineers can inspect elements and generate code snippets for web, iOS, and Android. You can also install third-party plugins to generate code for frameworks like React, Flutter, Vue, Ember, Angular, etc.

Figma allows you to add “developer seats” to your design projects, so you don’t have to pay to invite and collaborate with engineers. They have complete access to the project and provide feedback through Figma’s comments feature.

UXPin is a code-based tool that renders HTML, CSS, and Javascript rather than vector files like traditional image-based design tools. The benefit for designers and developers is less drift and realistic designs and expectations.

Why are Design Handoffs so Challenging?

One of the biggest design handoff challenges is prototype fidelity and functionality. Designers must use various tools and methods to replicate code-based features–for example, GIFs and videos to display transitions and animations.

Unrealistic Expectations

The problem with these methods is that they don’t have technical constraints, creating unrealistic expectations for designers and product teams. They’re also not part of the actual prototype, so engineers have to go from a prototype to an external file to watch the video animation and see how it all fits together.

Poor Image-Based Tools for Rendering Code

Another issue is converting a design to code. Most image-based design tools offer plugins or applications that generate an HTML template with accompanying CSS. Designers think this is sufficient, but engineers can’t replicate the designs with this code–the two teams are speaking different languages with insufficient interpretation.

Technical Constraints

Another cause of design drift is the rendering engine of the browser or device displaying your product. The most common example is the drift between colors and gradients from mockups to final code.

Too Many Design Handoff Tools

And lastly, design handoffs often include multiple tools for design files, prototypes, documentation, assets, and collaboration. With everything spread across different locations and platforms, handoffs are prone to mistakes and errors.

These are just a few common design handoff challenges that cause friction between design and development. Many of these issues will be familiar if you’re experienced with the handoff process. Luckily, there are design handoff tools to help expedite and streamline the process.

Better Design Handoffs with UXPin Merge

Why use multiple design handoff tools when you can do everything with UXPin Merge? Streamline design workflows, build fully functioning prototypes, enhance collaboration, and improve your product’s user experience with a single tool. Try UXPin Merge to see how easy product development gets when everything is connected. Request access now.

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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.

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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.

Add interactions to your prototypes made in Figma. Use a plugin for importing Figma designs to UXPin for interactive prototyping. Check out the tutorial: Quick Tutorial: Make Figma prototypes interactive in UXPin.

Adobe XD

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 focus on its tool for collaboration, which is similar to Figjam. It still has a prototyping tool, yet compared to other tools on the market, it’s not strong enough for creating interactive products in 2024.

Invision has 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 integrates with Storybook so that designers and developers can sync their design systems. Unfortunately, designers can’t use the code components to build prototypes like you can with UXPin Merge.

Framer

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:

• Marvel App
• Justinmind
• Proto.io
• Axure
• Zeplin
• Balsamiq

Would you like to try 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.

The post Top 5 Prototyping Tools for 2024 appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Dashboard is an essential part of most apps. It summarizes key events within the application or shows stats that can be used for further analysis. That’s why it’s so common in business tools for teamwork, sales, marketing, and other apps. 

At first, dashboard design seems complicated – it integrates loads of information and datasets. When you actually get to create one, it can be quite easy to put together. The key thing is to have out-of-the-box components that will help you guide design decisions.

In this article, we will walk you through designing a responsive dashboard with a coded component library – Material UI, one of the best, thoroughly documented libraries of ready-made elements.

Create responsive layouts blazing fast. Drag and drop fully interactive elements to assemble professionally-looking UI in minutes– as easy as pie. Discover UXPin Merge.

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Take UI components directly from Git repo, Storybook, or through NPM and design production-ready prototypes.

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Why use MUI components to build a dashboard

MUI created its design library following Google’s Material Design standards. Back in the day, it was a revolutionary component library, helping React developers build responsive layouts faster. It is still relevant to this day, as the MUI team continues to evolve its library, releasing new versions every now and then. To read more about it, check out our article about MUI.

MUI is full of data display components

MUI offers many user interface elements that are perfect for dashboards. They’re customizable to a great extent. Let’s highlight some of them:

• Cards – You can create cards representing a specific data point or a group of related data that you want to highlight.
• Data table – MUI published to a clean-looking React component that has built-in sorting and filtering features.
• Date and time pickers – If you need to be super specific and sort by date or time, Material-UI components have you covered.
• Input components – You’ll find every type of button and input field you’d like to have in a data table, be it a checkbox, rating, select, and more.

It’s a well-documented library

Material UI is one of the most documented UI component libraries. It has comprehensive official documentation, stemming from its commitment to keeping the documentation aligned with the evolving nature of the library.

Aside from the effort of MUI’s team to keep its library up to date, the library enjoys strong community support. Developers often share tutorials on building apps with Material UI and they’re ready to help out others. 

It is accessible and responsive

There are two major characteristics of MUI: accessibility and responsiveness which are key when it comes to modern interface design.
MUI places a strong emphasis on accessibility. Its documentation contains tips on accessibility best practices, including using ARIA attributes. When it comes to responsive design, MUI is one of the best component libraries to use. You can easily create responsive layouts that will work across devices and screen sizes.

How to Build a Simple Dashboard with MUI components

We’ll show you how to use UXPin Merge to build a simple – yet fully functional and responsive – dashboard with MUI components. If you want to follow along, create a UXPin account or log into it if you already have one.

Here’s what we’re going to create. To see it up close, inspect its code, and see how interactive and responsive it is, open this UXPin preview.

Step 1: Create a new prototype

When in UXPin’s dashboard, start by creating a hover on “Design with coded components” and pick MUI library.

An editor will pop up. In the center of it, you have a canvas. It’s your work field. Adjust the canvas size to match the device you want to design your layout for. You can do that in the right-side menu. In this menu, you can also change the background colors and add grids to help you align elements.

On the left side of the canvas, you have a menu where you can find all the pages and layers or ready-made components. To find the MUI library, go to Design System Libraries in the bottom left corner and pick MUI V5 (you’ll find it under Merge libraries.)

Now, you can click on any component you like and drag it onto the canvas or just click on it to have it appear in the center. See how easy it is.

Step 2: Access ThemeCustomizer

Open the MUI library and search for ThemeCustomizer – you can use the search bar. It will come in handy when you want to adjust the look of your MUI components. Place ThemeCustomizer above and outside the canvas, so you’re able to navigate to it easily.

Step 3: Place MUI components on the canvas

Pick the components that you want to design with. Start with navigation, such as an app bar and breadcrumbs UI elements. The app bar will help users access other pages and move around the app. When it comes to breadcrumbs, they allow users to orient themselves within the app. Watch this part of the tutorial: 

You can easily adjust the size of the components by clicking on their corners and expanding or contracting them. 

We’re also pulling out:

• Cards – We will duplicate this component to highlight different insights.
• Paper – It will be our textbox.
• Typography – We drag it out of the library and put it into the Paper components. It helps us manipulate fonts.
• Table – It will be our data table that we can sort through.

Now that we have the components ready. We can switch their theme with ThemeCustomizer which we placed above the canvas.

Step 4: Customize components

Now the fun part! Move the components around, fill them with your own content and data, and edit their padding and size. Arrange them in any way you want. This is also a step in which you can create complex components from the basic ones.

Just look at how we took our textbox components and copied a few children inside. Then, we filled them with real content, adjusted text size, and added padding. Same goes with the table. We added more rows by simply copying the Table cells and pasting them in the Pages and Layers panel. 

Step 5: Set up grids and layout

Make sure that our layout can be responsive. Push your components out of the canvas for a moment and place the layout elements in. Here’s how you can do it.

Start with a container for a menu. Place the container on top of the canvas, resize it to fit the width, and place the app bar back in. Make sure that your container is set to “responsive.”

After that, drag a box for our breadcrumbs and put grids for our data table, cards, and text boxes.

It’s super easy to do that because you are just moving the components in the menu, copying the grids, and placing different components inside of them.

Step 6: Preview and share your design

You are ready to see your dashboard and share it with others. Go to “Share,” copy a URL to preview the prototype, and paste it in the browser or click the preview button ▶️. 

Do you have it? Great! Now, you can change the size of the window to see if your prototype adjusts its size as a truly responsive design would. Share your link with others, so they can preview it too.

Step 7: Develop the dashboard

The design is done, so the last step is to copy the code into your React application.

We have provided a starter React App boilerplate, containing all the dependencies and configuration needed – or begin editing right-away in CodeSandbox or StackBlitz (click to go to the preferred one.)

Installing and running the React App Boilerplate:

1. Download or clone the Starter React App boilerplate repo
2. Install the project by running: npm install
3. Run the project by running: npm start

Importing the theme:

1. From UXPin’s spec mode, copy the JSX of the ThemeCustomizer component.
2. Paste JSX into the theme.js file of the project

Here is a video example of using the starter React App repository.

Importing the components:

1. From UXPin’s spec mode, copy the JSX of the desired component composition. 
2. Paste JSX into to the App.js file
3. Make sure you have added import statements for each component that you are importing from MUI. Example: import Button from ‘@mui/material/Button’

For the more in-depth instructions, see the last part of CoderOne’s video tutorial.

Build layouts 10x faster with UXPin Merge

That’s it! You’ve now set up a new dashboard for your app that is fully responsive and consistent with the MUI component library. Check if your dashboard looks exactly, as the dashboard in our Preview.

With UXPin Merge, you can build way more than just dashboards. Create full user interface designs of apps, websites, and other digital products that can be easily translated into code – without advanced design skills. Get started with UXPin Merge.

The post How to Design with Coded Components – Simple & Responsive Dashboard Tutorial appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

Healthcare apps are transforming the patient-care paradigm, offering multifaceted benefits for patients and medical professionals. These apps provide real-time health monitoring, instant communication channels, and many functionalities tailored to individual needs. From secure symptom checkers to instant appointment bookings, these apps elevate the healthcare experience, combining technology with wellness. 

Key takeaways:

• Key features of an effective healthcare app include secure messaging, medication tracking, appointment bookings, and interactive symptom checkers.
• Navigating the design challenges of healthcare apps involves addressing regulatory constraints, system integrations, and ensuring stringent data security.Adopting tools like UXPin Merge can optimize the design process, ensuring high-fidelity prototypes that mirror final product functionalities.

Use React components without writing a single line of code to move quicker from healthcare app design to development. Discover UXPin Merge.

Reach a new level of prototyping

Design with interactive components coming from your team’s design system.

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What is a Healthcare App?

A healthcare app is a digital tool designed to address health-related needs, from wearables to mobile and web apps. This mobile app technology is especially significant for on-the-go healthcare solutions. From booking doctor’s appointments to monitoring vital signs, these apps streamline health management processes for patients and healthcare professionals.

Designing a healthcare mobile app is a delicate process, considering the importance of the data it manages. Beyond medical interventions, these apps also promote overall wellness by providing resources for preventive care. 

Medical applications are crucial in bridging the gap between patients and health services. They provide real-time health monitoring, data-driven insights, and efficient communication channels to improve patient outcomes and enhance healthcare efficiency.

What are the Benefits of a Healthcare App?

Healthcare apps have revolutionized the way patients and medical professionals interact, bringing forth a range of benefits that cater to modern-day healthcare demands:

Benefits for patients:

• Immediate Access: No more waiting in queues; patients can book or reschedule appointments in seconds.
• Health Tracking: Seamlessly track vitals, medication schedules, etc.
• Personalized Insights: Get tailored health advice based on real-time data.
• Secure Communication: Safely discuss health concerns with healthcare professionals.
• Digital Records: Access medical histories, prescriptions, and test results anytime, anywhere.

Benefits for providers:

• Efficient Scheduling: Automate appointments, reducing administrative tasks.
• Real-time Monitoring: Oversee patient health metrics as they come in.
• Data-driven Decisions: Use gathered data for more accurate diagnoses and treatments.
• Improved Outreach: Connect with patients, send reminders, or share health information easily.
• Cost-effective: Reduce overhead costs through automated processes and streamlined workflows.

What are Some Features That a Healthcare App Should Have?

The healthcare tech industry is broad, with many features and user interface design possibilities. Here are some features you might consider based on your product’s purpose, user needs, and goals.

Appointment and procedure bookings

• Instant Bookings: Allow patients to schedule, reschedule, or cancel appointments within moments.
• Smart Calendars: Integrate doctor schedules so patients view real-time availability.
• Notification Alerts: Send reminders for upcoming appointments or procedures to reduce no-shows.
• History Tracking: Record past appointments and procedures for easy reference.

Remote consultations

• Video Consultations: Enable face-to-face consultations without physical constraints.
• Secure Messaging: Offer encrypted chat options for patients to discuss health matters privately.
• File Sharing: Facilitate the secure exchange of medical records, lab results, or images.
• Billing Integration: Process payments for online consultations.

Medication Tracking and Reminders

• Digital Prescription Lists: List down medications prescribed with their timings and dosages.
• Timely Alerts: Notify patients when it’s time to take their medications.
• Refill Reminders: Alert patients when they need to refill a prescription.
• Dosage Information: Provide details about each drug, its side effects, and interactions.

Symptom checkers:

• Interactive Questionnaires: Guide patients through questions to evaluate their symptoms.
• Immediate Triage: Based on symptoms, suggest if a user should seek immediate care, consult remotely, or book an in-person visit.
• Integration with Professionals: Facilitate a quick consultation booking if a symptom indicates urgency.
• Educative Content: Provide relevant information about the identified symptoms, potential causes, and preliminary care steps.

What are the Challenges of Designing a Healthcare App?

Healthcare apps offer design teams more challenges for patient and provider-facing interfaces than the average digital product. Designers must navigate the regulatory constraints and complex system integrations. Here are some key challenges to consider and plan for.

Regulatory and Compliance Considerations

Healthcare app design offers many challenges and complexities in processing and storing user data–the most sensitive and protected information globally. Here are some things designers must consider to stay compliant.

HIPAA and Data Privacy:

• Strategy: Prioritize user data safety from day one. Design the app structure so sensitive patient information remains encrypted in transit and at rest.
• Consideration: Understand HIPAA’s guidelines and make the app infrastructure compliant, ensuring that third-party integrations adhere to these standards.

FDA and Medical App Classifications:

• Strategy: Clarify the app’s medical classification, as it sets the foundation for regulatory compliance.
• Consideration: Is the app intended for diagnosis or treatment? Does it influence medication? Answers dictate FDA requirements and oversight.

Global Considerations:

• Strategy: Adopt a globally-aware design stance. Familiarize yourself with varying healthcare rules in targeted regions.
• Consideration: Countries differ in healthcare regulations. An app successful in the U.S. might require modifications for the EU due to the GDPR.

Integrating with existing systems

Healthcare product developers must deal with complex integrations and systems, each with rigid security and restrictions. Here are some of the systems designers must consider and research.

Electronic Health Records (EHR):

• Strategy: Seamless data flow is vital. Ensure the app can effortlessly pull and push data from and to EHRs.
• Consideration: Beyond integration, think about data accuracy and real-time updates. Mobile app users shouldn’t experience information lag.

Pharmacy systems:

• Strategy: Create an intuitive bridge between the app and pharmacy databases, ensuring quick medication data access.
• Consideration: Can users easily order or refill prescriptions? The smoother this process, the more value the app offers.

Insurance and billing platforms:

• Strategy: Financial elements in healthcare can be intricate. Simplify the design to allow straightforward navigation of insurance claims and billing details.
• Consideration: Offer summarized views, detailed breakdowns, and instant support options for financial queries.

Ensuring security and trust

Healthcare apps must have security features and protocols comparable, sometimes stricter, than banking or finance apps. Designers must incorporate features that secure app access while reassuring users their information is safe. Here are some considerations for designing robust healthcare applications.

End-to-end encryption:

• Strategy: Design the app with a security-first mindset. Use robust encryption methods to safeguard patient data.
• Consideration: Every piece of patient information, no matter how trivial, needs protection. Never compromise on encryption.

Multi-factor authentication (MFA):

• Strategy: Incorporate MFA to provide an additional security shield, deterring unauthorized access.
• Consideration: While MFA enhances security, ensure the process remains user-friendly and not overly complex.

Transparent data practices:

• Strategy: Be upfront about how the app uses, stores, and shares data. Design a clear, concise privacy policy and make it easily accessible.
• Consideration: Trust is hard to gain and easy to lose. Be open about data practices; users will be more inclined to trust the app.

Accessibility and inclusivity

Accessibility and inclusivity are paramount for healthcare app development because their purpose is to serve everyone. Understanding user needs and limitations is crucial to ensure user interfaces accommodate all user groups.

Implement WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) Standards:

• Strategy: Aim to comply with WCAG 2.1 AA standards as a minimum benchmark.
• Consideration: Utilize accessibility tools like axe or WAVE to evaluate the app’s accessibility levels. Rectify identified shortcomings.

Voice command integration:

• Strategy: Enhance usability by incorporating voice command functionalities, beneficial for visually impaired users and those with motor disabilities.
• Consideration: Integrate with voice recognition platforms like Google’s Speech-to-Text or Apple’s Speech framework.

Captioning and transcripts:

• Strategy: Provide captions and transcripts if your app uses audio or video.
• Consideration: Collaborate with transcription services like Rev or use automated tools like Otter.ai. Ensure accuracy and clarity.

Provide Keyboard Navigation:

• Strategy: Ensure the app is navigable via keyboards for users with motor disabilities.
• Consideration: During development, enforce tab order and keyboard focus rules.

Language and localization:

• Strategy: Consider non-native speakers. Offer multiple language support and ensure clarity in translations.
• Action: Collaborate with localization services. Avoid direct translations–context is crucial.

How to Improve Healthcare Product Design With UXPin Merge

Step 1: UX Research and gathering requirements

Start by understanding the healthcare domain and your target audience. Conduct surveys, interviews, and field studies with end-users and healthcare providers to gather insights. Engage with experts from the healthcare industry for deeper insights. This research will guide the design process, ensuring the app meets user needs and regulatory requirements.

Step 2: Sketching and paper prototyping

Map user journeys, sketch UIs, and create paper prototypes of user flows to develop ideas and insights to guide the digital design process.

Step 3: Digital wireframing in UXPin

Use UXPin’s built-in User Flows library to design the app’s information architecture. Draft a wireframe version of the app’s interface. Map user flows and layouts using UXPin’s Forms and Shapes to identify structure and navigation.

Step 4: Choose a design system that meets your needs

Import React or other JavaScript framework components directly into UXPin using Merge. You can also use one of UXPin’s built-in Merge libraries to begin prototyping immediately, including Fluent UI, Ant Design, MUI, and Material UI.

Using code components during the design process helps maintain UI consistency while streamlining designer/development collaboration.

Step 5: Create high-fidelity mockups

This phase emphasizes refining the app UI to make it intuitive and visually appealing. Transition from wireframes to high-fidelity interactive Merge components. 

Merge creates a drag-and-drop environment with styling (fonts, colors, sizing, etc.) and interactivity (states, APIs, etc.) programmed into UI elements–far better than any UI kit in Figma or other image-based UI design tools. These Merge components mirror those in the final product and ensure your designs align with what’s feasible in development.

Step 6: Interactive prototyping

Implement screen transitions, navigation, animations, and interactivity using UXPin’s Interactions. Set component-level states, styling, and interactivity via UXPin’s Properties Panel. Merge pulls these properties from the component’s props defined in the design system’s repository, so designers and engineers work within the same constraints.

Step 7: Gather stakeholder feedback

Share interactive prototypes with stakeholders to gather feedback. Stakeholders can view and interact with prototypes and annotate feedback using UXPin’s Comments. They can assign comments to specific team members who mark them resolved after appropriate action.

“Our stakeholders can provide feedback pretty quickly using UXPin. We can send them a link to play with the prototype in their own time, and UXPin allows them to comment directly on the prototypes. UXPin’s comments functionality is great because we can follow along and mark comments as resolved once we address them.” Erica Rider, Product, UX, and DesignOps thought leader.

Step 8: User testing:

Using Merge’s interactive components for testing means users and stakeholders can interact with prototypes like they would the final product. These realistic user experiences give design teams valuable, actionable insights to iterate and improve, allowing them to solve more usability issues during the design process.

Share the interactive designs with a varied group of testers. Capture their feedback to pinpoint areas of improvement, ensuring the healthcare app’s user experience is intuitive and caters to the needs identified during your initial research.

With UXPin’s Mirror app, you can test prototypes on iOS and Android devices to ensure designs meet platform-specific needs and requirements.

Step 9: Design handoff to developers

Document your component usage, design guidelines, and best practices for developers and future projects. Using React components in the design process means devs require less documentation and explanation. UXPin produces production-ready JSX so engineers can copy/paste to start development. This streamlined process paves the way for smoother app development.

UXPin is a full-stack UI/UX design tool with everything design teams need to execute complex projects like healthcare apps. Merge technology enables designers to prototype with code components and get meaningful insights to iterate and improve while enhancing collaboration with engineering teams.

Bridge the gap between design and development to simplify complex interactive digital products with UXPin and Merge technology. Visit our Merge page for more details and how to request access.

The post Healthcare App Design in 9 Steps – Overcome UX Challenges for Health Industry appeared first on Studio by UXPin.

One of the questions organizations ask themselves at the start of a new project is, “do we adopt a component library or start from scratch?” There are pros and cons to weigh, and it depends on the project’s scope and priorities. 

One of the most popular component libraries is MUI – a comprehensive React UI library modelled at first on Google’s Material Design UI. 

We’re going to take a look at MUI, why you’d want to use it, what makes it different from other component libraries, and how you can get started designing your next project.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to design in code? UXPin Merge is a revolutionary technology that allows teams to create fully functioning layouts without design skills. Find out more about Merge.

Create beautiful layouts without designers

Take UI components directly from Git repo, Storybook, or through NPM and design production-ready prototypes.

Bring code to design

What is MUI?

MUI is a massive library of UI components designers and developers can use to build React applications. The open-source project follows Google’s guidelines for creating components, giving you a customizable library of foundational and advanced UI elements.

MUI also sells a collection of React templates and tools, giving you ready-made user interfaces to tweak for your project. 

Why Would You Use a Component Library Like MUI?

Designers often use UI kits to build new products or feature add-ons for existing projects. These libraries allow designers to drag and drop the components they need to design interfaces quickly. 

Let’s explore 7 reasons why you would want to use the MUI component library.

1. Faster Time-to-Market

In today’s highly competitive tech landscape, time-to-market is a metric that organizations always seek to optimize. A component library gives designers and developers a massive headstart with thoroughly tested UI elements ready to go.

Designers can drag and drop elements to build user interfaces and customize components to meet product and branding requirements. Design teams can spend more time designing great customer experiences rather than getting bogged down building and testing UI components from scratch–a process that increases time-to-market significantly!

Usability testing is much faster because designers can prototype, test, and iterate quickly. If a user interface isn’t working during testing, they can make changes on the fly, drawing from a massive library, to get instant feedback from participants and stakeholders.

When it comes to the design handoff, engineers can install the component library and copy/paste changes from prototypes and style guides to develop the product without starting from scratch.

2. A Single Source of Truth

One of the biggest design system governance challenges is maintaining a single source of truth. It’s not uncommon for product teams, UX designers, and developers to have out-of-sync design systems–resulting in errors, rework, and massive headaches and challenges for DesignOps.

Using MUI’s component library can significantly reduce these challenges while creating a single source of truth between design and development. Designers and engineers will still have separate design systems (image-based for designers and code for engineers), but MUI gives them the same starting blocks.

When using Merge with UXPin’s code-based editor, designers and engineers use the same design system components synced via a single repository. Any updates to the repo sync back to UXPin, notifying designers of the changes. You can connect Merge using Git for React component libraries or Storybook for other popular technologies.

3. Design Consistency

Consistency is vital for user experience, building trust, and brand loyalty. Using the same UI components allows designers to increase consistency while minimizing errors and rework.

4. Scalability

Scalability is another vital product design factor. If you’re building a design system from scratch, designers must design, prototype, and test new components before scaling the product.

With MUI’s comprehensive UI library, designers can search for the components they need to prototype and scale right away. Engineers can copy/paste the identical React components from MUI and customize them to the designer’s specifications.

MUI X includes a library of advanced React components teams can use to scale complex products even faster, including data grids, date pickers, charts, pagination, filtering, and more.

5. Easy Maintenance

A component library like MUI comes with detailed documentation for installing, using, updating, and customizing components. Designers and engineers can use this framework to maintain the organization’s design system, making it easier to establish governance systems and protocols.

MUI also provides how-to guides for migrating from one version to the next. So, organizations can take advantage of the latest UI styles, technologies, and trends whenever MUI releases an update.

6. Accessibility

Those experienced with setting up a design system will know the time and money it takes to ensure every component passes accessibility standards. MUI’s designers have taken great care in designing components to meet WCAD 2.0 accessibility guidelines – reducing the work for researchers and designers.

It’s important to note that even when you design interfaces using accessible components, you must still test navigation and user flows to ensure the product as a whole meets accessibility standards.

7. Skills Empowerment

MUI’s open-source component UI library empowers startups and young entrepreneurs to build new products–especially in developing nations where they don’t have the same access to education, mentoring, and skills transfer.

The library is also incredibly beneficial for charities, non-profits, NGOs, and similar organizations who want to develop products and tools but don’t have the budget to invest in a design system. 

Anyone can leverage the skills of MUI’s talented designers and developers using the same component library used by Fortune 500 companies to develop sophisticated digital products and compete in a global market.

What Makes MUI Stand Apart From Other Component Libraries?

Google’s Material Design UI is arguably one of the best and most comprehensive design libraries in the world. By building on top of Material Design, MUI delivers a React component library to match.

The ability to easily customize MUI using its Theming feature and the libraries’ excellent documentation make it accessible to build products for multinational corporations or a single developer with a product idea.

Because MUI is so widely used, there is a massive global community of designers, researchers, and developers to reach out to for guidance and support. Added to the fact that React is one of the most popular front-end frameworks, makes MUI an attractive component library.

MUI – Interesting Facts and Figures

Here are some interesting MUI facts and figures:

Note: MUI’s stats continue to climb. These facts were accurate as of Jan 2022.

• MUI started in 2014 as Material UI but decided to change its name to differentiate itself from Google. Many people assumed Material UI was a Google product.
• MUI has over 2,200 open-source contributors.
• There are over 2,3 million NPM downloads of MUI per week.
• Over 73,700 stars on GitHub.
• Of the 1,488 respondents to MUI’s 2020 survey, 35% of developers worked in an organization with less than five people.
• In the survey, 27% of developers use MUI for enterprise applications, while 20% use the library for admin dashboards.

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Using UXPin Merge’s MUI integration, you can leverage the power of prototyping with UI React components.

MUI helps you create designs with fully functioning code components. With a single source of truth, designers, developers, product teams, and others can collaborate more effectively with fewer errors and friction.

Higher fidelity means better usability testing with meaningful feedback from participants and stakeholders. The result? A better overall user experience and increased business value.

Find out more about UXPin’s MUI kit and how you can sign up to request access to this revolutionary code-based design technology: MUI library in UXPin: Design Faster.

Syncing a Component Library With UXPin Merge

With UXPin Merge, you can build fully functioning high-fidelity prototypes with an open-source component library. With complex UI components like menus, forms, tabs, data tables, date pickers, accordions, and more, you can build beautiful and functional layouts in minutes. Check out Merge.

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Today’s digital product users have simply decided that they don’t have the attention span–or the time–to wade through poorly designed apps. Luckily, since designers study users and their behavior, they can help with improving user retention through the right design practices. 

In this article, we propose a solution to the customer retention issues that plague user interfaces. The goal is to engage app visitors so that they feel compelled to return. Done properly, casual users stay engaged. Loyalty prospers, followers are born, and an app becomes a daily staple. 

Key takeaways:

• User retention is a behavioral pattern of users who keep coming back to the site, app or other digital product.
• It’s measured as a percentage that reflects total number of users at the start of a period divided by number of active users at the end of the period.
• What helps you make design decisions for improving user retention is behavioral science but also usability, customer service, and more.

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What is User Retention?

User retention is when a casual digital browser is transformed into a power user who returns to consume more of what your app or website offers. These users follow this pattern of product or service consumption, staying for longer periods to benefit from the app or website. 

More accurately, teams track this metric as a percentage. By tracking this rate, you can help your team focus on improving user retention. You see trends in motion, which lets you quickly spot and address any downturns in user engagement. Following a user retention strategy lets your team meet their objectives and keep the return user statistics in your favour.

How Can Designers Measure User Retention? 

By using something as simple as a user survey or more complex analytics tools, developers determine repeat visits. They can also generate ballpark figures by selecting a timeframe and dividing the total number of users recorded at the start by the number of active users at the end of that period.

Here’s a general formula for tracking user retention:

Total number of users at the start of a period / number of active users at the end of the period = user retention rate (%)

With the figure in hand, product teams can discover what resonates with app traffic. Say that there’s a sudden drop in user returns. After speaking to a few users, your team learns that a UI element doesn’t work or is confusing and causes user frustration. The design team can then work on a fix that would remove the blocker in the user journey. 

Product teams also commonly review churn rates – more on this later – and other analytics, but it’s the user retention figure that provides the greatest understanding of in-app behavior.

All of this analysis and user querying result in a more personalized experience. In the end, the app doesn’t overwhelm or confuse with information overload or navigation-slowing pages.

How to tell if user retention is low?

Let’s introduce a predictability baseline. Fact: the average customer retention rate after 30 days of app usage is typically 5.6% of users. Designers might use this statistic as a very rough benchmark when rolling out their creations.

That said, when setting their user retention objectives, they should always prioritize their industry-standard rates. You can establish what a ‘good’, ‘average’, or ‘poor’ retention rate means to you after considering several factors, like what your product does, who is the target user, and how much it costs. 

So much for theory – now let’s look at some factors that can help keep users coming back.

7 Design Tips on Improving User Retention

Before thinking about your app’s improving retention rate, it’s essential to understand the basics of behavioral science. The Hooked Model, created by Nir Niyal, will be used to illustrate this concept:

• The trigger – humans gravitate towards familiar screen anchors. Links, clickable icons or images, emails; these are all habit-forming triggers. They prompt users to take familiar actions. They’ve been “hooked” by a trigger. An emotional component is activated when triggers work as they’re designed to.
• Action – this is a key part of the action/reward cycle that drives human interactions. If the action is to be viewed as “good,” a rewarding response is expected.
• Variable rewards – we become excited when unforeseen incentives are on the line. Your customers can’t help themselves; they want to click through to another part of your app when they’re tempted by a hidden image or, say, the promise of a discount code.
• User investment – interest rises. Your users want to interact with your app, to leave feedback or fill out a form. This final part of the four-phase hooked model equals customer investment and a healthy future for burgeoning users.

Although human behavior lies at the core of UX design practices, the ‘human factor’ can be unpredictable at times, and belongs in another realm altogether. It is crucial that this emotional element is understood.

Understand who your loyal customers are

Retained users are potential brand advocates. They’re already satisfied with your app and have the power to draw in more customers. Consider the following:

• Track churn rate, which is defined as the percentage of users who have stopped using the app over a predetermined amount of time. If user investment is dropping, you need to find out why.
• Know your ideal customer profile but match expectations against real-world results. Using analytics tools and app retention figures, how often do visitors use your app? 
• What’s the habit-forming trigger in your app?
• Can those triggers be recreated on command?

To learn more about the psychology behind habit forming in design, give our dedicated piece a read.

Once you’ve determined the level of user retention you need for your app or website, you can then focus on refining your user experience (UX). 

Reward those users who use your product regularly

These incentives aren’t always monetary. In fact, they could be anything, including:

• Points (e.g., used to reward returning users of the ‘Health’ app in Apple devices)
• Badges (e.g., Facebook groups, where the most active members of the community are given special badges for top contributors)
• Discounts (e.g., eCommerce stores that often display discount codes in their app, site, social accounts, or deliver them to customers via email)
• VIP status (e.g., language learning app Duolingo puts a heavy emphasis not only on gamifying the studying experience, but also offers VIP status to those who return to the app daily)
• Free upgrades (e.g., hotels offering free room upgrades for booking directly through their site or app)
• Compliments (e.g. a free ebook for the first 50 users who log into the app on a given day).

Rewards inspire feelings of achievement. You feel like you’ve accomplished something, so you return for more. Customer retention rates increase as users react positively to this sense of accomplishment.

The Stepler app represents a fine example of the reward principle. Points are won every time a user walks, and earn bonus points every time they log into the app. Always on the mind of the fitness enthusiast, because they’re hooked up to a wearable fitness device, the app is accessed regularly.

In this case, the rewards program aligns with the user’s activity goals to build closer ties to advertisers and brands.   

Improve usability

Usability is a term that describes the degree to which an individual can use an app, website, or other product to achieve a specific end goal – conveniently and enjoyably. If you spot that a user struggles with completing a process due to a usability glitch, then you need to decide how you can resolve the issue.

To get started, you need to understand if the design meets your users’ needs. If it doesn’t, what’s lacking? A good way to gather answers is by gathering feedback from customers.

Make sure your onboarding is good

Just like when reading a book or meeting someone for the first time, first impressions are everything.

Make sure your onboarding process is smooth and streamlined. First-time visitors to your app should experience smooth sailing through the tasks. 

Unfortunately, customers tend to remember problems, whether they’re due to site navigation or some app slowdown incident. Avoid such bad memories by conducting exhaustive dummy-run app tests to iron out the wrinkles. Pair the above steps with a well-designed in-app onboarding flow.

Put a customer feedback loop in place

Feedback is offered to customers as a means of gathering insights and actionable suggestions. To ensure you retain your hard-won customer base, you need a process for obtaining customer feedback. 

Not to be skipped when consolidating customer insights, feedback loops play a crucial role in collecting and analyzing user reviews and surveys.

There are several methods to gather customer feedback:

• Run a survey like Net Promoter Score®
• Request that users participate in focus groups and provide feedback sessions.
• Combining all of the above results, the data is analyzed for discernible trends in user behavior.
  

Use the right trigger

There are a number of tools available for the discerning app designer. From a design point of view, the initial trigger must be functional and aesthetically attractive. Function, of course, is more important than app attractiveness. Both work together to draw in users, though.

A dynamic design is yet another piece of the puzzle that is the human experience. By incorporating interactive elements and visually appealing graphics, users are more likely to engage with the app. Animations and scaling graphics, lines, and color changes – these dynamic elements all serve to engage the eye. Audio cues work just as well as an attention-grabbing device.

Share new feature updates with relevant users 

You can use the same design techniques to separate new features and updates from the presence of regular app content. A different font color or a flashing banner directing the attention of a user’s eye causes the static of the familiar to fade while fresh new features stand out.

Kommunicate announces a new feature through a convenient tooltip: It’s a great way to share information without overwhelming the screen with attention-stealing detail.    

Conclusion

Tracking user retention is a great way to verify if your app meets user needs. As soon as you notice it going down, you should start to investigate the reasons behind it. You can do it by running a survey or speaking directly to your target audience. 

By using a tool like UXPin you can quickly test new features before you proceed into full launch. This way you will ensure a seamless user experience by keeping your designs easy to navigate around, and clutter-free. Try UXPin today.

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Efficient inventory management is essential for the success of any eCommerce organization. Manually tracking and recording inventory using pen and paper can be time-consuming and prone to errors. To overcome these challenges, many businesses are turning to inventory management apps to save time and improve accuracy.

We will explore the key elements of designing an effective inventory app that provides a seamless user experience and enhances productivity.

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Why Inventory App Design is Important?

Effective inventory management is crucial for small businesses and large organizations. It ensures that the right products are available at the right time, avoids stockouts, reduces carrying costs, and optimizes overall operational efficiency.

An inventory management app can significantly enhance these benefits by providing real-time visibility into inventory levels, creating efficient automations, and enabling data-driven decision-making.

UX Design in Inventory Apps

When designing an inventory app, user experience (UX) should be at the forefront of your mind. A well-designed app should be intuitive, easy to navigate, and provide a seamless workflow for users. Good UX design enhances user satisfaction and minimizes errors.

UI Design in Inventory Apps

User interface (UI) design focuses on the visual and interactive elements of an app. It encompasses the layout, typography, colors, icons, and overall aesthetics. A visually appealing and user-friendly UI design creates a positive impression, improves usability, and engages users.

Do You Need to Design Your Own Inventory App?

Nowadays, a lot of organizations pick a ready-made inventory management software, either provided by a SaaS business or optimizing an open-sourced ones. Those out-of-the-box solutions are enough if you sell regular inventory, but if you sell custom products, you might want to build your own web app or mobile app.

Then, you can personalize an inventory dashboard to your needs and get other benefits like:

• Competitive Advantage: A custom app inventory system can give you a competitive edge. It can be designed to include unique features and functionalities that set you apart from your competitors.
• Scalability: As your business grows, your inventory management needs will evolve. A bespoke system can be built with scalability in mind, ensuring it can adapt to your future needs without major disruptions or the need to switch to a new system.
• Enhanced Security: Security is paramount when managing your inventory and customer data. With a custom solution, you have greater control over security features and can implement robust measures to protect sensitive information.
• Efficiency and Automation: Your custom app can be tailored to automate routine tasks, improving efficiency and reducing human error. This can save you time and resources, allowing your team to focus on more strategic activities.

How to Design an App Inventory Management System

The development of an inventory app starts with gathering requirements, conducting research, creating wireframes, mockups, and prototypes, as well as collaborating with developers to bring the app to life. It’s vital to ensure that the app meets the functional and aesthetic requirements while delivering a seamless user experience.

Step 1: Analyze Requirements

The process starts with a thorough discussion of business needs, objectives, and the specific challenges you are facing with your current inventory management system (if any). You need to understand your workflows, user roles, and any unique features you require to be able to design the perfect dashboard.

This step also involves studying existing inventory management apps in the market to identify design patterns, usability issues, and areas for improvement. Analyzing competitor apps will help you understand industry standards, identify gaps in the market, and gain inspiration for innovative features.

Some of the features that you definitely want in an inventory management system are:

• Real-Time Inventory Tracking: A core feature of any inventory app is real-time inventory tracking. Users should be able to view accurate stock levels, track item movements, and receive notifications for low stock or out-of-stock items. Real-time data ensures that users have up-to-date information for efficient decision-making.
• Barcode Scanning and QR Code Integration: To streamline the inventory management process, integrate barcode scanning and QR code capabilities into your app. This feature allows users to quickly scan product codes, update inventory records, and reduce manual data entry errors.
• Order and Reorder Management: To enable users to manage orders and reorder inventory seamlessly within the app. This feature should include functionalities such as creating purchase orders, tracking order status, managing supplier information, and automating reorder notifications based on predefined thresholds.
• Reporting and Analytics: Provide users with comprehensive reporting and analytics capabilities to gain insights into inventory performance, sales trends, and forecasting. Customizable reports, visualizations, and data export options will empower users to make informed decisions and optimize inventory management strategies.
• User Permissions and Access Control: Implement robust user permissions and access control features to ensure data security and privacy. Different user roles should have varying levels of access and functionality within the app. This feature allows for efficient collaboration while maintaining data integrity.

Step 2: Get to Design and Prototyping

Once we have a clear understanding of your requirements, the team will create wireframes and prototypes of the inventory management app. This stage allows you to see how the system will work and make any necessary adjustments.

Here are some essential considerations for creating an intuitive and visually appealing user interface (UI) and user experience (UX).

• Information Architecture and Navigation: Develop a logical and intuitive information architecture that organizes the app’s content and user flow. Use clear and consistent navigation patterns, such as a menu bar or sidebar, to help users easily navigate between different sections of the app.
• Visual Design and Branding: Create a visually appealing design that aligns with the branding and aesthetics of the business. Use a consistent color palette, typography, and iconography throughout the app to create a cohesive and professional look.
• Responsive Design for Multiple Devices: Ensure that the app is responsive and optimized for various devices, including desktops, tablets, and smartphones. Responsive design allows users to access and manage inventory on the go, improving flexibility and productivity.
• Streamlined Workflow and Task Efficiency: Design the app’s workflow in a way that minimizes unnecessary steps, reduces cognitive load, and maximizes task efficiency. Use clear and concise labels, tooltips, and error messages to guide users through each task and prevent errors.
• Gestures and Interactions: Consider incorporating intuitive gestures and interactions, such as swiping, pinching, and long-pressing, to enhance the user experience. These interactions should feel natural and provide users with a sense of control.
• Prototyping and Usability Testing: Once the initial design is ready, it’s crucial to prototype the app and conduct usability testing to validate the design decisions. Prototyping allows users to interact with the app’s interface and provide feedback, while usability testing helps identify any usability issues.

Step 3: Develop the Inventory App

With a validated design, it’s time to move into the development phase and bring the inventory app to life. Collaborate with developers to ensure a smooth implementation process.

Work closely with the development team to integrate the app with the necessary backend systems and databases. This integration will enable real-time data synchronization, data storage, and retrieval.

Step 4: Test the App

Thoroughly test the app in different scenarios and environments to identify and fix any bugs or issues. Conduct comprehensive quality assurance to ensure the app meets the desired performance, security, and compatibility standards.

At this stage, prepare for the app’s deployment by creating documentation, conducting training sessions, and providing ongoing support. User training is essential to ensure that users understand how to effectively use the app’s features and maximize its benefits.

Step 5: Release

The design process does not end with the app’s launch. Monitor user feedback, gather analytics data, and continuously strive to improve the app’s performance and user experience. Regularly release updates and new features based on user needs and market trends.

Once you get confident that your app works great, consider integrating additional functionalities such as predictive analytics, demand forecasting, and integration with third-party tools to further enhance the app’s capabilities.

Streamline app inventory design with UXPin Merge

Now that you have a comprehensive understanding of the key elements of designing an effective inventory app, it’s time to put your knowledge into action.

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