UI design analysis guideline

And how do you start now?  I am working with Figma but I am not going to write a tutorial about this software.  But I will describe my way of thinking and how I structure my design.

Design without a client       

 To know what I need in a design without a client, I go through all possible lines of thought myself.  As user, client and designer.  I write all this down, and then perform an analysis on my own text.  All parts of the design will emerge from this analysis.  These are techniques that are also used in brainstorming sessions.  I use these techniques in my work every day.  Even to fill in the missing data, in one of my analyzes.

You can find the basic idea for the app in last post here

The user.

  I want a landing page that I will go to when the app opens.  On that landing page I want to navigate to the events.  I also want to know where I can park my car. And after a nice city walk I want to be able to drink or eat something.  And if something goes wrong that day, I want to be able to reach all emergency services, including my best friend, the four-legged friend.  Or maybe I forgot very important medication at home!

 When I use an app myself during a visit to a city or museum, I want simple, clear and legible information.  No endless possibilities but to the point.  I want to be able to find the info while walking.  And don't end up in an endless maze of menus.  I want to be able to access all information from every screen.

As a user I want a graphically clear design.  Easily readable indoors and outdoors, so in a lot of light and little light.  I too, as a slightly older user, don't feel like switching glasses to find my way through fine print, to establish that it is about “over information” that I actually don't need.

The owner.

 As the owner of the app, I want the message that my village radiated to convey to the visitor.  No matter how small a village is, it has its own logo or flag, containing the colors and subjects that are specific to the village.  Can also manage the app itself, even though I don't have any IT people on the payroll.  A simple backhand.  This project must also fit into the budget of the village, yet the basic app.  And any expansion must be possible.

The designer.

 As a designer, it is important to me that the app is easy to maintain.  I also want to be able to easily adapt this app to use it for another village.  With different flag, logo and colors.  In this way the app can be sold several times, with a minimum of effort and financial consequences.

 The analysis

 To shorten the text, I have written all data that is important in my analysis in italics and underline . So what can whe list in the analyse.

• landing page with navigation, events, food en drinks, emergency and parking -- 5 pages.
• list of events, list of food&drinks, list of emergency info, parking info -- 3 lists.
• cards for events, cards for food&drink, cards for emergency services  -- cards in lists
• navigation from all pages -- sticky navigation bar.
• simple bright design good readeble in all conditions.
• color palet of the town colors. light green, dark green and white. plus 2 accent colors.
• small, easy to maintain, budget friendy, reuseble and expandeble.

So now whe have de properties of our design. With all this in mind i look for ideas. And produce those idesa in Figma. Now its time for your creativity, look at trends. Ask friends and colegues to review your design. But first believe in your own creativity.

Good luck to you and me.

In the next post i will show my design. And write about the problems i encoutered.

Do, believe and be happy,

Stefaan