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a beginner’s guide
Learn You a
Designing for
 Great Good!
  a beginner’s guide
Samantha Thebridge



samantha@atlassian.com
@samthebridge
Some context

• Why does bad design happen
  to good code?
The dropdowns!
The dropdowns!
The dropdowns!
Learning to see
Learning to notice
Learning to seek
Learning to remember
Four key layout principles

Contrast
Repetition
Alignment
Proximity
Other important ones
Hierarchy
Dominance
Ratios
Pattern Recognition
Closure
Contrast
• Contrast creates hierarchy, balance,
  dynamics and rhythm
• Contrast helps the user break information
  into smaller chunks
• Contrast guides the eye
Contrast
• If things are meant to be grouped, don’t just
  make them similar—make them identical.
• If things aren’t meant to be grouped but
  look similar—make them very different.
Contrast Example - Before
Contrast Example - After
Contrast Example - After
Contrast Example - After
Contrast Example - After
Contrast
• If things are meant to be grouped, don’t just
  make them similar—make them identical.
• If things aren’t meant to be grouped but
  look similar—make them very different.
Contrast
• If things are meant to be grouped, don’t just
  make them similar—make them identical.
• If things aren’t meant to be grouped but
  look similar—make them very different.
Contrast
• If things are meant to be grouped, don’t just
  make them similar—make them identical.
• If things aren’t meant to be grouped but
  look similar—make them very different.
Contrast
• If things are meant to be grouped, don’t just
  make them similar—make them identical.
• If things aren’t meant to be grouped but
  look similar—make them very different.
Contrast
• If things are meant to be grouped, don’t just
  make them similar—make them identical.
• If things aren’t meant to be grouped but
  look similar—make them very different.
Contrast
• If things are meant to be grouped, don’t just
  make them similar—make them identical.
• If things aren’t meant to be grouped but
  look similar—make them very different.
Repetition
• When the brain is presented with new
  and complicated information, it instinctively
  searches for patterns.
• The brain can overlook information that
  does not fit the pattern it is looking for.
• An interruption in a pattern can cause
  confusion, panic and prevent the user
  completing a task
Breaking repetition
Achieving Visual
•   Colours
•   Spacing
•   Shapes
•   Line thicknesses
•   Fonts (and font sizes)
•   Icon styles
Achieving Visual
•   Colours - call to action buttons
•   Spacing - break up information in forms
•   Shapes - create patterns
•   Line thicknesses - choose one
•   Fonts (and font sizes) - less is more
•   Icon styles - no icon salad
Spacing - Before
Spacing - After
Repetition Example -
Alignment
• Alignment reduces cognitive load caused
  by broken visual patterns.
• Alignment creates hard “lines” for the eye
  to follow.
• The brain perceives disconnected parts as a
  whole object by creating “closure” by visually
  completing objects formed by gaps in shapes
  - you can take advantage of this.
Pattern completion
Achieving Alignment
• Connect every element with another
  element on the screen with another.
• Draw invisible guides to make sure nothing
  is placed arbitrarily.
• Reduce the number of points of alignment
  to the bare minimum.
Alignment Example - WTF
Alignment Example - After
Alignment Example - After
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Alignment - Before
Proximity
• Proximity helps users by grouping and
  ungrouping related content and helps
  create context.
• Allows users to complete smaller tasks
  more quickly than deal with a wall o’text.
Proximity
• Group items that relate to each other as
  closely as is comfortable.
• Create smaller visual units.
• Separate elements that are unrelated to
  avoid confusion.
• Don’t force users to hunt for related
  elements, like form labels.
Proximity Example - WTF
Proximity Example - WTF
Proximity Example –
Proximity Example –
Proximity
• Group items that relate to each other as
  closely as is comfortable.
• Create smaller visual units.
• Separate elements that are unrelated to
  avoid confusion.
• Don’t force users to hunt for related
  elements, like form labels.
Proximity
• Group items that relate to each other as
  closely as is comfortable.
• Create smaller visual units.
• Separate elements that are unrelated to
  avoid confusion.
• Don’t force users to hunt for related
  elements, like form labels.
Proximity
Proximity
Some other WTF

Sometimes things are JUST wrong.
Let’s talk about those for a second.
Multiple levels of tabs
Centre Alignment
Don’t scare people!
The other tricks
Before
After
Resources

http://bit.ly/19oxQH
Patterns
My bible
The ADG
Design rationale
How it affects you
What you’ll get for free from AUI
What you can do with the flatpack
Where you can get help
Design Rationale
• Steal this from Ross and Henry’s talk
Design Rationale
• Steal this from Ross and Henry’s talk
How it affects you
• Get this from Sean / Ben
In beta at:


 developer.atlassian.com/design
I need to make some
rules, though...
Some rules
• Just enough is more
• Please don’t do font or icon salad, no one
  will love you more just because you
  discovered Google web fonts
• Choose a primary palette of less than 3
  colours, and a tertiary palette of less
  than 3 colours
Come see me!
• Come and talk to me about your plugin, or
  feel free to email me at
  samantha@atlassian.com
Now go forth
and design me
some stuff!

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Samantha thebridge atlas camp 2012 talk

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