world's shortest UI/UX design course

Summary

This insightful video guides beginners through the essentials of UI and UX design, breaking down the process into manageable steps. It starts with understanding user flow to map out the journey of potential users on your site, followed by wireframing to design corresponding screens. The video emphasizes the importance of a design system, including colors, fonts, and icons to ensure consistency. It covers the fundamentals of actual design work, keeping in mind principles like visual hierarchy and simplicity, and concludes with tips on adding text and visuals. The video not only demystifies the design process but also encourages viewers to practice by contributing to a live site for inspiration.

Takeaways

• 📚 UI and UX design are crucial for creating effective digital products, involving learning fundamental skills, standard procedures, and using helpful resources.
• 📈 The design process starts with a main idea or solution to a problem, serving as the foundation for the project.
• 🖌 Step one involves mapping out the user flow to understand the journey of users from landing on the site to achieving their key objective.
• 🖼 Step two, wireframing, requires creating layouts for each page or screen based on the user flow diagram, focusing on achieving the key objective through thoughtful layout and analysis.
• ✏️ Modern tools like Balsamiq, InVision Freehand, and Figma have made wireframing more accessible and efficient compared to traditional pen and paper methods.
• 🖥 Step three introduces the design system, guiding the visual aspect of the project with reusable components for consistency, like colors, fonts, buttons, and icons.
• 🎉 Colors in the design system should reflect the project's industry, value, or brand identity, with variations for comprehensive use across the project.
• 📝 Fonts and icons chosen during the design process impact readability and the project's vibe, with resources available for selection and customization.
• 💡 Step four, the actual designing, involves assembling all elements with attention to design principles like visual hierarchy, contrast, balance, and consistency, followed by testing, iterating, and refining.
• 📖 Bonus step includes adding illustrations or visuals to enhance the project, with the option to create these using tools like Figma or Spline for 3D designs.
• ✨ Continuous learning and practicing by designing more projects are key to mastering UI and UX design, building upon the fundamentals covered in the script.

Q & A

What is the first step in designing a user interface according to the script?

The first step is to map out the user flow diagram, which involves charting the main journey a user takes from landing on the site to achieving their key objective.

What tools are mentioned for creating wireframes?

The script mentions Balsamiq, InVision Freehand, Figma, and Adobe XD as tools for creating wireframes.

Why is creating a design system important in UI/UX design?

A design system is crucial because it provides a guideline that specifies reusable components, ensuring consistency across the design in elements like colors, fonts, buttons, and icons.

How does the script suggest choosing the primary color for a project?

It suggests choosing colors that reflect the project's industry value or brand identity, and emphasizes using tools like real-time colors to simulate choices on a real site to ensure they're accessible and aesthetically pleasing.

What are the recommended sources for icons and fonts mentioned in the script?

For icons, Figma's library and plugins are recommended, and for fonts, Google Fonts along with TypeScale for determining readable sizes and ratios are suggested.

What does the script imply about the variety of design styles available?

The script implies that there is an infinite number of design styles available, and it encourages designers to explore and choose styles that best fit their project's needs.

Which platforms are recommended for design inspiration in the script?

Dribbble, Behance, and the project being designed itself are recommended as sources of inspiration for design.

What are the six basic design principles mentioned?

Visual hierarchy, contrast, balance, consistency, simplicity, and interaction feedback are the six basic design principles highlighted in the script.

What is the final step in the UI design process according to the script?

The final step involves testing, iterating, prototyping, and refining the design based on user expectations and design principles.

How does the script suggest handling text content in the design phase?

It recommends either using placeholder text like 'lorem ipsum' or, preferably, writing actual content to test and create realistic expectations for different sections before finalizing them.

Outlines

00:00

🎨 UI/UX Design Fundamentals and Steps

This segment introduces the essentials of UI and UX design for beginners, emphasizing that while design tools are easy to learn, mastering them requires understanding specific tasks and resources. The process begins with identifying a main idea or solution, such as creating a web application for collecting design inspirations. Key steps include mapping out the user flow to understand the customer journey, wireframing to layout screens or pages, and developing a design system that defines visual guidelines like colors, fonts, and components. Examples include using tools like Figma for wireframing and establishing a color scheme that reflects the project's brand identity. The narrative underscores the importance of these foundational steps in creating a user-centric and visually coherent design.

05:02

🚀 Finalizing Design and Adding Details

The concluding part of the video script covers the intricate process of refining and finalizing a design project. It stresses the importance of simplicity, user feedback, and adhering to basic design principles such as visual hierarchy, contrast, and consistency. The script also highlights the iterative nature of design, requiring testing, prototyping, and numerous iterations to meet user expectations effectively. It touches on the necessity of filling the design with realistic content or placeholder text to test and finalize different sections. Additionally, it mentions the optional step of incorporating illustrations or visuals, with tools recommended for creating these elements. Finally, the script concludes by encouraging continuous practice in design to build knowledge and skill, ending with a call to action for viewers to engage with the content and look forward to more.

Mindmap

The video is abnormal, and we are working hard to fix it.
Please replace the link and try again.

Keywords

💡UI/UX Design

UI/UX Design refers to the process of creating user interfaces and experiences for websites, apps, or other digital products. It focuses on the aesthetics (UI) and usability (UX) to ensure that the product is both visually appealing and easy to use. In the video, UI/UX Design is the main theme, with the speaker discussing the fundamentals, standard procedures, and helpful resources for getting started in this field.

💡User Flow

User Flow is a representation of the path a user takes to achieve a specific goal on a website or app. It outlines the main journey from the moment users land on the site until they accomplish their key objective. In the context of the video, the speaker emphasizes the importance of mapping out the user flow to understand user expectations and to design a product that meets those expectations.

💡Wireframing

Wireframing is the process of creating a basic layout for different screens or pages of a website or app. It involves drawing layouts in the form of wireframes, which are simple and schematic representations of the design. The speaker in the video uses wireframing as a step to translate the user flow into corresponding screens, focusing on how each page or screen contributes to reaching the key objective.

💡Design System

A Design System is a set of guidelines and reusable components that ensure consistency throughout a design project. It includes elements like colors, fonts, buttons, forms, and icons. The video highlights the importance of a design system in the UI design journey, where it deals with visuals and helps maintain a consistent look and feel across the entire product.

💡Visual Hierarchy

Visual Hierarchy refers to the arrangement of elements in a design based on their importance. It helps guide the user's attention to the most critical parts of the interface first. In the video, the speaker mentions visual hierarchy as one of the six basic design principles to keep in mind when designing, to show the order of importance among different elements.

💡Typography

Typography is the art of arranging text in a visually appealing and legible manner. It includes the selection of fonts, sizes, and styles that impact the readability and overall look of the content. The video discusses typography as a crucial part of the design system, where the speaker tests different fonts from Google Fonts and uses typescale to find readable sizes.

💡Icons

Icons are small graphical representations or symbols used to convey information or actions in a user interface. They play a significant role in enhancing the user experience by providing visual cues. In the video, the speaker talks about choosing different types of icons for the design project and how they contribute to the overall interface aesthetics.

💡Responsive Design

Responsive Design is an approach to designing websites or apps that ensures they adapt and function well on different devices and screen sizes. This design methodology is essential for creating user-friendly interfaces that provide a consistent experience across various platforms. The video mentions responsive sizes for body text, small text, and titles as part of the design process.

💡Feedback

Feedback in the context of UI/UX design refers to the responses or signals that a user interface provides to the user's actions. It helps users understand the result of their interactions and keeps them engaged. The speaker in the video includes feedback as one of the six basic design principles, emphasizing its importance in maintaining user engagement and providing clear reactions to user actions.

💡Illustrations

Illustrations are visual elements like drawings, graphics, or images that can be added to a design to enhance its appeal or convey additional information. They can be used to complement the text, highlight key points, or simply add a creative touch. In the video, the speaker discusses the bonus step of adding illustrations and visuals if needed, and mentions resources for obtaining or creating them.

Highlights

UI and UX design essentials are easy to learn but hard to master.

Design starts with solving a problem or addressing a use case.

Step 1 involves creating a user flow diagram to map out the user's journey.

Step 2 focuses on wireframing to design screens or pages based on the user flow.

Modern tools like Balsamiq, InVision Freehand, and Figma have revolutionized wireframing.

Designing for simplicity and accessibility is crucial in UI/UX design.

Step 3 introduces the design system, emphasizing consistency through reusable components.

Choosing colors for your design involves considering accessibility and brand identity.

Fonts and typography play a key role in readability and conveying brand vibe.

Figma offers a massive library of resources and plugins for design elements like icons.

Step 4 is the actual designing phase, applying principles like visual hierarchy and consistency.

Iterative testing, prototyping, and refining are essential parts of the design process.

The importance of incorporating realistic UX copy for testing and setting expectations.

Bonus step: Adding illustrations and visuals to enhance the design without needing fancy software.

Turning designs into live sites enables real-world application and further inspiration.

Continuous designing is key to building up knowledge and mastering UI/UX design.

Transcripts

foreign

but you want to know how to design a

website app game or any other product UI

design tools are easy to learn and hard

to master what helps you master them is

knowing what exactly you need to do so

let's learn UI and ux design no

just what you need to get started

fundamentals standard procedures and

helpful resources a design starts with

the main idea a solution to a problem or

a use case for example I really needed a

web application to collect element

specific designs like these so designers

and developers like you and me can find

inspiration got a good idea let's go

step by step step one user flow the

people you hope to use your product

probably have certain expectations

they're looking for some info want to

buy something or just use the service

you need to map out that main Journey

from the moment they land on your site

till that key objective is achieved in

this project for example when users land

on the site they should immediately find

the category and the websites in it we

call this a user flow diagram Step 2

wireframing from the user flow diagram

we'll try to create corresponding

screens or pages each pager screen is

supposed to contribute to reaching that

key objective in a way if users are

supposed to shop for something then

there's a store Page product page cart

payment page and success page you can

start drawing layouts for different

screens in the form of wireframes which

requires real hard thinking and Analysis

of user Behavior back in 1800s we used

pen and paper to draw wireframes but

thanks to technology nowadays we're

lucky enough to do them on tools like

balsamic and vision freehand or just

figma or fake Jam like a normal person

for example in this project we want a

simple and straight to the point design

so just one single screen we need some

navigation in the header and footer our

main goal is showing users designs in

different categories how could we

Implement that maybe a little drop down

menu a filter hmm it has to be simpler

and more accessible like right in front

of everyone's eyes how about just a

simple sidebar with the categories like

font awesome for example that's a good

inspiration we also want to showcase

different designs a lot of them on this

remaining side we have several sources

of inspiration for this that have proven

to work like dribble so we need our

designs in a little grid over here and

this grid should have a link to the

source of the design its name and just a

simple image preview what we just did

was a brief version of user experience

or ux design it can be extended and have

you go through other steps as well

depending on how complicated your

project is step 3 design system this

marks the beginning of our user

interface or UI design Journey where we

deal with visuals every design project

is led by guideline that specifies

reusable components as you can imagine

this makes everything consistent like

colors fonts buttons forms boxes cards

icons and so on it can be very big or

very small like the one we have here

starting with colors they should reflect

your Project's industry value or brand

identity meaning logo product or brand

colors for this project I just know I

want it to be in dark mode with mostly

neutral colors like black white and gray

and maybe one primary Vivid color I'm

not really sure what I want yet so I'm

using real-time colors to simulate my

color choices on a real site making sure

they're accessible and look good but

generally speaking you want your colors

to be as comprehensive as possible for

example background color text color

primary secondary accent and semantic

colors each of them can have different

variations too like Shades gradients and

transparent versions next up we have

fonts which directly impact the

readability of your content plus the

fonts can give off a certain Vibe look

at these fonts funky elegant serious

childish and oh God what is this again

I'm using real-time colors to test out

some fonts from Google fonts quickly

which lead me to two fonts space

grotesque and Ubuntu then I'm using

typescale to find a good ratio and

readable sizes for these fonts and make

a list of them on figma I'm using the

standard responsive sizes of 18 pixels

for body text 14 pixels for small text

and 32 pixels for the title for icons

there is a massive library of resources

and plugins on fake by itself you can

even make them yourself like I did here

there different types of icons like flat

skeuomorphic glyph duotone 3D outlined

and so on other major parts are buttons

inputs cards and really whatever your

project needs for example for this

project we need buttons category inputs

and website cards this style I'm

choosing is outlined and transparent how

do you choose a style you ask well there

are about five uh 10 no no wait wait

yeah there's an infinite number of

styles actually that's where you come in

to design one good news is that there

are many resources to get inspired like

dribble be hands and even the site we're

designing right now step four the actual

designing now you have all the

ingredients and it's time to cook a

design let him cook keep these six basic

design principles in mind visual

hierarchy helps show the order of

importance among elements contrast helps

distinguish elements and make them

readable or accessible balance helps

moderate the spacing alignment or the

placement of different elements

consistency helps keep elements

harmonical and avoids user confusion

Simplicity keeps things clear and

straightforward for users and for extra

interaction feedback keeps users engaged

and gives them some clear reaction for

their actions now designing is not just

assembling the elements you will need to

test iterate prototype and refine a lot

in this step nowadays we browse tens of

applications and websites on a daily

basis and already have some expectations

so you don't need to escape the matrix

or calculate the answer to life universe

and everything to come up with a design

that users are already accustomed to the

only remaining step is filling it up

with some text like ux copy or marketing

copy you either use some good old lorem

ipsum dollar sit and mad consecutor a

different sync a lid

or hear me out writing some actual

content even if they're not going to be

used at all this helps with testing and

creates realistic expectations of

different sections before finalizing

them by now we're also done assembling

the design for this project but still

one step remains bonus step

illustrations and visuals if you need to

add graphics there are thousands of free

and paid resources that provide you with

them you can make them yourself too

which is much cooler luckily you don't

even need fancy software like Adobe

Illustrator or procreate to make

illustrations you can literally just use

figma for most Styles or a spline for 3D

designing for this project we didn't

really plan for any illustration because

it's supposed to be very minimal the

good news is that I've turned this

design into a live site and now you can

use it to get some Inspirations for

designing your own project elements you

can contribute to it too by adding your

favorite designs to it this is just the

beginning of a journey from here on you

can build up on your knowledge by

designing designing and more designing

and that's all for this video you if you

liked it make sure to do your magic down

there and see you on the next one