These principles are concepts that guide the design of software products. You must align your work with these principles to ensure you create designs that are aesthetically pleasing, easy to understand and use.

Meet the User’s Need

UI/UX Design is user-centred, so first and foremost you have to ensure that the design meets the needs of the user. Your design should help the users achieve their desired outcome seamlessly.

Hierarchy

 Hierarchy controls the order in which information is consumed and processed. A design with clear hierarchy helps users easily scan for the information they need and go about their tasks smoothly.

Visibility of System Status

Users should be able to receive feedback on the actions they take. Your design should provide them with information on what is going on and show users their system status.

Match between System and the Real World

Your design should speak the language of the user and use the same concept that people are already familiar with in the real world. Avoid the use of jargon or technical terms, simple language makes your design easier to understand.

User Control and Freedom

The design should give users control in the process, allow them to redo, undo and cancel an action that they have already taken.

Accessibility

Your design should be usable for as many people as possible. It should be accessible by people with disabilities like visual impairments. Texts should have a clear contrast to the background, avoid using colours that can’t be seen by everyone.

Consistency and Standards

Your design should follow standards and use consistent concepts throughout the entire product. This allows users to become familiar with new products, so they know what actions to take without any extra learning. 

Recognition Rather than Recall

It is easier to recognize things than to recall them. Your design should keep options, actions, etc visible to reduce the load on the users’ memory. Users should not have to remember information from one display to another. 

Flexibility and Efficiency of Use

The design of a product should be such that it can be used by new and expert users. It should be easy for new users to learn and have shortcuts for experts to do things fast. 

Aesthetics and Minimalist Design

Less is more. Don’t overwhelm users with unnecessary or irrelevant information. A minimalist design helps users focus on their goals without getting distracted by the design.

Help Users Recognize, Diagnose and Recover from Errors

Error messages should be straightforward, actionable and in plain language. The design should tell the users what went wrong and offer solutions. 

Help and Documentation

Most times users might want to navigate a product without resorting to documentation but sometimes documentation is necessary. Such documentation should be easy to locate and focused on the users’ current task. Your design should provide help to users where they need it and when they actually need it.