Visual Design

Visual Design Research

Before the actual design, I spend some time understanding the visual environment and preferences of the target audience as well as the existing brand and brand guidelines. I also look at competitors to get a general idea of the visual trends in a particular market. Often these will take the form of moodboards - a collection of images and graphics that form the visual framework for the design.

Visual Design

Based on the understanding of the business, brand, and target audience, I come up with a visual language and color choice that is appropriate to the context. The understanding gained from the research phase together with the collected imagery informs the choice of colors, shapes, and textures of the interface.

Visual Interface Design

I believe the visual design of interfaces should support the functionality of the underlying system as well as support the associated brand. It needs to clearly distinguish functional elements from content, enhance usability af the application, and help communicating system status. Trade-offs between usability and desirability of a product are common in this phase. For example a health care product that patients lifes depend on will emphasize usablity to minimize errors whereas a consumer product will generally have stronger emphasis on being visually appealing to customers.