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I have learned a new term today in terms of light mode – dark mode in user interfaces: contrast polarity. Basically, a positive contrast polarity is a light text on a dark surface (light mode) — just like the physical black ink on white paper. Negative contrast polarity, on the other hand, is the reverse — dark text on a light surface (dark mode).
Now, where else can you use this term? In CSS class-naming, of course!
See the Pen Contrast polarity (light – dark mode) by Brian Dys Sahagun (@briandys) on CodePen.
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Absolutes
On the concept of “absolutes”: If a color is the same as CSS named colors, name it as is or use the name itself:
--color-red: #ff0000;If you “invented” a color or base it on an existing brand color, “invent” a name for it, but always attach the name of the basic color:
--color-coagulated-red: #c93434;
--color-facebook-blue: #4267b2;Generics
On the concept of “generics”: Use these colors as basis for primaries, secondaries, accents, etc.:
--primary-color: var(--color-facebook-blue);Specifics
On the concept of “specifics”: Use the “generics” to identify colors of UI elements:
.submit-button { background-color: var(--primary-color) };
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Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.
An aphorism attributed to Albert Einstein.
But how could you determine if the UI you designed could (and should) be made optimally simpler — meaning can still be made more simple than the current without losing anything of value to the users (and while adding more value as well)?
First, market data
Given that the product is in the market already, gather insights on the usage of the product and the UI’s role in it.
Are there complaints pertaining to a particular screen / page? Look deeper into those.
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- Amplified telephone
- Font resizing / larger
- Hearing aid
- Screen magnification or zoom
- Cochlear implant
- Screen reader (e.g, JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, ChromeVox)
- Cane, walker, guide animal or other walking aid
- Braille terminal
- Wheelchair
- Voice Control / speech recognition Software (e.g., Dragon, Siri, Google Home, Google Assistant, Cortana)
- Prosthetics
- Speech generating device
- Wearable tech (not prosthetics)
- Speech to text (i.e., Dragon Naturally Speaking, Google Doc Voice, Typing, Windows Speech Recognition)
- Augmentative and Alternative Communication Device
- High contrast mode or browser color preferences
- Sign language interpreter
- Alternative keyboard
- Speech-to-speech transliterator
- Alternative mouse or stylus
- Visual aids
- Keyboard-only navigation (no mouse usage)
- Writing on paper
- Switch access or head pointer or eye tracking
- Typing with phone or tablet or other device then showing it to others
- Joystick
- Caregiver (friend, relative, professional assistant / aid)
- Teletypewriter (TTY) or Telecommunication device for the deaf (TDD)
- Closed Captions
Taken from a Google survey dated September 2019.
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And yet design and designers. I’m a designer, and what I’ve seen is that we are perpetually distressed, perpetually feel threatened by the idea of democratization. As long as I’ve been a designer there’s been talk about the idea of accreditation, about the idea of licensing designers, about making people take training, take tests in order to practice design, regulating the practice of design. Designers take a look at services and website like 99 Designs, which is a website, a marketplace–if you have a design task that you need done, a business card or something, you post it there and designers bid on the job and the effect is it drives down the price of design. It drives down to the median value of design.
Khoi Vinh on The Skeptic’s Case For Design Thinking
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In their writing, they reflect on their own work, and they’re skeptical about what they’re doing often times. They’re also very skeptical and question the world around them. And that’s something that I think that we can do a lot more as designers, and I know it is not an easy thing to do, because a lot of our practice is to serve commercial goals and purposes. Under that kind of condition it’s not that easy to say, “Okay. Are we doing the right thing? Or are we doing good design right now?”
Natasha Jen on Design Thinking Is B.S.