Day 91 - What Speed Should Your UI Animations Be

Good  timing and duration for animated UIs are around 200ms to 500ms seconds.  This is more of an art than a science. Always test and adjust how fast your animation is.  Smaller animations will be in the 100ms or 200ms range, while larger animations that have more area to cover will be in the higher ranges.

Day 77 - Ten Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design

Jakob Nielsen's 10 most general principles (or heuristic rules of thumb) for interaction design:

1. Visibility of system status.
2. Match between system and the real world.
3. User control and freedom.
4. Consistency and standards.
5. Error prevention.
6. Recognition rather than recall.
7. Flexibility and efficiency of use.
8. Aesthetic and minimalist design.
9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors.
10. Help and documentation.

Day 2 - Interaction Design iOS Principles - Clarity, Deference, and Depth

When designing an app for Apple's iOS keep their 3 core principles in mind and ask these questions.

1)  Clarity - Ensure that content is easy to read and interact with.  Ask yourself,
 * Am I using words and content that are easy for people to understand?
 * Will users immediately know what the app does when they look at it?
 * Is the app intuitive and can it be used with minimal hand holding?

2)  Deference - The application's interface should not compete with nor overshadow the content.
 * Is the user interface competing with the content?
 * Is the UI overwhelmingly noisy and distracting from the content or functionality?

3)  Depth - Subtle motion and multiple layers create a holistic, compelling experience.
 * Do people get confused or lost in the app?
 * How are things arranged and do screens relate to each other?
 * Is usability diminished?