We’re currently working on something a bit special here at Interlinked, but without giving the game away just yet I’d like to talk a little about design and simplicity.

The product we’re putting together requires attention to detail when it comes to layout and user friendliness. The end users won’t be ‘techies’ or developers, they’ll be management people with little time to fiddle around with extra functions and options. With this in mind, we’re trying to put together a feature packed product that’s a breeze to use.

So, what’s the easiest way to deal with presenting a lot of information on a single page, whilst keeping it user friendly? Here’s a few rules we stick to when putting pages together:

• Devise. Don’t just follow a template or use previous designs. Start from scratch, use a pen and paper if that’s what it takes to give you inspiration!
• Deconstruct. Break your pages down into simple, easy to understand sections. Just like full stops in a paragraph, headings and page breaks give your pages structure.
• Demystify. Don’t hide things away which are important. There’s no point in hiding an essential function for the sake of aesthetics.
• De-duplicate. Identify any process, step, or piece of info that’s happening twice or more when it can easily be reduced to only one occurrence.
• Discuss. While you may think you’ve just put together the web’s best page, others may not agree. Always make sure you talk to colleagues/friends to gain a new, fresh perspective. Listen to them and have an open mind, it’s far easier to dismiss constructive criticism rather than engage it!

Using rules like this helps us focus on designing with the user as the priority. And this new product definitely won’t be any different.

We’ll let you know how it works out!