design

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Decide: How will the interface look? (Part 4)

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Decide: How will the interface look? (Part 4)

Practically speaking, how should an interface look? The answer is situational and depends upon your users. After all, when you design for a client, you are looking out for…

Decide: How do you structure content? (Part 3)

Decide: How do you structure content? (Part 3)

No matter what the content of your database is, having an established hierarchy is absolutely vital if you want the end users to successfully use the software—especially if one of your goals is to provide updates that are intuitive and do not require extensive retraining for your user base. The stakeholders must…

Decide: What kind of development work will you do? (Part 2)

Decide: What kind of development work will you do? (Part 2)

Occasionally, it needs to be said that as developers we should strive for dev work that, well, works. A beautifully designed layout may be wonderful at first glance, but it cannot create a positive user experience if it doesn’t have…

Decide: Who are you designing for? (Part 1)

Decide: Who are you designing for? (Part 1)

Who are you designing for? The simple-yet-complex answer is end users. They’re frequently not who’s paying us, but end users are the most important stakeholder for your software design. Throughout the development process, they should also be…

Affordances and Signifiers

Affordances and Signifiers

At times, user interface design can feel like leading the proverbial horse to water: You can get them there, but that does not mean they are going to drink (or correctly use the software). To be clear: this may be caused by…

FileMaker and Add-Ons

FileMaker and Add-Ons

One of the most revolutionary updates in FileMaker 19 is the ability to install add-ons to your database. These add-ons give FileMaker developers the ability to simply drag and drop new features into their solutions without writing a single line of code. But…

Dark Patterns

Dark Patterns

A dark pattern is when developers intentionally design a website or app to manipulate users into providing information or making a purchase they don’t otherwise intend to. They are not exclusive to any particular industry, but…