David Chukwuma

Utilizing Space in UI Design

David Chukwuma — Mon, 08 Jun 2020 16:44:15 +0000

Space is your friend. Software developers tend to optimize things around them and often this applies to the user interfaces they work on. They trim excess space and keep things together, this is great for the backend, but on the frontend, not so much.

In past projects, I struggled with the concept of explaining why using adequate spacing is important. Initially, I felt everyone should understand and grasp the concept of white space at first glance but I was wrong. Seeing the beauty of white space is something that has to be gradually introduced.

When I realized this, I created a few slides to share with my team and it was a success. I’ll be sharing a summary of these slides here.

Space keeps things alive

When the right amount of space is applied to a button the button looks clean and communicates that it can be clicked.

How space makes a button communicate clickability better

Button 1 is more common in projects that you would think, the urge to keep everything lean often makes buttons like this happen. Button 2 is less common because some developers tend to think the space is too much. However, Button 2 wins whenever an action has to be communicated.

Space reduces eye strain and increases readability

Many times, we have looked at the text on a screen or book and wondered why it was hard to read. The answer is that space is often underutilized in some of these scenarios. Take a look at the example below.

Utilization of spacing in card design

Keeping things simple often creates the look of a well-balanced system. Space helps you with this, more than you may think, by reducing cognitive overload and keeping your focus on one thing at a time.

Remember, space is your friend.

First published on Medium

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Product design? Why?

David Chukwuma — Sat, 23 Feb 2019 06:43:34 +0000

Intro

This is my final semester in graduate school and I have decided to shake things up. I am taking courses in areas that are quite new to me, for instance, Product Design. This is particularly interesting because it’s odd to see a software engineer take a class in the school of architecture.

I have always been a software engineer but a creative at heart. Since I was little I always loved seeing cartoons and I often marveled at the way the pixels moved to create shape, people, and form stories. They fascinated me in many ways. Growing up, I made my own toys, I would take copper wires and make them into little wire men. I would climb the roof of my parents’ house and play with these toys, often refining their look and feel by making joints move more easily and adding other materials to the wire coating. This I guess was the beginning of my ‘interest’ in product design.

So why product design…now?

I watched a video of the creation of the Google Home device and I fell in love with the creation narrative of the process. How they made the device to look soft yet firm enough to ensure a message of trust was passed.

This semester, I have already learned about one-point and two-point perspective. I also learned that I have always drawn in one-point perspective. The foundations of technical drawing were challenging and I was shocked at how easy they looked but how complex they were to implement. Easy looking things that time to create, and I’ve always wanted to create things that are easy on the eyes.

The process

I was completely bamboozled when we were told to work with Foam-core. I was tasked to come up with a desk organizer, and most importantly make sure I was not the consumer. I was to interview three people and design a desk organizer item that holds 4 items, pens, paper, pencils, and odds, based on their varying tastes. My final idea was a minimalistic stationery holder.

The process was a steep learning curve for me because this was not object-oriented or machine learning, this was me using my hands to do the Lord’s work. I often stayed up to 3 am cutting and refining my foam core model.

After many hours and many failed attempts, my first attempt was born. It was a good attempt at the desk organizer, but it showed I had a long way to go.

My first attempt at Foam-core

Practice… and more practice

…in practice, quantity vs quality, quantity always wins.

The more I tried, the more I failed, I kept falling short. Then I remembered in practice, quantity vs quality, quantity always wins.

Multiple iterations

Don’t get me wrong, quality is good but in terms of practice, the best quality is achieved by quantity. A professor in a class once said this as a story. Two teams were given a task to come up with a perfect pot. One team was allowed to submit multiple pots and another only one perfect pot. The problem was which team will produce the most quality pot. The short answer was, the quantity team will always produce the most quality pot. The long answer is that due to the many iterations and failures the quantity team will refine their pots and end up producing quality pots. Practice makes perfect

I took this approached to heart and I kept on failing but learning from my failures. After many iterations, I got something considerably cleaner.

It’s not perfect, but for someone who has never done product design, used foam core, or an x-acto knife. This was pretty impressive for me. I will definitely be able to speak the product design language.

A big shout-out to the inspiration behind this post. Thanks for believing in me! ?

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The Advice Syndrome

David Chukwuma — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 23:54:00 +0000

Many times you tell people something going on in your life and an immediate reaction is to give advice. I think this shows care but is quite misplaced. It is misplaced because they give advice, most times, without getting the full ‘gist’ of the situation. A typical scenario is like telling a friend “I have a problem” and without letting you finish the friend replies with “You should solve your problem, this is what you should be doing…”. Like no $$it, I think I knew I had to solve my problem.

Well, this rambling will not be complete without me giving my personal solution on how to avoid having the “Advice syndrome”.

DOs:

1. Listen
2. Definitely LISTEN
3. And also, LISTEN FIRST!
4. Ask questions rather than offer solutions
  - Find out how the problem makes them feel
  - Ask about the steps they are already taking
  - Ask if they need your help, sometimes they just want to vent.

DON’Ts

Keep quiet, that can come across really wrong
Jump straight into giving advice
Overreact to the problem (depends on if you know the person like the drama of overreacting though)
Most importantly, do not make them feel like they are the problem or make it look like the lack of effort is the problem.

I have to emphasize on knowing your audience, there are people who are quite independent and like to vent and there are people who only come to you for advice. If you have the advice syndrome you risk pushing away independent people. The safer route is to realize that when someone tells you about a problem it is possible they just want a shoulder to lean on. Subsequently, if they ask you about a problem then they have given you the go-ahead to give your opinion about the problem.

If you have read to this point then I am guessing you are either really curious or can relate to this problem. You can leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

Thanks for reading!

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