Interface design means designing the interactions between people and products.
Missions
The interface designer – also known as the UI designer – must give users intuitive access to what they are looking for and enable them to move easily between all the content on the site. He or she must guide the user through the site using cross-functional and related navigations and must minimise the possibility of errors in the user’s path.
Ergonomics and information architecture are essential to understanding an interface.
Each graphic element is designed graphically (buttons, icons, bars, frames, typography, etc.). The watchword is “less is more”, with the constant aim of retaining only information that is useful to the user, whether in terms of content or form.
The aim is first and foremost to understand the user; there are four types of interface design:
- information design
- service design
- interaction design and innovation design.
- Skills and knowledge
Interface design is a combination of skills. Designing an interface is the work of teams, who must propose the most appropriate, effective and innovative interactions, based on user profiles, contexts of use and usage scenarios.
Interaction designers and interface designers work together to create navigation elements, screen sequences and their organisation.
Interface designers need to master various tools: visual interface design (Illustrator, Photoshop); interface/interaction prototyping (Processing, Flash, Visual Basic, HTML, etc.); wireframing and interface scripting; web layout (good level in HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript/jQuery); back-end web development: PHP/MySQL. Interface designers also need to be creative, observant, responsive, rigorous and good team players.
Careers and career opportunities
The typical profile of an interface designer in France is a man (aged 26-30), employed or freelance, with a bachelor’s degree and a diploma from an art, design or web school, on a permanent contract, working mainly in an agency but also in a company (integrated design studio or start-up). Interface design is a relatively recent profession. It emerged with the development of digital mobility, which has raised people’s expectations of technological products. The prospects for this profession are therefore very promising.
