UI design principles + how to use them

Good design goes unnoticed. Bad design frustrates users until they abandon your product entirely. That's why user interface (UI) design matters—it's the difference between a product people love to use and one they’ll never use again. While aesthetics matter, the real challenge is creating products that anyone can use intuitively, whether they're on a phone, tablet, or computer.

Read on to learn:

• What UI design principles are
• Why UI principles matter
• Seven key UI principles to apply to designs
• Pro tips for UI designers

What are UI design principles?

UI design principles are the overarching guidance designers rely on to create products that serve and delight users. This guide goes over the core principles that shape effective UI design, with practical tips from Figma Advocacy Director Thomas Lowry. “Our job as digital designers is to help users navigate to the content and features they need, to accomplish what they want to do.

“UI design principles take inspiration from Gestalt principles of human perception, grouping design elements into simple patterns users can easily follow to reach their goals.”

Why UI principles matter

Following UI design best practices makes digital products easier for everyone to use, follow, and enjoy. The benefits of applying UI design principles are many, including:

• Enhances usability. “Think of a user as someone asking you directions. If you just showed them a map and expected them to memorize it, they'll probably get lost,” Tom says. “But if you point them to a sign that says their destination is this way, they can follow the signs from there … That's a much better experience. UI design principles help you set up signs users can follow towards their goals—one click, scroll, or interaction at a time.”
  
  
• Improves decision-making. Clear and consistent UI design principles give a structured framework for predicting user needs and making informed design choices.
  
  
• Increases efficiency. Aligning UI design principles at the start of projects lifts the cognitive load for designers, streamlining workflows and making product teams more efficient. Figma data analysts found that participants with access to a design system completed their design objective 34% faster than those without one.
  
  
• Reduces cognitive load. A well-designed interface can simplify tasks, reducing the mental effort required to complete user actions. Less cognitive load can help create a more intuitive and enjoyable experience.

7 UI design principles to improve product design

To elevate your UI designs, keep these UI principles top of mind:

Principle 1: Hierarchy

Designers use hierarchy to help users recognize key information and distinguish them from less important elements at a glance. “I often compare designing a digital product or website to designing a book,” Tom says. "On every page, navigational cues remind you of the title, chapter, and content section, so you never get lost.”

Like graphic designers, digital designers often play with the following visual cues to guide users to different elements within a user interface:

• Font size and weight. Large and bold fonts stand out and can emphasize important information and buttons.
• Contrast. The strategic use of contrasting colors directs users to key elements.
• Spacing. Thoughtful spacing between elements creates visual interest and shows users how different UI elements are related.

"Be intentional about what goes where on a screen, especially what users see first and what they have to scroll to see,” Tom suggests. “Consider how you prioritize information: your UI content hierarchy should reflect what the user cares about most.”

Principle 2: Progressive disclosure

UX designers typically use progressive disclosure to guide users through a multi-step process, providing the right amount of information to make clear choices at each step.

UI designers can borrow this approach to prioritize what to include in the UI and what to exclude since too many features can be overwhelming.

“Smart digital designers sequence features and flows to make the experience feel less overwhelming,” says Tom. “Consider the UX example of a product onboarding flow, which asks you all about yourself: your name, your contact information, your role, and industry, and maybe what interests you in this product.

If you had to answer all that at once, that screen could look like a long form to fill out—and you might give up before you got started,” he continues.

One thing to watch out for with progressive disclosure is losing users along the way. “Give users a way to orient themselves, so they know where they are and how many steps they have to go,” Tom recommends.

Principle 3: Consistency

A good interface feels familiar from the first click. Deign systems create this familiarity through consistent patterns—when a button looks and works the same way throughout your product, users stop thinking about the interface and focus on their tasks.

Continuity becomes increasingly important as users advance through a flow. “If one UI button is suddenly bigger, users are going to wonder why,” Tom says. “That irregularity adds to users' cognitive load, creating hesitancy and confusion. So you need a good rationale when you deviate from established patterns.”

Principle 4: Contrast

UI designers use contrast strategically to draw attention to important content or features. Tom explains, "For a critical piece of information, you may introduce a higher, more jarring contrast to command the user's attention.”

For example, you may prominently display a “delete account” button in the color red against a white background to immediately grab a user’s attention and reinforce the action. For secondary actions, like “keep account,” the color gray might work well to avoid user confusion.

Pro tip: Use Figma's selection colors feature to explore different color schemes. It’s also a great tool to apply consistent colors and contrast across your final designs.

Principle 5: Accessibility

UI designers also carefully contrast colors and luminosity to make designs distinctive and more accessible to users with vision impairments. (Vision impairments affect more than one in four users worldwide.)

Black text on a white background remains standard for printed media, but you can choose different colors using contrast checkers and plugins from Figma's design community.

To ensure your designs are inclusive, be sure to implement what is outlined in  the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), including:

• Providing alternative text
• Using appropriate padding rules
• Ensuring compatibility with assistive technology
• Providing proper keyboard navigation
• Using sufficient contrast between foreground and background colors

Principle 6: Proximity

Things that belong together should stay together. Users naturally perceive UI elements that are close together as related, so this type of visual organization creates a more intuitive user experience and natural user flow.

Take streaming services, for example. Play, fast-forward, and rewind buttons on the same row because they all have something to do with controlling video playback. But you’d never find the quit button in this zone. It lives separately to prevent accidental clicks that could interrupt the viewing experience.

Principle 7: Alignment

Clean lines make designs feel professional. A strong grid system helps establish order and balance. Consistent alignment improves readability and creates predictability, making it easier for users to navigate your website or app.