The Four Primary Visual Cues in User Interface Design

Rahul
4 min readSep 22, 2021

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What factors contribute to a visually appealing website? We hardly ever take the time to consider why. Do attractive designs stick to the most fundamental design principles? The answer is yes, but you must be aware of the repeating visual UI elements that they are composed of!

You will learn about the following topics in this post: The Four primary visual Cues

What exactly are visual components in a user interface?

Visual components (including artistic elements) such as line, shape, color, and texture serve as the fundamental building blocks of any sort of visual communication, serving as the foundation blocks of any type of visual communication. They are similar to words in a language in that they have a limited meaning on their own, but once you start mixing them, you can tell a bunch of stories. The study of effective visual systems is similar to learning a new language. In order to comprehend them, you must disassemble them piece by piece until you can identify their most fundamental components.

The visual cues are as follows:

Lines in design, in contrast to lines in mathematics, can have both breadth and depth. Because it may imply a variety of other forms, patterns, and textures, this visual element is really the most flexible of all of the elements in a visual composition.

Lines can be used to direct our attention towards something or to separate objects from one another. It can even conjure up completely abstract concepts such as time (whether long or short) or rhythm (straight or wavy).

Using shapes, you may create the illusion of space.

Shapes are made up of one or more lines, yet they stand out from their surroundings because of their well-defined limits.

Source:shapefest.com

They have the ability to move outside of the two-dimensional environment and generate a sense of depth and space. Because of the present trend for simplicity, adhering to 2D is becoming increasingly prevalent. However, every time you use a drop shadow on a call-to-action button, you are creating this illusion! Geometric and organic forms each provide a unique manner of arranging objects. Geometry implies order and predictability, which is beneficial in user interface design. Organic forms, on the other hand, appear to us to be more natural and human in appearance.

Colors are the most important emotional triggers.

It goes without saying that this element cannot exist on its own. Colors require a platform to exist. Please keep in mind that various colors do not always elicit good or negative feelings, but rather different types of emotions.

Consider the use of neutrals (black, white, and gray), warm colors (reds), which are more stimulating, and cool colors (blues), which are more relaxing. To further complicate matters, colors do not simply represent different meanings on their own. They also have interactions with one another.

The way you blend colors can help to make your website’s message more effective. There are four fundamental color schemes to choose from: monochromatic, analogous, complementary, and triadic colors. I recommend that you make use of Canva’s Color Wheel to assist you in selecting the appropriate color combinations.

Textures: Replicating the appearance of the actual world Because design websites confine us to 2D space, we can only create textures that are close to those found in real life. Visual texture creates the appearance of texture on a two-dimensional surface by creating an optical illusion of texture.

The only way we can comprehend it is with our eyes, not with our hands. Textures may be displayed well-using images, which can be used as strong tools.

Please let me know what you think in the comments section, as well as any additional Visual Cues you believe we should include.

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Rahul
Rahul

Written by Rahul

A multi-disciplinary designer with 7+ yrs of exp. Specializing in mobile apps, web & UI/UX for fitness, SaaS & tech. Proven success in B2B & B2C.

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