I found the single most effective thing to do in UI is this: iterate. The average number of iterations I take for a single view is about 10 before I'm really happy.
You see #1, and it doesn't feel too bad. Then you do #2, and it makes #1 look bad. You get an idea, so you experiment and try to tweak it a little. Before you know it, you've created something that just feels good at heart. It looks good, it's appealing, it's usable, and attractive.
Some companies go extreme on this, I know Apple can go through hundreds of designs for a single product.
I have a few rules of thumb with this:
1) Never delete an iteration, including #1 which probably will look the absolute worst.
2) Just do #1, yes it will probably suck. Do it and get it over with. Then make #2 and subsequent iterations incremental improvements.
3) Don't stop until you're absolutely proud of the iteration. Be honest, don't let fatigue be your reason for stopping or moving on. True UI design is difficult and requires endurance, just like anything else that's difficult (sports, programming, writing a novel, etc).
How do you mitigate the risk of local maxima? Is there good way to try (or justify trying) radically different approaches without undermining past work?
You see #1, and it doesn't feel too bad. Then you do #2, and it makes #1 look bad. You get an idea, so you experiment and try to tweak it a little. Before you know it, you've created something that just feels good at heart. It looks good, it's appealing, it's usable, and attractive.
Some companies go extreme on this, I know Apple can go through hundreds of designs for a single product.
I have a few rules of thumb with this:
1) Never delete an iteration, including #1 which probably will look the absolute worst.
2) Just do #1, yes it will probably suck. Do it and get it over with. Then make #2 and subsequent iterations incremental improvements.
3) Don't stop until you're absolutely proud of the iteration. Be honest, don't let fatigue be your reason for stopping or moving on. True UI design is difficult and requires endurance, just like anything else that's difficult (sports, programming, writing a novel, etc).