The goal of our design process is that our products feels like they look; in other words: That they work.

The rule of thumb of interface design is pretty simple: Minimize input, maximize output. The less you need to do to get your results, the more efficient the interface. This is how we approach all levels of design: information architecture, interaction design, surface design and typography are all optimized for minimal interaction, maximal results.

Interface Design

When we design we do no only think about when the eye sees and the mind thinks, we also observe peoples hands and bodies. If people need to perform too many actions to perform a task, they get frustrated.

Your product might look like a million dollars, but if it requires more manipulations than necessary it results in bad user experience. Good interaction design looks simple and obvious, but like all good design it take a long way to get from complexity to simplicity.

Typography

It’s an open secret: We’re crazy about typography. (Macro and micro) typography is the essence of good design not only in print, but even more on the screen. It is essential that the user quickly understands the structure, hierarchy and logic of an interface through its typographic order. And it is quintessential that he is able to read the information without hitting CTL+ or bowing close to the screen. Why? Minimize input, maximize output.

Since it’s founding in 2005, iA has fought for better screen typography, and in most case that means: bigger type sizes. While screens have gotten sharper and sharper, fonts have shrunken with the acceleration of pixel density. What used to be just the right size on most screens (16px) is starting to become too small to read.

Prototyping

In our process, we switch from flat files to HTML very soon. If you can’t touch it, you don’t know how it feels, and if you do user experience design you need to have a tangible process to make sure that what you design really works.