Design principle: Consistency

The most known and most fragile design principle.

Consistency is a key principle in life and in design. Without it we can’t get far. Even the mightiest of problems will fall if you keep hacking it everyday!

Consistency is one of the design principles that we like to violate frequently. I am also guilty of doing that and I am not proud of it. Going all creative and artzy can easily break this design principle.

The topic about consistency in design is huge. I will try my best to boil it down to the most important points. This way we can learn how to use consistency and how to keep it in our designs without breaking it.

What is consistency in design

Consistency is one of the molecules of the Design DNA. Consistent design is intuitive design. It is highly useful and makes the world a better place.

In short, usability and learnability improve when similar elements have consistent look and function in similar way. When consistency is present in your design, people can transfer knowledge to new contexts and learn new things quickly without pain. This way they can focus on executing the task and not learning how the product UI works every time they switch the context.

We humans like consistency by default! Our physical bodies constantly strive for consistent balance, so we can be healthy. We need to feel that things are consistent to feel secure and safe.

Benefits of consistency

Users will learn faster how to use your design. Imagine, that the consistent elements in your design are the letters of the alphabet. Once, the user has learned the alphabet, he can go anywhere in your product and still be able to communicate with the interface without friction.

Having inconsistent interface is like trying to communicate with the user in several languages. Only the advanced users will be able to finish their tasks. Keep it simple and consistent.

Consistency eliminates confusion! When the user feels confused the next step is to feel frustration. We don’t want our dear user to feel that, do we?