States
Not every screen should look or behave the same. States help you keep designs consistent while adapting to what users need in each situation.
Beware the “happy path”
Don’t assume that the most common screen is the top priority. Don’t assume that the most common screen is the top priority. Great design supports every scenario, and a weak error state can lose users even if the happy path works perfectly.
Types of states
- Educational: First run, Loading, Empty
- These states don’t appear often, but when they do, users are looking for answers. The goal is to offer just enough info to guide the user forward, without adding overwhelm or confusion.
- Expected: One, Some, Success, Done
- These are default screens that users see again and again. Users will memorize the flow and eventually skip the words altogether. Strong designs avoid redundancy and respect the user's familiarity with these screens.
- Strong designs avoid redundancy and extra information -- those belong in educational states, not the core path.
- Unexpected: Invalid, Too many, & more
- These are the moments you hope users never hit – but when they do, they need the most help.
- Under stress, users have little capacity for humor, text blocks, or detours. Be direct, state the issue, explain why, and give a clear next step.
Additional considerations
- Show, don’t tell. - Informational doesn’t have to mean wordy. Leverage all the ways you can teach a user without relying on text (positioning, timing, color, icons, etc).
- Design collaboratively. Simplifying words won’t have much effect if the other elements of the design are still too complex. Make sure your priorities are shared across all disciplines (engineering, interaction, content, etc).
- Accessibility isn’t an edge case. While you may have specific states dedicated to WCAG requirements, every state should account for accessible design.
More on design states
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