Start the screen with the user task

The move: design the work path before the layout. Human-centred design asks you to understand users, their tasks, and the context of use before committing to a solution. For UI design, the practical version is a task statement. Name the user, the job, the decision, and the success signal. Then arrange the screen so the most decision-relevant information appears first. This works because visual priority is a scarce resource. When five elements compete as "important," the user has to create the hierarchy in their head. That increases cognitive effort and makes the interface feel slower than it really is. A…

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