In my career as an IT professional, I have observed that many people and companies struggle with designing interfaces, cracking the user experience, and building mock-ups. There is often a dilemma between making something complex and making something beautiful. Yes, I said 'beautiful' and not 'simple'. Something complex in the back-end doesn't mean it has to be confusing in the front-end.
I have come across many applications that are packed with amazing functionalities and very well-thought back-end code design but simply lack a good interface. The outcome? I either feel the system is too complicated to even consider using it, or even if I use it, I lose interest in no time. Yes, I mentioned that I 'feel' and not 'think'.
I believe an interface should be used as a key to 'feel' the system rather than merely a way to work with it. Over the years, many tech giants have spent billions of dollars on hiring psychologists, scientists and techies to build the best user experience (UX) for their customers.
My strong suggestion would be to utilize their existing work in the best way possible for your projects and make your products — no matter how complex they are — feel awesome!
I have gathered a few resources here which will help you achieve that awesome user experience. If your potential application users and friends think that your product already looks and 'feels' awesome, maybe this will help you make it even better.
- If you are designing an iOS application, you can make use of Apple's design resources. It includes the Apple's official San Francisco, San Francisco Pro, and New York fonts. It has all the symbols and UI elements for iOS, macOS, watch OS, and tvOS applications. They are all free to download. Just utilize them rather than creating your symbols from scratch. This will save time and your application will look as beautiful as Apple's native applications.
- If you are serious about user interface (UI) designing and would like to build your career in it, I highly recommend buying and downloading the application Sketch. Unfortunately, it is only available on macOS, but you can design android applications, web and desktop applications, and of course, applications for Apple platform. It is used by giants like Google, Tesla, and Porsche for their product and brand design. If you are looking for a Sketch app alternative then I recommend using Lunacy. It is free and available on all platforms (including Linux).
- If you have got feedback saying that your UI needs to be standardized, I suggest you come up with a design specification/guideline for your product. All the companies have it. That's how even if thousands of developers from across the world are working on a single product, it looks as if it's made by one person. The design specification sets design rules for the entire team to follow when it comes to developing anything and everything related to their product.
Here are some examples of design guidelines: