At dualoop, we believe in the power of collaborative learning. Our recent product design intervision session brought together several experienced product designers to tackle a common challenge: creating user-friendly forms that balance flexibility and guidance. This blog post shares key insights and actionables from their discussion on the design of a complex, multi-step form for a medical platform.
Understanding User Behavior
One of the first topics our designers explored was the importance of understanding user behavior when approaching form design. In this session’s example, our designer discovered through user research that users first prepare their answers in a Word template. The reason for this is that the online form asks for a linear completion, which doesn’t correspond to users’ preparatory work. Users have a need for non-linear form completion, a workflow that should be considered in the design process.
💡Design Tip: Conduct user research to understand how your users approach forms. Methods like user interviews, surveys, or usability testing can provide valuable insights into preferred workflows.
Balancing Flexibility and Structure
A key challenge when considering our users’ workflow is striking the right balance between users’ flexibility and the need for structured, complete data. Our designers suggested several strategies to address this:
- Flexible navigation: Consider designing forms that allow users to jump between sections freely, rather than enforcing a strict sequence.
- Clear marking of mandatory fields: Ensure users can easily identify which fields are required, but avoid blocking progress if these aren't completed immediately.
- Save feature: Implement a feature that allows users to save their progress at any point, even if mandatory fields are incomplete.
💡Design Tip: Implement a system that simultaneously supports the user’s preferred workflow and the form input requirements. In this case, an example is to provide a 'Save' button for preserving progress and a separate 'Validate' button for checking completeness.
Effective Communication
Ensuring clear communication in form design was a recurring theme in our designers’ discussion. They suggested several ways to guide users effectively:
- Form overview: Ensure users have an overview of all steps in the form, identifying the number of steps and their content.
- Progress indicators: Utilize visual cues to show users how far they've progressed through the form.
- Contextual information: Provide clear explanations of dependencies between different steps in the form.
💡Design Tip: Experiment with different layouts that fit your case best and that provide a clear overview of all form sections and their status. Use visual cues like bold text, colors, and progress bars to indicate completion status.
Enhancing Visual Design in Forms
The visual aspects of form design play a crucial role in user experience. Our designers suggested:
- Visual hierarchy: Employ typography, color, and spacing to guide users' attention to the most important elements.
- Consistent styling: Maintain consistency in the design of form elements across different sections and pages.
💡Design Tip: Ensure your design system ensures consistency and clarity across all elements of your forms.
Conclusion
Form design is a complex challenge that requires a deep understanding of user needs, information requirements, technical constraints, and design principles. By focusing on flexibility, clear communication, and consistent visual design, you can create forms that are both user-friendly and efficient.
Remember, the key to successful form design lies in empathy - understanding your users' perspective and creating solutions that cater to their needs while maintaining necessary structure and compliance. Regularly conduct user testing and iterate on your designs to continually improve the user experience.
Are you interested in diving deeper into form design and other product design challenges? Join dualoop's product designer's intervision sessions to collaborate with fellow designers and gain valuable insights. Our community of designers is always eager to explore new perspectives and innovative solutions.
