Practical UI

by Adham Dannaway

Learn a logic-driven approach to design intuitive, accessible, and beautiful interfaces using quick and practical guidelines.

Interface design is hard. Having endless design possibilities sounds great in theory, but in practice, it can be frustrating and time consuming. With so many options to choose from regarding layout, spacing, typography, and colour, making design decisions can be overwhelming. When you add usability, accessibility, and psychology to the mix, it gets even harder.

Luckily, UI design doesn’t have to be so hard. Over the years, I’ve realised that most of my UI design decisions are governed by a system of logical guidelines. Not artistic flair or magical intuition, just simple guidelines.

Sure, artistic talent helps, but a lot of what makes up an intuitive, accessible, and beautiful interface design can be learned. Having a system of logical guidelines helps you efficiently make informed design decisions. Without a logical system, you’re just using gut feeling to move stuff around until it 
looks pretty.

I wish I knew these guidelines when I first started out. They're a culmination of nearly 2 decades working as a product designer on websites and apps used by millions of people. My hope is that they’ll help you gain years of experience in a matter of hours.

Genres: Design, Technology, Programming, Website Design

373 pages, ebook

First published November 28, 2022

About the author

📘 Author of Practical U
🤟 Pushing pixels since 2005
⚙️ Specialised in UI design & design systems

Reviews

[Anwesha Mukherjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a powerful reference book that can bolster your design process.

[Sirajum Munir Galib · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is truly years of experience within just a few hours. Looking for more of this type.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great reference and warning of common errors with accessibility. Super useful.

[Amaar Abouelghar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It’s concise, efficient yet insightful. I can see myself referencing this again and again in the future. Well done, Adham!

[Adam Zerner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Notes:
- Overall I just didn't find it that useful. A lot of the tips seem well-known. Still, I got value out of some of them.
- There was a very heavy emphasis on accessibility. It felt like maybe 20% of the book discusses and gives tips related to accessibility.
- I also didn't like the lack of nuance. It felt like there was a lot of "Do X" instead of "X is usually but not always a good choice".
- The book did a great job of "show don't tell". I really appreciated that.
- That said, given how much of the book was pictures and visuals (as well as the text being large and having a good amount of spacing), I thought it was very brief. I wish it were longer. Especially at the rather high price point of $99. It took me maybe 2-3 hours to read.

[Jane Palash · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book landed me a job, not even exaggerating. I was applying for a while and with this book l was finally able to structure all my knowledge and experience (I’m a content designer) in a way that would showcase it better to product designers. Plus, l paired it with a figma course and now feel really confident in everyday UI design which was never the case for me. Thanks Adham :)

[سارة shaalan) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great reference for each ui designer. Each page have a hage info you can learn form and push your career level forward. It helps me to understand many things with simple way and this is the most valuable of this book, simplicity and examples. Waiting another book from the author.

[Yuri Ternytsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I put the craft aside for a few years while switching to a managerial role. However, I enjoyed reading an insightful refresher on the UI best practices. Highly recommend.

[Dina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a great resource for new designers looking to build a solid foundation in UI design. It provides practical, actionable advice that helps beginners elevate their skills without the trial-and-error approach many of us had to go through.

I particularly appreciated the typography and color palette tips—these are insights I picked up over time through experience and scattered online resources. Having them consolidated in one book makes it much easier for new designers to learn without relying on random videos or articles.

As a practitioner, this was a quick read—I finished it in just two days. While I didn’t personally enjoy it, I recognize its value for those just starting out. The writing style didn’t resonate with me, but I believe new designers may find it engaging, as it feels casual and approachable, almost like reading a series of design-related social media posts.

One aspect I really appreciated was the emphasis on accessibility and the introduction to design reasoning, two crucial topics that often get overlooked in beginner resources.

Overall, while it wasn’t particularly insightful for me, I’d still recommend it as a solid starting point for those beginning their UI/UX journey.

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

First 5-star book in a long time.

At work, I've been building applications in Excel, VBA, SharePoint, PowerApps for a long time now, and while I have some best practices, I was lacking so many. I'm self-taught as are so many in my generation, so I don't have an educated background regarding this skillset.

The author, Adham Dannaway, creates a true sense of momentum with the design of his book. I, a layman, was able to easily understand the concepts. The design of the material is top-notch and easily digestible. I really do recommend this book to the everyday tech-fiend. I'm already looking back at past tools with a judging eye.

I'll end with saying that I don't remember the last time I read any book in a day, let alone a non-fiction text. I had trouble putting this down.

[Noe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being self-taught and poor I was wary of spending 80 bones on this book but I took the plunge and didn't regret it. The fact that it will be continuously updated reduces the sting of the price tag (and also disincentivizes me from just borrowing a copy from a friend).

This fills in the gaps of what I miss from online learning- and there were many chapters that I wished I had read much earlier in my journey!

There are lots of books on theory, but having timely, concrete examples makes this worth a consideration. It's written succinctly and i was able to finish each chapter rather quickly. I would mos def recommend it to anyone who just wants a quick "why" to what we do.

[Jay Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an incredibly useful and informative book to help break down UI concepts. There are a number of design concepts that I have seen demonstrated but not necessarily presented or articulated in a way that was quite as helpful as they were in this book. I would highly recommend this to anyone who is looking to sharpen their senses for strong UI implementation. This made me go back and take a pass at some previous projects to find small ways to refine past designs, and I’m looking forward to tackling future projects with a greater comfortability in trusting my instincts for stronger UI.

[Matthew Armstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Key Takeaways
- Minimise usability risk by keeping interfaces simple and familiar
- Don’t just make design decisions based on what looks pretty, ensure that
every interface detail has a logical reason behind it
- Minimise interaction cost and cognitive load as much as possible
- Create a design system of predefined styles, modular components, and
usage guidelines to help you make consistent design decisions faster
- Good accessibility means great usability, so design interfaces for
everyone to use.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adham's book is a great reference for the practical requirements and essential ideas of modern UI design. As somebody who has fallen into a design role, I found it useful to understand the basics of making a user interface look good and why it works.

I'm not sure it was worth the $87 AUD price tag for what is essentially just a PDF (hence the four stars, not five), but the content is useful if you're just starting out in digital design.

[Giada Bettio · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an excellent resource for anyone looking to refine their UI and UX design skills. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced designer, Adham offers valuable insights to help elevate your work. Highly recommended!

I encountered an issue with my purchase (which was my mistake), and they reached out to ensure everything was resolved. I truly appreciated this genuinely customer-centered approach. :)

[Eric TOULAIN · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am leading a product team and most of my knowledge is based on observation, so I wanted a easy to follow book which would explain the best practice in UI and UX design. The book helped me better my knowledge and support it with actual theory and examples, I have recommended this book to my collaborators and they loved it too.

[Alina Chyhasova · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just loved this book! It was so easy and concise that it took me by surprise how I couldn't get enough of it and wanted to read more an more. It answered all questions and doubts I had as a designer brilliantly as they were popping in my mind and few pages later I saw the answers in the book. It's highly recommended for all those who want to get confidence and logic in their design decisions.

[Chizitere Duru · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book quite instructional and really helpful for understanding usability requirements. It made UI practical and helped me see what good UI is and what it is not.

I am a product manager, and this is a game changer for my work. Thumbs up, Adham Dannaway! You have done the world of UI/UX a huge favor.

[Wisdom Umanah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Usually I feel so overwhelmed when I see an ebook that's more than 50 pages. I felt same when I came accross Practical UI but after scrolling through the pages, It was so intuitive and engaging that I used 2days to finish the whole book. I didn't just read but I understood and related to every sentence. Thank you for sharing this beautiful Insight Adham Dannaway.

[Micheal Edjuto · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most eager i have been to finish a book while jotting points, interesting book to read ,very educative and concise with examples, i appreciate the author for this wonderful book about the basics of ui design. Thank You Adham Dannaway

[Hoon Wee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book. I know many compares this book vs "Refactoring UI", but I think they should read both - since they complements each other quite nicely.

Highly recommend for any designers/developers building modern digital apps.

[Moïse Kontogma · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is very sample and as a beginner on UI design it's helped me to understand quickly UI Design base like color ( Light, Dark, Primary ) text color, text size, padding and more. Thank you for sharing your experience ❤️

[Kim Clarys · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book that gives an excellent foundation if you want to get better at visual design. It gives you the vocabulary you need and focuses a lot on accessibility as well. Perfect for juniors. I'll be endlessly referring back to it!

[Sanaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a enjoying experience to read this book. It is full of details for UI design. For me as a junior designer, this book was really helpful.

[Poornima · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book for FE devs who want to know about the fundamentals of UI design

[mr. w · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply the best.

[Alex Aks'onov · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good book for those, new to UI Design.

[Gin Pri · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the information is presented clearly and I really liked the examples! Very useful information for me as a beginner designer to understand what how and why. Thank you!

[Md Nazmus · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really guide me in a right path. As I do not have a mentor

[Ikmal · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is beginner-friendly and helps me to make decisions about designs.
Also, it helps me to defend my design with logical reasons.
Recommend :)