Designing for Clarity

Clarity is often confused with simplicity. They are related, but they are not the same. A simple interface can still be confusing. A dense interface can still be clear.

The real question is how much someone has to hold in their head at any one moment. Every label, every state, every option adds to that load. The job of the designer is to arrange these so that the next step is always obvious, even when the system underneath is not.

Most clarity problems are not visual. They are structural. The hierarchy is wrong, the language is borrowed from the database, the flow assumes a kind of patience the person does not have. Fixing the typography rarely helps. Re-asking what the person needs in this moment almost always does.

Clarity is a kind of generosity. It tells the person that you have done the thinking for them so they do not have to.