• 4 Reasons Why You Should Design Without Color First
  • The author is Anand Satyan
  • The Nuggets translation Project
  • Permanent link to this article: github.com/xitu/gold-m…
  • Translator: xionglong58
  • Proofreader: Fengziyin1234, QiaoN

Using grayscale tones allows you to think clearly and prioritize elements in UX design.

1. Focus on layout and spacing

When there is a gray tone limit in mind, most of your design time will be spent dividing the space so that things look like they are put together. Then you start thinking about the invisible, but more important, things like readability (line height, paragraphs, typography), focus of attention (intuitive, obvious buttons and sizes), legibility (element segmentation, spacing).

2. Easy to collect useful feedback from customers

Good design takes time. In the early stages of design, most designers are reluctant to let clients/users try out unfinished work in order to gather early feedback. Gathering feedback from customers is important because it allows you to reduce the number of iterations of your product and avoid wasting a lot of time on unnecessary versions. Most customers either don’t know what they want or can’t give constructive feedback. Showing your client the first draft of your product design will allow them to understand the design process and ask you more constructive questions.

That way, the customer might ask you “what color is appropriate for the button” instead of “why is the button yellow?” Obviously, the former is more conducive to mutual agreement.

3. Clean design

Creating a clean design is not an easy task. When you create a design in grayscale tones, you focus on usability, spacing, dimensions, layout elements, interaction, and design flow. The first version of the design should only use different grayscale tones to highlight the hierarchy and visual priorities between elements.

4. Create consistency

It is best to use three or fewer colors in your design. Too many colors in a design can confuse users or draw attention to less important areas. For example, when you’re working on a design with only one color, using black and white tones, the user’s eye will naturally fall on these “colored” areas.

So the next time you open Up Sketch, Illustrator, or any of your favorite design tools, forget about the color palette for a while until you have a complete design framework in grayscale tones.

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