ARTICLE SUMMARY: Do you want to improve your UI skills? Heres a novel idea, try chess.

The thinking is when you strip the game down to its core, everything is you learn is a universal principle. The same is with design and how you approach it.

The average chess player plans roughly four moves ahead of his opponent, a grand master plans up to twelve moves ahead when playing.

The King vs. Pawn Game of UI Design” by Erik Kennedy is a look at how to achieve your design goals by using chess as a strategy and actually simplifying your design process. He starts a project with

  • The simplest possible scenario
  • Typography
  • Color

When you start a project there are a lot of moving parts to consider, it can be overwhelming at first. You need a strategy that will help move you along in an orderly fashion,

Erik Kennedy says “when you’re struggling with a redesign or even something you’re designing from scratch, try stripping out all the elements that you think you should be including already, and just mess around with the simplest players on the board. Get a feel for the fundamentals, and go from there.”

This is great advice for new and old designers alike. This article will help you build a toolkit of UI design strategies that will help streamline your design process to a more efficient way to work.

Let us know what you think in the comments.