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It’s been a while since we addressed our mission, vision, and the four pillars of NordPass in greater detail. You might already be familiar with the four pillars of NordPass: simpler, nicer, faster, safer. Today, we’re looking at the former two and the way they shape our approach to product design at NordPass.
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So, how do those pillars affect our decisions when it comes to NordPass design? What are the core ideas behind them? And why do we think they are important? These are the questions we want to look at in today’s blog post. Let’s jump in.
Our design vision
In a world that is ever-moving and ever-changing, it’s unsurprising that much of the contemporary design uses aggressive and invasive patterns to grab the user’s attention. The internet is full of all sorts of things. And we all know that uneasy feeling when we encounter a website or app that is poorly designed and unconcerned with user-friendliness.
At NordPass, we look at design as a way to provide our users with the best possible experience when using our products, rather than maneuvering the users. Our efforts haven’t gone unnoticed:
It balances an aesthetically pleasing design with some useful features and advanced security protection, and it holds up well when you compare it against anything else on the market.
- TechRadar
Its user-friendly design makes it really easy to set up and use and it works really well on both desktop and mobile.
- Cybernews
NordPass is an easy-to-use password manager with attractive web, desktop, and mobile apps, and it now offers security features such as a Data Breach Scanner, an actionable password health report, and support for hardware key-based authentication.
- PCMag
It’s great to know that our design team’s work has been distinguished. It is important to expand on what we value when it comes to design.
Where does our design vision lead?
First of all, NordPass is more than just a simple password manager. We do our best to develop a cybersecurity product that protects people’s sensitive data and is accessible to everyone, even those of us who have little to do with technology. This is where the pillar of simplicity comes in. At NordPass, we emphasize the use of ordinary visual and textual communication. Avoiding unnecessary textual complexities and visual overload allows our users to have an immersive experience with the product. Making password management as simple and effective as possible is at the core of how we approach design here at NordPass.
Why does decluttering matter?
At NordPass, we strongly believe that using a password manager shouldn’t feel like piloting a NASA aircraft. Analogies aside, it should be simple. Confusing our users with tons of buttons, checkboxes, switches, and text boxes is not our end goal.
At the moment, the password manager market is crowded with solutions that have an excessive amount of functionality. And, while a tech professional might find that useful and even appreciate it, the average user, in reality, is looking for a simple solution to a complex problem, especially when it comes to password management. We strive to provide our users with a stress-free experience for when they are looking to add, remove, or use a password. Also, we focus on the looks of NordPass, trying to make it a modern-day password manager that looks and feels like a popular consumer app rather than a difficult cybersecurity solution.
What do we consider to be a good User Interface?
A good User Interface (UI) is all in the details. It has a lot of moving parts and is also very subjective. At NordPass, we don’t see UI as a concept that has a clear end. It is never finalized or finished. It can always be improved.
Our aim is to provide our users with a product that actually solves their problems, whether it is securing passwords or sharing them via safe channels, or anything else in between. And, if the design achieves that, we believe that we’re on the right track when it comes to good UI.
User feedback – essential part of design
NordPass starts and ends with its users and with their issues and wishes. Thus, user feedback is an essential part of our design approach. We take the time to gather feedback, analyze it, and act accordingly.
At NordPass, we focus on understanding our users, realizing their needs, habits, and issues in order to streamline a password manager that actually makes their lives easier. Our team's creativity allows us to come up with new solutions and new ways of looking at issues each time we face a challenge.
We raise hypotheses for solutions and let our users know how we want to tackle any issue. Running A/B design tests allows us to see whether our efforts have actually addressed the issues in the best way possible. This is where data triangulation plays a critical role: we gather the feedback and then assess user interactions during the testing phase based on the aggregated data. All of this allows us to have a better sense of which user issues are the most poignant. If we fail, we own up to the mistake and run everything back and start over.
You can provide us with your feedback via email or by simply dropping a message to our support team. Rest assured that your feedback will reach us and we’ll do our best to act upon it.
A never-ending cycle
Design, especially in the context of UI and UX, is a never-ending cycle. We can consider it a closed loop: we gather the feedback, assess the issue, come up with a solution, test it, release it, observe it, and do it all over again. It's the commitment to the process that counts and what brings in results.