2.7 Use decorative design with care
Use decorative design only when it will enhance experiences rather than distracting or detracting from an interface.
Criteria
- Decorative design: Machine-testable
Use decorative design only when it enhances user experience. Remove unnecessary assets or those that do not enhance user experience or sustainability. Alternatively, make these optional and disabled by default.- Best practices for fonts
- Decorative Images
- Don’t use custom CSS scrollbars
- GPF – General Policy Framework (PDF) – 4.6 – UX and UI (Informational Media)
- Implementing image sprites in CSS
- Less Data Doesn’t Mean a Lesser Experience
- Less is more: How stripping back can improve UX Design
- Reduce Redundancy
- Reduce The Number Of Images
- Reducing Cognitive Overload
- Simple icon systems using SVG sprites
- Simplify Your UX Through Reduction
- The Website Obesity Crisis (Video)
- Use fewer web fonts
- United Nations SDGS – Goal 7 – Sustainable Energy
Benefits
- Accessibility
Focusing on clean design can reduce the negative intrusive or distracting feeling sometimes associated with decorative design. - Conversion
Reducing complexity and heavy elements makes it more likely content will load fast, which can lead to higher conversions. - Environment
Using fewer unnecessary elements reduces the resources required to render content. - Performance
Serving static assets, and fewer assets overall, can reduce the number of requests and loading time per page, improving performance.
GRI
- Materials: High
- Energy: High
- Water: High
- Emissions: High