* Aesthetic Integrity
* Consistency
* Direct Manipulation
* Feedback
* Metaphors
* User Control

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Human interface guidelines (HIG) are software development documents that offer application developers a set of recommendations. Their goal is to improve user experience by making application interfaces more intuitive, learnable, and consistent. 

iOS-Human Interface Guidelines

* Clarity. Throughout the system, text is legible at every size, icons are precise and lucid, adornments are subtle and appropriate, and a sharpened focus on functionality motivates the design. Negative space, color, fonts, graphics, and interface elements subtly highlight important content and convey interactivity.
* Deference. Fluid motion and a crisp, beautiful interface help people understand and interact with content while never competing with it. Content typically fills the entire screen, while translucency and blurring often hint at more. Minimal use of bezels, gradients, and drop shadows keep the interface light and airy, while ensuring that content is paramount.
* Depth. Distinct visual layers and realistic motion convey hierarchy, impart vitality, and facilitate understanding. Touch and discoverability heighten delight and enable access to functionality and additional content without losing context. Transitions provide a sense of depth as you navigate through content.

iOS Design Themes

Design Principles

Most iOS apps are built using components from UIKit, a programming framework that defines common interface elements. This framework lets apps achieve a consistent appearance across the system, while at the same time offering a high level of customization. UIKit elements are flexible and familiar. They’re adaptable, enabling you to design a single app that looks great on any iOS device, and they automatically update when the system introduces appearance changes. The interface elements provided by UIKit fit into three main categories:

- Bars. Tell people where they are in your app, provide navigation, and may contain buttons or other elements for initiating actions and communicating information.

- Views. Contain the primary content people see in your app, such as text, graphics, animations, and interactive elements. Views can enable behaviors such as scrolling, insertion, deletion, and arrangement.

- Controls. Initiate actions and convey information. Buttons, switches, text fields, and progress indicators are examples of controls.

In addition to defining the interface of iOS, UIKit defines functionality your app can adopt. Through this framework, for example, your app can respond to gestures on the touchscreen and enable features such as drawing, accessibility, and printing.

iOS tightly integrates with other programming frameworks and technologies too, such as Apple Pay, HealthKit, and ResearchKit, enabling you to design amazingly powerful apps.

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