What is Conventions Not Inventions?

The tactic, Conventions Not Inventions, comes from the idea that sometimes, it's better to stick to what is familiar rather than creating something new.

This concept finds its roots in human psychology, where familiarity often brings comfort and ease. In the realm of marketing, especially with user interface (UI) design, this means using conventional design patterns that users are used to.

This strategy is valuable when it comes to customer retention. Trying to reinvent common UI elements can disorientate and frustrate users, resulting in losing them. By sticking to conventions in UI, websites and apps can ensure a comfortable and user-friendly experience, encouraging users to stay and return in the future. Standard design elements like placing the back button to the left, the forward button to the right, or the close button at the top right corner, all contribute to making a UI intuitive and easy to navigate.

Examples of Conventions Not Inventions

  1. In web applications, adhering to the convention of placing the navigation bar at the top or the side of the page. Users often look for it in these locations, making it easy for them to navigate the website.

  2. Using common icons like the trash bin for deleting items or a plus sign for adding new elements. Users instantly recognize these icons and understand their function.

  3. In mobile applications, the three-bar (hamburger) menu icon is typically placed in the top-left or top-right corner. Even though it's a small component, it plays a significant role in user navigation.

  4. Using traditional colors and symbols for specific actions – such as red for errors or warnings, green for success, and an 'i' or '?' for additional information or help.

  5. Having form elements like checkboxes for multiple selections and radio buttons for exclusive choices. Users are acquainted with these patterns and can quickly understand how to interact with them.

Marketing Tactics Similar to Conventions Not Inventions

  • User-Centered Design: An approach to designing a product or interface around how it will be used by the end user, focusing on their needs and requirements.

  • UX/UI Best Practices: Guidelines in interface design that have been tested and proven to improve usability and user satisfaction.

  • Affordances in Design: This concept refers to elements in design that suggest their functionality or operation, thus making it intuitive for a user.

  • Skeuomorphic Design: A design principle in which interface objects mimic their real-world counterparts in appearance and/or how the user can interact with them. This can make interfaces easier to understand for users.

Link to this page

If you share this content in your blog post or email newsletter, you can use the tool below to quickly copy and paste the link.