UI Design Help / Advice

Question

I have a dillema where our client relations department has been brought in for advice on UI and I vehemently disagree with it...even though I don't consider myself a designer at all. While I have been vocal about my disagreement about it, I've been asked to point to design standards to prove that what I'm saying is correct and that the guys in Client Relations are flat out wrong.

A mockup is below, I'm trying to argue that the icons of the airplane, boat, and couch (ya, I didn't choose those either) belong in the header of the page (same area as the logo) and not in the content area of the page. Can anybody please help me by pointing me to something that helps prove my point?

Thanks a lot,

Greg Andora

Answer 1

The fact that people have asked what the icons are for does highlight a design problem. And could go against The visibility principle:

Your design should keep all needed options and materials for a given task visible without distracting the user with extraneous or redundant information. Good designs don’t overwhelm users with too many alternatives or confuse them with unneeded information.

However, that doesn't mean moving the icons anywhere else solves the problem.

Answer 2

If it's only for decoration, the icons can stick anywhere, provided it doesn't hinder the user experience.

As for the standards, there are hardly any. Design is more of an art expression than of engineering.