Designing For Complex UIs in 2025
Not much can surprise us when it comes to interface challenges. We can design a decent card, a well-rounded accordion and an exquisite hamburger navigation. But what if there are slightly more complex UX challenges ahead of us?
In this workshop with Vitaly Friedman, UX consultant and creative lead behind Smashing Magazine, you will learn how to tackle intricate design challenges in corporate, enterprise and B2B environments with ease.
Complex UIs don’t have to be complicated. In this in-person workshop with Vitaly Friedman, UX consultant for European Parliament and creative lead behind Smashing Magazine, we’ll dive deep into dissecting how to solve complex design problems. Whether you’re working on enterprise-grade tables or complex multi-page forms, this workshop will give you the techniques and tools you need to excel at your work.
In this workshop, you’ll learn:
- Complex mega-dropdowns with 4+ levels of navigation, layout, interaction design, sideways navigation, breadcrumbs, top task analysis, mobile/desktop (e.g. large university websites),
- Complex modals and overlays, confirm vs. undo behavior, right timing, intraction design, with guidelines and best practices to improve click-through rates and decrease mistakes (e.g. enterprise software),
- Lengthy multi-page forms, focusing on form components, one-column vs. multi-column layout, error recovery, progress steps, inline validation, routing, conditional reveal, disabled buttons, input buffering (e.g. complex multi-column multi-page forms with dozens of steps),
- Enterprise-grade tables, complex use-cases with inline editing, filtering, tagging, sorting and search — on mobile and on desktop (insurance, loss prevention),
- Complex filtering, layout, auto-apply vs. manual apply, filtering overlays, filtering and sorting intervals, best practices and guidelines, on mobile and on desktop (public archives, media library, large catalogs of products),
- Advanced search and autocomplete UX, with layout and interaction design, when to show/hide suggestions, search query iteration, autocomplete blindness, faceted search, smart suggestions, type-ahead pattern, keyboard navigation, on mobile and on desktop (e.g. in enterprise software),
- Dashboards and spreadsheets, with complex layouts, data editing, inline filtering, infinite scroll UX, “load more” vs. pagination, access to footer and access to the current state, mobile optimizations,
- Data visualization, how to choose charts, how to design honest and effective charts, incl. formatting, color palettes, legends, formatting, tables and interactive filters,
- Design patterns for expert interfaces and B2B, with advanced features, visual indicators, customizable widgets, complex business logic, enterprise products, legacy systems, keyboard shortcuts, query constructors and 3rd-party integrations,
- Accessibility of complex interfaces, with UX considerations, colorblindness, designing for older adults, children, people with autism, dyslexia, dyscalculia, WCAG 2.2 compliance and EU Accessibility Act,
- 100s of real-life examples, government and university websites, trip planners, financial services, eCommerce, online banking, configurators, insurance and mortgage calculators, data grids and enterprise products.
- Checklist for complex UIs with guidelines and decisions to consider when designing any component in a complex setting.
Vitaly Friedman
Senior UX Consultant with the European Parliament
Vitaly loves beautiful content and does not give up easily. Born in Minsk, Belarus, he studied computer science and mathematics in Germany. While writing algebra proofs and preparing for software engineering at nights in the kitchen, at the same time he discovered passion for typography, interface design and writing. After working as a freelance designer and developer for 6 years, he co-founded Smashing Magazine back in 2006, a leading online magazine for designers and developers. His curiosity drove him from interface design to front-end to performance optimization to accessibility and back to user experience over all the years.
Vitaly is the author, co-author and editor of Smashing Books, and a curator of Smashing Conferences. He is the UX lead with the European Parliament and Smashing Magazine and front-end/UX consultant in Europe and abroad, working with large and small companies and organizations like Haufe-Lexware, Axel-Springer and others.
He also runs Measure UX and Smart Interface Design Patterns, friendly video courses on UX and design patterns, along with a live UX training for passionate UX and product designers.