Module 2: Designing Buttons

Color States

In order to design the right interactions, we need to look back at the history and origins of physical pushbuttons, a direct predecessor of the UI component so heavily used in all digital products today. Buttons are amazing. The touch of a finger setting an appliance, a car, or a system in motion, even if the user doesn’t understand the underlying mechanisms or algorithms. In Power Button, Rachel Plotnick traces the origins of today’s push-button culture and describes the ways that button-pushing became a means for digital command, which promised effortless, discreet and fool-proof control.

Try It Yourself

Using the colour pickers below, change the colour of the button’s background and the label to achieve optimal contrast.