Used to provide feedback to the user on the results of their actions or to convey messages when necessary.

Design Goals

Ensure that users receive feedback or messages that match the context and urgency of their actions under different scenarios, achieving reasonable and effective communication.

Feedback Methods

When designing, consider the task the user is attempting to complete and the method of attention required. The feedback methods are listed below:

When to Use

Success

Stay in Place

Modal Dialog

Notify users of important success results without interrupting their workflow.

Global Message

Display a brief success message without interrupting the user’s ongoing task.

Redirect

Inline Text & Illustration

• Notify users of success at the end of a long-form process;
• Provide detailed supplementary information (e.g., configuration details).

Global Message

Display a brief success message without interrupting the user’s ongoing task.

Failure

Stay in Place

Modal Dialog

Alert users to important actions outside the current workflow (e.g., safety warnings).

Alert

Inform users of critical errors that require immediate attention.

Form Validation

• User input does not meet field or form requirements;
• User skipped required fields;
• System detects errors in form data.

Notification

• Inform users of important issues or failure statuses that require immediate decisions;
• Feedback on backend process failures & alerts.

Redirect

Inline Text & Illustration

• Notify users of failure at the end of a long-form process due to third-party causes (e.g., application engine creation failure);
• Provide detailed failure information.

Background Operations

Notification

• Inform users of important issues or failure statuses that require immediate decisions;
• Feedback on backend process results.

Notification Center

Notify users of related activity information (e.g., items that need user approval or the progress of user-submitted approvals).