Design Patterns

a blog entry that discusses some great UI pattern resources...current January 2008, but good overview nevertheless.

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a library of games-related interaction design patterns

a site that focuses on social media design and the patterns emerging in those types of apps

a subsection (but QUITE important) of the Designing Web Interfaces site.

this is a collection of patterns (in German) and done by a gentleman named Markus Drews' for his thesis project.

Accompanies the book "Designing Social Interfaces." This site should interest those who are interested in developing/working with social web applications

a niche patterns library/site that concentrates on collaborative interactions

From the site: UIZen is a collection of best of the User Interface designs from around the Web.Site showcases Web Application and Backend designs. Why this site ? When you look for inspiration in good design while building a Web Application , CMS or a back end there are no references which you can look back on for inspiration. There are many CSS/Website galleries but they do not solve this problem as designing back ends is very different from designing Websites. This is where UIZen comes in , by showcases good User Interface Designs from around the web so you next Web Application or back end is not only usable but also good looking. If you know of a site about which you would like to share or have some Ideas for UIZen do get in touch.

a collection of design solutions

This group is created for capturing user interface design trends and patterns NOT decorative patterns. Images not adhering to this description will be removed. Also, screenshots of home pages will be removed if they do not specifically illustrate the use of a user interface.

New and innovative techniques of data visualization (InfoVis). Coolness, aesthetics and efficacy of visual representation methods. Screenshots of visualizations, diagrams, charts, ontologies, ...

from the group description: For a publication (part of my thesis in communication design) on how we find, collect, evaluate and share information I am searching for images of „Everyday Information Architectures". The kind of images I am researching are those of personal design solutions for organizing and structuring everyday life and environment: bookshelves, movie-collections, mind-maps, workplaces, toolboxes, garages, photoboxes, filing cabinets etc.

From the site: The design patterns concept was first made explicit by architect Christopher Alexander in two books: A Pattern Language and The Timeless Way of Building. Design Patterns by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, and John Vlissides introduced design patterns to the field of software engineering where they have been much studied. The form of design patterns takes advantage of the natural tendency of expert designers to think in problem-solution pairs. According to Alexander, "each pattern is a three-part rule, which expresses a relation between a certain context, a problem, and a solution." Designing data graphics may be viewed as a task of user-interface design, and the design patterns for data graphics presented here overlap with pattern collections for user-interface design and data visualization. Among these collections are Jenifer Tidwell's UI Patterns and Techniques, Martijn van Welie's Web Design patterns, and recently published books on The Design of Sites, and A Pattern Language for Web Usability. Barry Wilkins has written his doctoral dissertation on Visualization Patterns.

For those interesting in design patterns more specific to coding patterns.

A pattern library that focuses on open-source design patterns (whatever those are). Has categories for Content Management, Information Organization, Input Forms, Navigation. A good resource and interesting site to explore if one is interested in a well-documented project.

A seemingly spottily maintained resource but interesting nevertheless. This site seems to promote the process of learning about and creating pattern libraries. You can find links to the following pattern-related resources: People, Events, Patterns, Publications, Tools and Other Resources

Alexander wrote the seminal book "A Pattern Language" in 1977 that promoted "patterns" as an approach in diverse fields, from architecture to city planning to business to design. Remains influential today.

Although this is no longer maintained, it remains a good resource for IxD design pattern resources. This page contains information about resources related to pattern languages for interaction design (of which user interface design is a subset), and a few links to more general papers that may be of use to interaction designers. I also include some links to organizational design patterns, which I find hard to disentangle from interaction design.

a comprehensive list of links to design patterns resources. Many great links to academic papers and theoretical information on design patterns.