UX, or user experience, is every interaction your business has with people on your website, mobile site, apps, and online properties or services. That might sound like an exhausting number of situations to consider, but creating good UX design means focusing on the user, no matter where they are.
In short, the smoother the journey, the more effective your product.
UX is not to be confused with its close cousin UI – User Interface. UI centres around how your design looks, feels and sounds, whereas UX is all about how it works.Both are essential when designing a valuable, engaging digital tool.
Let’s discuss the key ingredients for good UX design.
Get to the point.
Humans have very short attention spans and, when we visit a website or open an app, we like to find out the information we need almost instantly.
With this in mind, be sure to get to the point early and clearly state what your brand has to offer.
It’s usually within the first few moments of visiting a site that a user decides whether they want to discover more or click away.
It might sound brutal, but how many times have you closed a website that has a confusing homepage or simply takes a few extra seconds to load?
Give them what they want.
Following on from our previous point, be sure to quickly satisfy your users by providing the details they need fast.
Be clear what your business has to offer from the outset so that users can assess whether your offering is right for them.
Most people click through to your site with a goal in mind. It could be:
To read more details about your business.
To access a specific page.
To purchase something.
Design your navigation well, so that answers to these questions are only a tap or two away.
Make it easy for your audience.
The best way to capture your audience is to ensure that it’s super easy to navigate and use your product.
Find the perfect balance between creative and clean, keeping the content visually-engaging whilst communicating a clear message.
As the saying goes: “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
If your landing page – or any other page for that matter – is cluttered with unnecessary elements, get rid of them so users can focus more on what matters, i.e. a call to action.
Make your users feel at home.
Compelling UX means consistency.
For example, your navigation menu needs to be constant throughout your whole site or app.
In the meantime, gestures – such as clicking, tapping or swiping – should always perform the same action.
Additionally, the structure of your site should have some logic and – whilst being memorable – follow tried-and-tested methods of the most successful digital applications.
Using your product should feel intuitive and natural – it shouldn’t be a guessing game or a struggle to achieve an action or visit a specific page.
