Website Success: Why Business Websites Need UX UI Design Principles
A website is like the digital front door of any online business. It is the first thing customers see and evaluate when they search for a business online. As they say, first impressions are very important, a website needs to be eye-catching and informative. But great visuals and helpful content aren't enough. To stand out, a website needs to be designed with UI/UX principles in mind.
What Is UI/UX Design?
Simply put, UI stands for ‘User Interface’ and UX stands for ‘User Experience’. Together they encompass the entire journey that a user takes when interacting with a website. Good UI/UX design means: a website feels great, functions at its best, and is easy to use.
Beyond aesthetics, UI/UX design also takes into factor the different elements laid out on the website page- such as the menus, the CTA buttons, the contact us form, etc. It is equally about paying close attention to colors, font choices, and other aesthetic factors that all contribute to overall usability and user experience.
As a digital marketer, understanding UI/UX design elements and principles will put you a step ahead of the competition. Not only will you have happy customers but you will also see increased conversions and sales due to an improved website performance.
The Benefits of UI/UX Design in Business Websites
As a digital marketer, you must have visited hundreds of websites. Which among these did leave a good impression on you? Weren’t they the ones who were not only pleasing to the eye but also easy to navigate? Websites that take too long to load, or are difficult to navigate are more than likely to see low traffic, fewer conversions, and high bounce rates.
By implementing UI/UX design principles, business websites can be:
- More attractive,
- More interactive,
- and Overall easier to use.
A well-designed interface also helps ensure that customers have a pleasant experience. An intuitive navigation process coupled with esthetically pleasing visuals like images and colors- will more often than not draw people in.
Principles of User Experience and Interface Design
Good UI/UX design provides website visitors with an easy and enjoyable experience. The best UI/UX design companies in the US focus primarily on the customer journey. Any UI/UX design strategy must take into account the following key elements:
- Gathering data to understand who your target customers are so that you can tailor the customer experience accordingly.
- Organizing all user information and features logically so they are easy to access and interact with.
- Ensuring menus or search bars are easily accessible. Visitors become frustrated if they can't find it quickly enough.
- Creating Interactive design for certain elements on the page, such as forms, buttons, images, or videos - make them look great but also function correctly too!
- Optimizing visuals, texts, and videos for all devices such as mobile phones or tablets.
UX Design for Effective User Journey
To make sure you get a website success story rather than a fail story – a seamless user-buying journey is a must – no matter how big or small the website is!
Here’s how you can create an effective user journey using UX design principles:
Put User First
Focus on the users of your website. Ensure that they get an optimal experience when using the website. What is your end goal? Is it more conversions or simply creating more engagement for consistent traffic? Plan a user journey that aligns with the end goals.
Keep it simple
A great user experience should make website navigation simpler and more intuitive. This ensures a smoother journey through the pages of your site and contributes to higher engagement rates.
The user journey should include:
- A comprehensive overview of the features offered
- Clear calls-to-action
- Structured menus and pages
- Well-thought-out content hierarchy for easy viewing
UI Design for Effective User Interface
While UX design makes the user journey hassle-free, UI design makes sure your website includes an effective user interface. Let's quickly dive into what UI design enables you to make your website a success:
Visual Appeal
First and foremost, the website should have a great look and feel about it. Pay attention to the color schemes and fonts. They should be easy on the eye. Plus, ensure website content is easy to read and understand.
Keep it Consistent
Any website will have multiple pages, hence it is important to keep the navigation intuitive and user experiences consistent throughout the website.
Error-free Functionality
Last but not least, ensure all of your features work as intended — buttons link to the right pages, images are optimized for speed, drop-down menus work properly, etc. These features allow visitors to engage with the website efficiently so they can take actions like signing up or downloading content without any problems.
Finding the Best UI/UX Design Company for Your Needs
UI/UX design elements keep evolving. To stay in line with the best practices and trends, it is always wise to work with the right UI/UX design company. So how do you go about finding the right UI/UX design company? Here are some tips:
Research your options
Do some online research on the best UI/UX design company in the US. Look at reviews and what past customers have said about their services. Read through their portfolios to get an understanding of their style and determine if it’s a good fit for what you need. Additionally, be clear about what you expect from them so that they can base their recommendations on it.
Ask questions
It will help you get an idea of the professionalism, efficiency, and quality of the company’s work before making any decisions. Here are some questions you can use for reference:
- What experience does the team have in the industry?
- What process do they follow when designing websites?
- How quickly can they complete projects?
Concluding Words
All in all, UI/UX design principles are a must-follow for a successful website. They are the foundation of any website. For digital marketers, it is essential to incorporate UI/UX design principles into a website’s design. It will help keep visitors on the website longer, convert more leads, and guide them to purchase more.
What’s more, UI/UX design can also help with SEO rankings. A website that is easy to use, and loads fast has higher search engine likeability. So, the benefits are not purely good aesthetics. Rather, they enhance a website’s SEO for increased traffic, higher conversions, and quick ROI.
Top 6 Ways to Redesign Your Website UX
You know you've hit the jackpot with a user experience (UX) design when you can't even tell there's one in place.
When a website's design is so slick that visitors easily find what they're looking for, that's what we call a success.
UX is the bread and butter of website redesign or refresh. No matter how good your content is, how pretty your graphic design looks, or how well-known your company is, it won't mean squat if your website is clunky and hard to navigate.
In this blog post, we will discuss six effective methods to enhance your website's user experience (UX) and improve its overall performance.
Let’s dig!
What Is a Website Redesign?
Website redesign is sprucing up a webpage to make it look better and easier to use. This can include redoing things with the content, layout, colours, and how you get around the site.
Sometimes, it even means making the site faster and better at showing up on search engines. And if you're feeling fancy, you might even switch to responsive web design, so the site looks great no matter what device you're using.
Reasons to Conduct a Redesign
When it comes to conducting a redesign, the initial inquiry should include the following:-
The Nielsen Norman Group identifies several valid reasons for conducting a redesign:-
- The site looks outdated
- New branding needs to be implemented
- Technological advances seem antiquated
- The site isn't optimized for mobile or social media
- The information architecture of the site is a mess
- The UX is confusing and there is no unified structure
The first two reasons on the list of reasons for conducting a redesign may only require a visual update, while the others may require UX modifications.
Sometimes, a UX designer might have to do a redesign because they did a UX audit and found things that need fixing.
But, here's the thing - we users are creatures of habit. We like things that we're familiar with. So, if you change the user interface too much, people might not be too happy about it.
Therefore, if a complete overhaul is made without a valid reason, it may lead to frustration among users.
It is crucial to advocate for users and suggest alternative options such as a visual refresh or minor UX changes to clients who want a complete redesign without a valid reason.
When implementing changes, it is crucial to understand users' mental models and incorporate new changes that respect what users like.
6 Ways to Conduct a UX Redesign
1. Restudy Your Existing Users & Act
If you wanna make a killer UX redesign, you gotta start with the basics - user research and analytics. This lets you get a good idea of where users are struggling and what's causing them grief when using your product.
Once you've figured out the problems, you can focus on redesigning those specific parts to make them better.
When you're redesigning a product, you gotta start by doing some user research. But, don't throw out the old product just yet! That old dog can serve as a prototype for your new design.
Get users to give feedback about what they like and don't like about the current product. This'll help you know what to fix and make better in the redesign. This feedback can be invaluable in guiding the redesign effort.
2. Keep Business Goals In Mind
If you want your UX redesign to hit the bullseye, you need to know what the business is all about. That means figuring out who's using their product and what they already know about them.
This'll help you figure out how to make things better. But, here's the thing - you can't just do whatever you want. You gotta make sure that the redesign fits with what the business wants to achieve.
At the same time, you gotta keep the user's needs in mind. That's how you strike a balance!
If the business wants to make more sales, get more page views, or make things easier to navigate, the UX redesign should focus on making these things happen.
The redesign should make it a no-brainer for users to move around the site, and check out more pages. By making the user experience line up with what the business wants, the redesign can help the company make more dough.
3. Do a Thorough Competitive Analysis
Another useful source of information when redesigning a product is to analyze the competition's offerings. By examining their user interfaces, you can identify what sets them apart.
You can also find innovative solutions that you can adopt to better engage your users. Additionally, you can take note of any practices that you should avoid.
Moreover, you can also study how they respond to your competitors' offerings. This involves exploring how users interact with their interfaces and navigate through the user experience.
This study should focus on
- What are the pages that receive the largest proportion of traffic?
- At what point do visitors to our website tend to leave?
- What sources or mediums generate the most traffic that leads to conversions on our site, and why?
- What sources or mediums generate high traffic but do not result in conversions, and why?
- Which product pages have the lowest rates of visitors leaving the site, and why?
- Which products have the highest ratio of impressions to checkout, and why?
4. Revamp and Redesign
Once you've gathered data from the existing product and competitors, and have a clear understanding of the business goals for the project, it's time to begin the redesign process in earnest.
One effective starting point is to create a site map of the redesigned information architecture. Additionally, it's important to understand how users may navigate through the site to achieve different goals, using different user workflows.
After addressing these top-level issues, the next step is to create wireframes and prototypes for the redesign.
When you're trying to make a UX design that works for both the business and the users, you need to get creative. Try out a bunch of different ideas until you find one that rocks.
Test them out and see what people like. Once you've figured out the winning combo, you'll have a user experience that's both appealing and fun to use.
5. Enhancing SEO and Website Performance
The ease and speed at which your customers can locate your website are determined by SEO. Graphics without alternative text improperly used HTML tags, and irrelevant keywords are some of the significant obstacles that prevent Google crawlers from finding your website.
To detect obvious optimization errors, it can be beneficial to assess website SEO using online tools like SEOptimer, and Website Grader, among others.
Moreover, as with any project, you need a timeline. A timeline can help you and your team see the project as a whole. Which pages and elements do they need to work on first, and what the deadlines are for each phase?
Based on your needs, prepare a roadmap, which is tailored to your business needs, both time and budget-wise. But, we can always adjust the plan. We see our future clients as partners, so the roadmap of the website redesign must be suitable for them.
6. User Testing
To ensure your redesign is successful, it is essential to conduct user testing with individuals who have used the previous version of the product. Request feedback from them on what they appreciate about the new design and what might cause frustration.
Keep in mind that any redesign is likely to generate some negative reactions from users. However, user testing is necessary to identify any actual usability issues with the redesign. If such issues are identified, it is important to continue iterating on the redesign until the user experience is functioning as intended.
Key Takeaways
- It's important to have a clear process in place for conducting a UX redesign.
- Redesigns can range from a simple visual refresh or a full revamp of the user experience.
- Before starting a redesign, it's crucial to understand why you want to conduct it.
- There are many reasons why a UX redesign might be necessary, such as outdated technology, confusing user experience, or convoluted information architecture.
- To begin the redesign process, start by studying the existing UI, as it provides the best prototype for your new product. It's also essential to understand business goals and how they can be integrated into the new user experience seamlessly.
- Additionally, researching competitors' products can provide insight into what works and what doesn't in terms of UX design.
- A successful UX redesign should include deliverables, such as user workflows, site maps of the information architecture, wireframes, and prototypes.
- Iterate on the new design and perform user testing until the user experience is functioning correctly.
Author Picture
Author Bio
Ramitha Ramesh is the editor at Karbon Business, renowned for her expertise in SEO content marketing strategy for a diverse clientele across the US, UK, and India. With a penchant for exploring the fast-paced realm of finance, business, and banking, her blog is a treasure trove of insights that offer unique perspectives on the latest trends and developments in the industry. Finding nirvana in food, fun and travel, she is on a mission to counter the infodemic amidst digital chaos.
LinkedIn Link:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramitha-ramesh/
The impact of AI & ML on UI/UX designs
Used Siri, Google Assistant, or Alexa anytime? These are examples of AI & ML - promising technologies of the tech era. Their intelligence factor, combined with the ability to adapt faster, and accommodate large chunks of data, has made them one of the top trending technologies. Consequently, it has revolutionised the user app experience and has impacted how users use the app & designers design it.
With this article, we’ll talk about the impact AI & ML has created on UX design services with real insights from UI UX designers from top UX design agency Ireland.
Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning: An Introduction
Artificial Intelligence is human-like intelligence offered by machines, thus known as artificial intelligence. The ability to calculate, interpret, analyse, work, create, etc., can all be done by machines through artificial intelligence.
On the other hand, Machine Learning (ML) is a part of AI and is programmed to learn automatically from the data it has been provided by the machine, thus known as ‘Machine-learning.’
Role of AI & ML in UX design services.
Since the inception of AI & ML, industries of all kinds have used these technologies in some or the other way to offer impactful business services. Whether in the gaming or health, or finance sector, AI has changed how users avail services. It has become an asset to teams worldwide; the latest AI tool is, Chatgpt, which has definitely taken the world by storm & helps individuals as well as business firms in getting their message across in an engaging way.
Regarding AI & ML in UX, it has definitely helped improve users' experience, giving personalised experiences to users and making the product top-notch & optimised for users. AI - Artificial Intelligence, combined with UX, i.e., User Experience, makes an inseparable pair. AI & ML assists in garnering insights from user usage, and UI UX design services companies that are into creating app experiences utilise the data generated by AI to create an outstanding experience for users, which is tailored to their requirements.
That’s not it; with AI & ML, companies can gather large amounts of data and analyse or interpret it even more quickly. This potentiality of AI works as an advantage in running automated tests, getting results quickly and creating new attractive solutions that genuinely appeal to users. All thanks to AI & ML, the whole process of UX design services has become a swift, result-oriented process.
The positive impact of AI & ML on UI/UX design services.
According to a leading UX design agency in Ireland, AI & ML have significantly impacted UX design services. The personalised app experiences that users get, the algorithms-based social media feed, your choices-based shopping recommendations, and all the other examples are solid proof that the last few years have revolutionised app experiences & AI has played a significant role in it. Here’s how AI & ML has impacted UI and UX design services.
Personalisation
AI and ML can be used to analyse user data and behaviour patterns to create personalised experiences for each user. This can be used to tailor the design of a website or app to each user, providing a more engaging and effective user experience. Moreover, web developers Ireland also use AI to rank at the top and drive better traffic.
Automation
AI and ML can automate routine design tasks, such as layout design, colour selection, and font choices. This can save designers time and improve the efficiency of the design process. In fact, Adobe Sensei already offers suggestions regarding designs through Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning (ML) and helps designers automate many aspects of designing.
User Research
AI and ML can be used to conduct user research and generate insights about user behaviour and preferences. This can help designers make data-driven design decisions and create more compelling user experiences.
Accessibility
AI and ML can be used to design more accessible solutions. This can be of prime help to users with disabilities. For example, AI-powered tools can analyse images and automatically generate alt text for visually impaired users.
Natural Language Processing (NLP)
NLP can be utilised to improve the usability of text-based interfaces by allowing users to interact with the interface using natural language. This can improve the user experience for non-technical users & can help businesses give a natural, effective business setting.
Predictive Analytics
Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning are greeting at predicting user behaviour and needs. For example, a shopping app recommending customers which other outfits they might like or they should buy based on their past behaviour data.
Challenges in implementing AI in UI/UX design services
Implementing AI in UI/UX design services can be challenging. Here are some of the main challenges that user experience agencies may face:
Data Quality
AI systems rely heavily on data, and the quality of the data can significantly impact the accuracy and effectiveness of the system. Therefore, ensuring that the data used to train AI models is high-quality and accurately represents the target audience is essential.
User Privacy
Businesses & organisations must also consider user privacy concerns as AI systems collect and analyse user data. Data protection regulations, such as GDPR, must be considered when designing and implementing AI systems.
Moreover, it’s the responsibility of the UX design agency Ireland to ensure that they are only using reliable AI tools in the business products and providing standardised, high-quality UI and UX design services.
Technical Expertise
Implementing AI in UI/UX design services requires specialised technical skills and knowledge. It’s important for organisations to hire qualified UI/UX designers who are well acquainted with AI & ML or hire a trusted UX design agency Ireland to implement AI & ML in the best possible way.
To wrap up
AI & ML have taken the user experience a notch higher, with brilliant AI-driven solutions coming into the picture. It is a revolutionary technology & has made a significant impact on the digital transformation industry. In fact, UX agencies believe that this is just the beginning, and many transforming things are yet to happen with AI’s capabilities to offer tailored solutions, automate tasks, analyse and give insights real quickly. Researchers, AI Specialists, designers, and developers are all coming together to bring new innovative AI solutions. The goal is to leverage the power of AI and create successful AI-based robust, engaging solutions. And in this transformational journey, one thing is sure; the user experience is bound to be enhanced.
If you’re looking to create appealing, eye-catching solutions that are backed by AI & ML, you can connect with Square Root Solutions; they are acclaimed in the industry for exceptional UX design services in web applications and mobile apps.
7 Surefire Ways to Speed Up Your Webpage for Better UX & UI
A website's User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) can make or break its success.
Every millisecond counts regarding page speed, directly impacting the user's journey and engagement on a website. This article will teach you seven surefire ways to speed up your web page for a better UX & UI.
Why is Page-loading Speed an Important Factor?
Factor #1 - Impact on SEO
Ask yourself, will you wait if you see a web page that takes ages to load? Or will you close the page and move on?
The answer is obvious. It takes about 1-3 seconds for a user to decide whether they like a website! Like it or not, page-loading speed is crucial for any website.
Slow page-loading speeds can lead to an increased bounce rate, which, in turn, will damage SEO rankings. Search engines like Google prioritize sites with faster loading times, so ensuring your site meets the required standards is essential.
A slow page-loading speed will cause visitors to leave your site quickly and not return; this causes potential customers to go elsewhere (probably to your competitors!).
Take a look at this slow loading website that takes more than 10 seconds to load
It is Marketing 101 that the longer someone stays on your site, the more likely they are to make a purchase or take some other action (signing up for your services, for example) that you want them to take.
Factor #2 - Impact on User Experience
You may offer the best product in the world, but if your site lacks the functionality potential customers want, they will likely go elsewhere. And we've already discussed how a slow-loading site can impact your rankings in search results.
Many people are used to sites loading quickly, thanks to faster internet speeds and sites optimized for small screens.
Visitors won't think twice about going elsewhere if yours doesn't fit the bill. Slow sites can also cause users to become frustrated and leave bad remarks/reviews on the web.
For example, suppose your e-commerce store has slow page-loading speeds.
In that case, potential customers will likely abandon their carts and purchase from a competitor (though the product is a little more expensive or crappy) that provides faster page-loading times instead.
They may also vent their frustration on social media platforms such as Twitter by leaving “bad” reviews.
In today's digital world, speed matters. End of discussion.
Factor #3 - Impact on Brand Value
Let's go ahead and picture this. Your friend recommends you use a specific brand because he had a positive experience using it. You visit that company's website and see that it looks unprofessional, cluttered, and dead slow.
What would be your first impression of the company?
Would you then trust the recommendations of your friend? You may trust your friend but will doubt the brand. You'll think twice before using it or recommending it to others and assume that the products and services offered by the company may not be of good quality either.
With the rise of mobile technology and consumers' expectations for quick solutions, a slow page-loading speed can have disastrous consequences for any brand. Besides, poor page-loading speeds also give the impression that the site is not credible or secure.
Customers are less likely to trust these sites with their data or money, resulting in lost revenue opportunities.
Here is the List of Top 7 Tips to Increase Page-loading Speed
Tip #1 - Go for a Lightweight Theme
Some themes look drop-dead gorgeous, but they are a heavy burden for the server and result in slower page-loading speed. Please think about your choice of theme and go for lightweight themes that are fast and perform well on all major browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Opera, etc.
Themes laden with deadweight, such as extra features or plugins that aren’t used, take up too much space and can significantly slow down your page speed. Instead, opt for some lightweight themes.
These themes are expertly crafted with lightweight coding and countless optimization features that make them ideal for improving page-loading speeds.
Not only do they offer simple-yet-powerful design elements that can be tailored to fit any project need, but their fast-loading speeds also ensure your visitors will have a smooth experience when visiting your site.
Besides, both come with extensive customization options that allow you to quickly create unique designs without writing any code.
Tip #2 - Use Plugins Wisely
It goes like this. The few MBs each plugin adds to your site’s file size can add up quickly, especially if you have several plugins installed.
The best thing to do is use a plugin only when needed and remove it as soon as it’s no longer needed. However, the fact is that some plugins are essential for any website – cache plugins, image compression plugins, etc.
One simple tip is to use plugins wisely with the K.I.S.S principle in mind – Keep It Simple, Stupid!
By using fewer plugins and ensuring that the ones you use are up-to-date and optimized for your platform, you can significantly increase page-loading speeds without sacrificing your site's functionality or features.
For example, instead of installing a plugin designed to optimize a specific image format (e.g., jpg), you may be better off using a better one that supports the most popular image formats.
Similarly, if a plugin offers several features but you only need one or two of them, avoid cluttering your system and go for a one-trick pony.
Tip #3 - Make Use of Speed Test Tools
Before speeding up your website, you must know precisely what drags it down. You can't be groping in the dark and hope for the best.
That's why tools like Google PageSpeed Insights are so helpful.
They let you know precisely how fast your site loads in different parts of the world, which will help you make informed decisions on how to speed it up.
With the help of a speed test tool, you can identify and eliminate the reasons for poor performance; this will help you know exactly where to focus your efforts.
These tools will provide you with necessary information such as a score (i.e., how fast your website is), resolution, and other details. Some of the popular speed test tools include:
Tip #4 - Optimize Images
Images are akin to plugins. They may seem like nickel-and-dime stuff. But over time, they can consume your bandwidth and slow down your website. The solution here is Image optimization.
The process involves compressing images without losing quality and reducing an image's file size, which helps with load time.
You can use image optimization tools like TinyPNG and Compressor.io to reduce the size of your images.
Correct file types are important when optimizing images; JPEGs are great for photos, while PNGs work best for logos and icons with transparent backgrounds. You can also use CSS Sprites to combine multiple images into one large image, reducing HTTP requests.
For the uninitiated, HTTP requests are the messages sent between a web browser and a server that tell the server what data needs to be retrieved to display a given webpage.
Each element on the page, such as images, videos, text files, and scripts, generates an individual request. Reducing these requests will decrease the time it takes for the server to respond and allow pages to load faster.
Other techniques include implementing lazy loading of images and compressing HTTP content with Gzip encoding.
Tip #5 - Use a CDN
Assume you are sitting at the farther end of a restaurant. You have an order for a dish cooked in the kitchen and then brought to your table. The waiter will take more time to bring your order to you than someone who sits closer to the kitchen.
The reason is that the further you are from the kitchen, the longer it takes for the food to be delivered.
The same goes for the content on your website. The closer the server is to the visitor, the faster it will load. Hence, if you want your website to load faster, use a Content Delivery Network (CDN).
A CDN acts as a middleman between your server and the visitor, and it has servers around the world and serves content from the nearest location. So, if you have a lot of visitors coming from Europe, for example, it is advisable to use a CDN with servers in Europe so that the content loads faster.
Tip #6 - Minify HTML, CSS & Javascript
By minifying the three elements mentioned above, you can create a faster site less likely to suffer from slow load times.
Code minification will result in an improved UX as users are presented with a snappier experience while exploring your website.
Minifying these files involves removing unnecessary code, such as white spaces and comments, which can increase file sizes significantly. As a result, it reduces the amount of code that needs to be downloaded by the browser when a user requests a page.
Tip #7 - Make Use of Browser Caching
Browser caching works by storing files on the user's computer to reduce server requests and load times for future visits.
The technique allows users to access webpages more quickly since they no longer have to download all necessary files each time they visit a page. Instead, only new elements need to be downloaded.
Browser caching also reduces the strain placed on your servers (this is especially useful if you are using shared hosting) when multiple people visit a page at one time; this means that pages can stay active even during moments of high traffic.
Key Takeaways
- Understand that a slow website affects UX, SE rankings, and brand value.
- Go for functionality overlooks when it comes to theme.
- Use plugins as needed.
- Use speed test tools periodically.
- Optimize multimedia.
- Use a CDN to deliver pages fast.
- Minify code for a snappier browsing experience.
- Enable browser caching to reduce server requests.
Author BIO:
Cristian Ward is the CEO of San Diego SEO Inc. With over 10+ years of experience in digital marketing, he has knowledge in social media marketing, PPC advertising, online reputation management, and more.
The Impact Of Web Design And Hosting Choice On UX
A website is undoubtedly one of the most significant assets that a modern company can have.
We live in a digital age, and unless you keep up with the latest technology and invest in having a well-functioning and strategic website, you'll be missing out on a huge market, a slew of lucrative prospects, and a sizable portion of your user base.
While it used to be enough to simply have a website, nowadays, it's as if you don't have one at all if it’s not an attractive and user-centric one.
How do you get one that will attract your potential customers and make them valuable leads? Investing in quality web design and hosting is the solution.
UX & Web Hosting: What To Consider
For a variety of reasons, web hosting is just as vital as web design. While web design helps a website appear nice, that's not the only element you should be concerned with if you want to build a top-tier business. Every website needs speed, and no matter how beautiful it appears, it will fail if it is too slow.
There are numerous things an organization or a UX professional working on its behalf may do to enhance the usability of its website through hosting. Let’s have a look at a few examples.
People don’t like to wait for more than a matter of moments for a page, or online app to load, which is why you’ll need to make sure everything on your end is lighting fast.
Too speedy of a website was never, or will ever be, a drawback, but you should keep in mind that the more sophisticated your design is, the more storage it will take up, resulting in a slower website.
There are numerous things an organization or a UX professional working on its behalf may do to enhance the usability of its website through hosting. Let's have a look at a few examples:
Selecting the Proper Kind of Hosting
If you're a first-time website owner/developer, you might be surprised to learn that there are several different types of website hosting, each with its own set of benefits and drawbacks. We'll go through the four most prevalent types of web hosting and give a quick rundown of what each one entails. However, to make an intelligent choice according to your specific needs you might need to consult with a reliable IT service provider.
Shared
Without a question, shared hosting is the most cost-effective hosting option.
Nevertheless, if you're seeking speed, this isn't the best solution because it indicates you're sharing dedicated servers with other websites, and as they grow in popularity, the network can soon become clogged.
Virtual Private Server
VPS hosting is a wise choice that falls between shared and dedicated server hosting.
In this hosting solution, you technically split server space with others, but you have your own distinct and exclusive area.
Because this form of hosting can't manage significant quantities of traffic, it's best for smaller websites looking for room and customization.
Dedicated Server
A dedicated server is the best solution for hosting a website. It means that your site, and just your website, is hosted on a dedicated server. It’s suitable for a wide range of websites, although it’s on the pricey side of hosting solutions.
Cloud
This is similar to shared, other than that the website distributes resources across numerous servers with different websites. In this manner, if one server’s performance lags or goes down, another one can take up the load. It’s a far better option for small businesses and anyone looking to improve traffic.
Which is Best for You?
If you're operating a smaller website that doesn't demand a lot of room or complexity and doesn't receive a lot of traffic, shared servers might be the best option. Local web pages, small blogs, and one-pagers benefit from this form of hosting.
Cloud hosting or VPS hosting can suffice for a smaller organization. Both are equipped to handle medium-sized traffic and data, but cloud hosting is more versatile and customizable, while VPS hosting is more cost-effective. At the same time, cloud hosting is better at handling massive amounts of traffic, information, and customization, therefore it’s an excellent choice for mid-to-large websites like major blogs, small eCommerce stores, and local companies.
VPS hosting is better suited to small-to-medium-sized websites that have outgrown shared hosting capabilities. Dedicated server hosting is the pick of the bunch in terms of capabilities, customizability, and performance, but it's also the most expensive.
The Impact of Web Design on User Experience
A flawless web design is one of the many factors that can influence the user experience. The majority of individuals regard web design to be important in terms of aesthetics.
Web design, on the other hand, is more than that. When building a website, professional web designers take into account a variety of factors. They make it a point to improve the ned user’s experience and deliver an appealing web page.
The following are some of the most important aspects of web design that influence user experience.
Professional Imagery
A flawless design gives a website a professional-looking appearance to visitors, customers, and potential purchases. This is important since it promotes your website as a legitimate company or service provider in a specific industry. Additionally, a unique web design distinguishes your website from the competitor.
Capture the Attention of the Audience
It’s no surprise that users want to acquire reliable and appropriate information from your website right away ( at least that is what data science tells us), as there is so much information on the Internet. They typically do this by limiting their search by merely staying on a web page for as long as it takes them to determine if you are what they are searching for.
As a result, it’s critical to grab the attention of your audience right away with a great web design and eye-catching graphics. The following are the essential components for retaining visitors:
- Introduce appropriate typeface to add visual interest
- Be attentive towards using the right colour and page layout
- Bright, eye-catching banners are capable of effectively conveying your message
- Include items that will keep your viewers interested
- An engaging animation can assist in capturing a visitor's attention.
Boost Your Website’s Functionality
Keep in mind that the responsiveness of a website is a significant aspect. A beautiful web design offers the site the required appearance and keeps it consistent across all screens. Experienced designers make sure that a website looks the same whether it's viewed on a desktop or a mobile. It improves the user experience by providing an easy-to-use interface.
Concluding Thoughts
The power of design is what pushes the world forward. When something is attractive, it is desired, but it's when that becomes useful that it receives the credit it deserves.
You can have the best of all worlds and a wonderful website by combining excellent web design and hosting. And for achieving that make sure to double-check and include the above-mentioned aspects when reviewing or constructing your new website.
How to Improve UX/UI Design of a Mobile Application?
Why is it necessary to improve UX/UI Design of an application?
One of the major changes in the recent decade is the use of mobile applications and how they have been able to become the most commonly used object. People all over the world have mobile phones as these devices are being considered a necessity.
The use of mobile phones has been so great that many businesses have started using mobile app development companies to create the best applications for their businesses. In all of this, users have started to stop using those applications which are not up to their standards. It has become compulsory for an app developer to improve UX/UI Design in order to attract a maximum number of users.
Unlike the last decade, where there were only a few options to choose from. App stores and play stores now have hundreds of applications to choose from. Each category has many brilliant applications, which has increased the competition amongst developers. Developers are now looking for the best ways to improve UX/UI Design in order to catch the attention of the user.
How to improve UX/UI Design?
Luckily as many people are working towards the same question, there are many ways that you can improve UX/UI Design. The strategies and tactics allow the user to feel happy while using the application. This will also mean that the user will keep your application downloaded longer on their smartphone. As you read on, you will find a few of the ways how you can improve UX/UI Design.
4 Best Ways to Improve UX/UI Design
- Make the application accessible
Once you have decided the platform that you will be using while creating the application, you should keep in mind that the app will be accessed on different devices. This means that your application should be accessible and compatible with different screen sizes. With so many models available with different screen sizes, it is best if you are working to make your access for all users.
- Research is important
You must have a target audience when you are designing your application to improve UX/UI Design. The important thing is to research as much as possible about your targeted user. You should be able to find the preference of the user while at the same time incorporating your findings into the design. This can have different colors, patterns or even images.
- Run beta testing
When you test your application, there are many advantages that you can benefit from. By asking the users to give feedback, you will see what the application is missing. You will be able to incorporate the feedback into the app and allow yourself to improve UX/UI Design. This will allow you to check whether the application has any bugs or not while at the same time improving design and even content.
- Whitespace is necessary
Sure, a blank canvas does not look attractive to the naked eye, but nor does one that is completely colored. White space is necessary to provide the perfect contrast that makes the screen appealing. You need to make sure that you keep your design simple and allow for whitespace for improvement in user experience.
Conclusion
It is very easy to improve UX/UI Design of any mobile application. All you have to do is listen to the requirements of the user. A user wants an application that runs smoothly, does not take a lot of time to load and is able to easily navigate the entire application.
Author Bio: Ellie Singh is a professional application developer working for a renowned mobile app development company. She likes to help young designers and writes blogs to guide them as much as possible.
A Four-Step Guide to the UI/UX Design Process
One of the stages of digital product development is the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design. User interface deals with the visual and interactive elements (icons, images, fonts, screen layout, color schemes, and responsive design) of a website or application. UX is focused on delivering a flawless experience to end-users who utilize your product (website or web application) by improving its functionality and user interaction logic. The UI/UX design process is very collaborative because designers should cooperate to create a product that looks great and functions perfectly.
As we know, designing can be a daunting task, but if you follow the right steps, you will get an enjoyable experience. Below, we briefly review the main stages of UI/UX design.
- Research
At this stage, you should understand who your target audience is and what their needs are. This research can be carried out in various forms, the most common are problem space analysis, potential customer interviews, and competitor investigation. UI and UX developers should be involved in the process from the very beginning, so that specialists can understand the potential users’ demands, brainstorm ideas, make suggestions, and find possible ways to overcome roadblocks.
- Analysis
The main goal of UI and UX designers is to understand users’ preferences and develop a product that will cater to their needs. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze user behavior and create a user map to get an idea of the entire path of their interaction with the product, both during the first and continuous use. All possible interaction scenarios and potential bottlenecks are analyzed. It is important to carefully understand the sequence of user actions:
- Product search.
- Algorithms of clicks and transitions.
- Product experience.
You should adhere to the following rules to successfully implement the user interface.
- All system elements must be clearly structured.
- The interface should not be overloaded with unnecessary content and illustrations.
- All interface components should look attractive and be aligned.
- The text should be coherent.
- Design
During this phase, a website or application wireframe is created, which helps to adapt all the ideas and requirements of the customer. Wireframes help you visualize your product blueprint and give you an idea of what design is needed, where the content goes, and how elements should be arranged. Often they include monochrome colors and simplified visualization of elements. Therefore, wireframes are page templates and do not represent the final design.
- Testing
At this stage, all possible options for interaction with the program are analyzed to identify existing and potential problems. UI/UX testing is based on these methods:
- Card sorting. This method helps to gather insights about users and their thoughts on categories or groupings. During this process, participants sort site structure sketches in a logical order.
- Five-second test. This is an excellent way to get users’ first impressions of your design. The testing process is simple. Participants are shown an image for five seconds, and then they talk about what they saw.
- The cascade method gives an idea of how easy it is to find certain elements or topics.
- The repeated session method allows you to determine the behavior of users.
- A heat map is a visualization of user actions: clicks, page scrolls, and navigation.
Bottom Line
Though UI and UX designers have various sets of skills, they should work together to achieve the ultimate goal of any project - great interface design that meets users’ expectations and an impeccable user experience.
Strategic UX / UI Design for SaaS: How to Create a Product Your Audience Needs
When developing a product, UX design is just as important as UI design. Although these two practices do occasionally overlap, most people agree that the two terms represent two different goals. User experience design tends to focus on the entire process of interacting with your product or website. In contrast, user interface design focuses on the aesthetics and usability of the online space.
These are both very serious topics in their own right, so let's focus on a more practical question: what could UI/UX designers do to enrich your SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) strategy? A lot of the success in marketing comes from user-friendliness. If the product fails in terms of UX/UI, it will affect productivity and cause losses for business in terms of its return on investment. It is where UX/UI designs come into play.
What is the Role of Design in SaaS?
Design is a crucial element in the success of any SaaS company. However, design as a term has become an extensive term. It is used loosely to describe many things, from graphic design, which is just one aspect of it, to user experience. When you hire designers, you can expect them to deliver great visual assets that complement your product's features and functionality.
They will also ensure that your product has the right level of usability for your target audience, providing valuable insights about which features should be included and how much time users should spend interacting with your product. Here are the several roles of design in general:
- Understand the user's needs and goals, thereby attracting more users.
- Conduct research to understand user behavior and environment.
- Create wireframes, prototypes, and visual designs to deliver a compelling, intuitive product with a clear flow from one screen to the next.
- It creates a memorable user experience.
- It makes the service more straightforward to use than the competition.
UX Design Best Practices and Trends
User experience design is creating products that provide meaningful and relevant experiences to users. It involves creating the entire process of acquiring and integrating the product, including aspects of branding, design, usability, and function. Here are some of the best design tips you can use to give customers a better experience.
Easy Login and Sign Up
Easy sign-up and login are a must for SaaS websites. It would be best to keep in mind that your users are impatient, so you must provide them with an easy login and sign-up process. Users don’t want to spend hours going through a registration process to access your software. Let users sign up with their existing social media accounts such as Facebook or Twitter to make things even more accessible.
Gamification
Have you ever heard of gamification? It's a process of making something more exciting and fun by adding game elements. In other words, it's making a process engaging and enjoyable for your users. Gamification has been proven to increase customer engagement and make things more fun.
Customers are much more likely to remember your website or mobile app if they could earn some reward for using it! It also helps build loyalty between your customers and your company because they have the chance to achieve something valuable to them.
User-Friendly Onboarding
The most crucial aspect of any new customer's experience with a product is the onboarding process. It's what your customer sees and feels as they first use your product, and it sets the tone for the rest of the relationship. User onboarding makes it easy for users to get value from your site and easily engage with it.
When designing, avoid creating complex pages that require users to spend lots of time learning how to operate. Make sure everything on each page has a clear purpose: If a button doesn't do something meaningful when clicked on or interacted with, remove it.
Send Automatic Invoices
Another way to engage customers with your UX design is by making it easy for them to pay any outstanding invoices that you may have sent out. Some people hate manually writing a check and mailing it in, but if you send them an automated invoice through your website, it could be as simple as clicking a few buttons and confirming their payment method. They don’t even have to get up from the couch.
How to Design a SaaS
The Saas development process requires paying special attention to various user experience and interface design aspects. Here are the steps to follow when designing one:
Pre-UX Design
Designing a SaaS starts with the pre-UX design, which is all about idea generation and validation. Tasks in the pre-UX design stage include:
- Identify and define the target user(s) and their problems.
- Evaluate existing solutions and evaluate their shortcomings.
- Generate ideas for new solutions.
- Test ideas with potential customers to validate their worthiness.
UX Design
In this step, you’ll create wireframes and prototypes based on your strategy in the first step. In this process, you also determine what content will be displayed when users visit the site and how they'll interact with that content. A prototype or wireframe is a visual representation of the website's information architecture, allowing designers to communicate ideas to developers and other stakeholders.
Wireframing can be done on paper or using computer software. These wireframes provide you with a clear picture of how the final product will look. It is also a good time to do usability testing to see if the application's features are intuitive enough for your target users.
UI Design
The user interface (UI) is your software's actual layout and design. It includes the colors, buttons, icons, and links used to make up your software’s main pages.
It is the stage where your design becomes a reality. Here are some tips for creating an effective UI:
- Find designers who can create mock-ups based on wireframes.
- Develop wireframes for every screen in your application
- Make sure that the design is consistent across all screens.
- Use proper colors that make sense for each screen.
The world is full of companies trying to build software that facilitates specific tasks for startups. But few of those startups make the leap from being valuable tools to an invaluable service. One of the steps to get there is having a super-effective user experience and user interface on your website.
It may seem like a daunting task. After all, you need to keep your customers informed, entertained, and engaged while navigating your website. Still, luckily, you can design many elements into the front end of your site to make it succeed where others fail.
7 UX/UI Trends To Keep On Your Radar In 2021
Should you be following user interface and user experience trends in the year 2021? Isn’t following trends the reason why Twitter has destroyed the entertainment industry? Well, despite the fact that “Trends” is now a dirty word in marketing circles, there is still room for trends when it comes to UI and UE, and the reason for this is simple.
People come to “Expect” certain trends when it comes to designs, features and functions like from the early expected trends of having your search bar in the top right or left corner, to modern trends of lazy loading and page caching. The fact is that if you do not follow modern UI/UE trends, you are going to make your website counter-intuitive.
For example, can you imagine how many people you would anger if your app used a cog icon for volume management rather than settings management? It sounds like a silly little thing to get worked up about, but certain trends have taken hold and should be considered when crafting your user experience and user interface. Defy these trends at your own cost because a seemingly do-nothing-low-impact design trend of today may be a hardcore UI-design rule of the future.
1 - Unique Images and Animations
This trend has been born through two reasons. The first is that freelance designers and animators are now more numerous than ever, which is feeding the production loop. The more designers and animators there are, the more companies are going to them for cheap products, the more money is floating around the marketplace, so more people are becoming design artists and animators. Nowadays, working from home is easier than ever and there is enough of money around for most people to make a humble living.
Another reason why unique images and animations are becoming so popular is because of Google Images search. Nowadays, people who are looking for products, ideas, or inspiration, are going to Google images. You may not rank very highly on the Google search engine results, but if you rank on the Google images search, you can see a lot of traffic.
Google doesn't penalize websites that use the same images, but there are certain pros and cons of using them. On the one hand, if you use images you purchased, and the image is popular, then it is likely to feature highly on the Google search engine results. However, the link back to the image’s host website may only be yours a certain percentage of the time. For example, if ten other people are using the image on their website, then your website may only feature 1 out of every 10 searches.
On the other hand, if you use original images, you are going to have to fight your way up the Google search engine results, but yours is the only website that image will feature on the Google image results. This means the potential for direct traffic is much juicer.
2 - The Use of AI Marketing
And the birds go tweet. Yes, anybody who is anybody knows how heavily AI features in modern user experiences on websites and Smartphone apps. This may sound daunting at first, but there are now so many AI services available at crazy-low prices that integrating AI into your app or website is almost as trouble free as installing a plugin on your website.
We are especially seeing AI marketing in things like digital signage software. This is because the potential for AI is so broad when it comes to digital signs. For example, in some stores, when they are having a good run of sales on a certain item, the digital signs start promoting it more heavily. Other signs are able to judge the peak time for certain products and will base its adverts on whatever sells the best at that time. There are even digital sign programs that monitor local weather reports and promote weather-specific items at that time, such as promoting umbrellas when it is raining and sun hats when it is sunny.
3 - A Chat Box
Again, this seems like another “Obvious” design trend, but as mentioned in the introduction, ignore these seemingly harmless trends at your own peril. Blue chip companies have embraced online chats in a very big way, no doubt because of the 2020 global toilet roll shortage (and the pandemic). Here are just a few ways you could use chat boxes.
- If people cannot find the answer on your website, they could chat to you
- Walk people through technical issues
- Explain how refunds are offered and try to save the sale
- Answer questions about the services or products
- Arrange appointments or book services
- To act as online salespersons
- Allow people to get customized quotes via online staff
People expect online chat functions, and they don't even mind that the first few paragraphs of conversation will be with the AI chat-bot until a real person takes over.
4 - Very Simplified Icons
You may have seen a few Instagram posts about how company logos and brands have become very simple and have almost evolved backwards. The reason for this is due to an online UI/UE trend. When people see icons on web browser tabs, they need something very recognizable, which often means bold colors and simple designs.
Company brands are not devolving due to some streamlining nonsense. They are making their brand logos more simple and bolder so that people can recognize some on web browser tabs and as icons on phone apps.
5 - No Sex Appeal
The woke era has spoken, and sex appeal is no longer a selling point. Sex used to sell, now it prosecutes. Unless you are selling adult services or products, you need to sanitize your online designs and marketing to make them as sexless as possible. When you often read articles like this one about design trends, you often read things about virtual reality, augmented reality, and so forth. These are not trends; these are ideas that are very slow to catch on. This article is all about trends that are happening right now, and the Me2 era has left an imprint on modern marketing and modern design, and that imprint is that sexy doesn't sell.
6 - Added Personalization
Of all the trends on this article, this is probably the most misunderstood. Many designers and marketers are confusing added personalization with micro-managing. Unless you are selling to kids, people are not looking for 12 different varieties of mustache for their online avatars. People are looking for ways to integrate their wish lists into their online shopping in a way that allows them to track prices and monitor discounts.
People are not looking for product filters with 600 options. They are looking for marketing suggestions based on what they actually like. Instagram seems to be the only one using this idea to its fullest. It is using what people click “Like” on within Instagram posts, and using them to judge what products are shown next. Then, if people click “Like” on the adverts, and/or follow the links, it shows adverts for those too. As a consumer, if you click “Like” (the heart symbol) on posts about gadgets, then you get adverts for gadgets. If you follow the link from an advert about retro candy, then your other adverts are all for awesome types of candy. It is a great way of personalizing adverts in a very organic and very effective way, and it doesn't require people to fill out a “Have you heard of these?” quiz like what YouTube does with its non-signed-in users.
7 - Keeping Things Very Simple and Basic
This is a message that most of the high-performing designers have been downplaying for years, while top-league consultancies have been trying to drum into blue-chip companies since 1996.
Even with the emergence of mobile usage, buttons, and auto-fill texts, there is still a tendency to opt for elaborate and/or over-designed websites and app user interfaces, and the reason for this is due to two opposing forces.
The consultancies test and test, and they know that keeping things very simple is the biggest seller. They know that modern consumers are not impressed by flashy interfaces, and also know that every second counts when people are using interfaces. They know that people want to fulfill a task quickly with as fewer steps as possible. This should be your design philosophy.
However, designers still feel that they need to justify their existence by offering elaborate, over-designed, and admittedly impressive UI and website designs. For the most part, designers have been winning. However, people are now starting to move over to simplicity since larger blue-chip companies are all keeping it simple. From Amazon to HSBC, we are seeing consistently simple designs that remove barriers and steps within any given process. This trend is seeping down into smaller companies, and designers are begrudgingly following suit.