Web design is a combination of processes. It’s not just looking at colour schemes and finding the right images. A lot of research goes into planning and designing a successful website that actually drives more sales for your business.
This combination includes branding, message, tone of voice and user interface and user experience.
There are several design principles and techniques you should focus on when it comes to incorporating the user experience into the web design, so you have a website that truly works.
What is UX design? And how does it work?
The user experience (UX) design consists of usability, human factors, design, accessibility, marketing, utility, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Ergonomics and system performance.
The older process of a website build usually consists of working from a brief – decide on a design, send over for client approval and then either build or make the tweaks that come back from the client before going live.
UX design requires thorough research and a good understanding of who your audience is and how their minds work. You can do this by running surveys, getting feedback via social and watching how customers interact with your website to understand what design changes are needed to put together an effective website.
Running the research is easier with a pre-existing website as the data will already be there. The process can be longer if you run a new business, as you need to grow an audience to get a better understanding of how they interact with web designs.
What are the UX principles and processes of web design?
These are the main principles you should focus on when designing and creating a new website.
Know your audience
To start, you need to get to know who your audience is. Don’t make too many assumptions and provide most of your information from evidence.
You can monitor the behaviour of the users on your existing site to see what pages your visitors click on and where on the page they go to look for the answers.
You can use heat mapping tools to track usage, run surveys to share out on your social channels or send a sample of your new website to a small section of your audience or team members to see how they interact with it.
Not one size fits all – Concentrate on the user
Everyone is different, and each industry is different. Make sure that the web design is catered towards your industry and follows a similar process to those seen by major competitors. Unless you have a tried and tested way of making it simpler that delivers better results to your audience.
Websites are often scanned, not read
The internet is over-saturated with information, after reading the same spiel multiple times, we tend to tune off. Writing short but bold headers will help people understand quickly what the page is about. Short and snappy headlines will help users see if they want to find out more or find the information they want to know.
Your design needs to contain a consistent amount of white space to allow the viewer to read through the content without it looking too condensed. Split up content with visuals such as images or icons, doing this will help your visitors to navigate across the page and pick out the most important bits of information.
Keep it clear and simple
Be creative with the design. But when it comes to the layout, its best to keep it simple. Carefully consider the user journey and utilise heat mapping results to look at where items such as forms, CTA’s, links and imagery needs to go and in what order.
Keeping the process simple will help the user know where to go and what to do. This may seem simple, but the interface involves a lot of research and trials to make sure it gives the user an easy experience. Make use of spacing to ensure that all content is easy to read and visual elements are spaced out.
The visual hierarchy
Arguably the most important principle of good web design, the visual hierarchy is the difference between a site that strategically influences user flow and decision, while still making the site look creative and in line with your brand.
Visual hierarchy focuses on the elements that capture your user’s attention and draw their attention. To stay current, you will need to observe your visual hierarchy and adapt it to find the best technique.
Tell a story with your website
To keep users engaged with the page, you should tell a story with both the design of your website and the content. Similar to the visual hierarchy, your website should flow and make sense as the user scrolls down the page.
Telling a story and taking people along the journey means they are more likely to click onto other pages to find out more.
Allow your user to be in control
If you have an account creation process or want to capture your user details, make sure you give them the option on how they prefer to be contacted, how you can use their data and how they can remove their account if needed. Keep all of this information simple and easy to find.
The more control your user has over their information, the more likely they are to trust you not to misuse it.
If your website is due an update – take the above as major considerations on how effective your design needs to be for it to be a good user experience that converts well for your business.