Since 1989, the year in which the World Wide Web came into existence there has been a lot of changes in technology that has led to the designing of websites. In the past when designers came up with ideas they decided based on what had a good appearance and what best suited the customer’s wants. Well things have changed in the long run, and a lot has to do with what is expected by its users. Designers of today concentrate on the UI, commonly known as the user interface which decides the customer’s usage experience. So the best way to go about making your website or application the most popular will depend on your audience. Let’s take a quick look at what steps can be created based on user interface.
- Know Your Audience:
Before you even start coming up with ideas for your design, you need to understand your audience and their needs. Just as you wouldn’t cook sushi for a vegetarian, you wouldn’t go creating complicated designs for a person who deals with simple user interfaces. Understand your viewers keeping in mind their age, their tastes, their goals etc, based on hints that you could collect from sites they frequently visit. Your goal here is to make the experience delightful and simple.
- Be Distinctive:
Many designers come up with very intriguing ideas. The fact that those ideas are awesome is not what’s going to make them famous. The idea of making your users identify those awesome features and easily put them to use is what matters here. For example, when Google made some changes to their user interface, it did take some of its users a while to figure out where some of their applications such as their calendar they actually went. The point is that the idea was good, but it did become hard to find that it existed.
- Minimize Change:
One clear characteristic of humans is that we hate change, only if it’s for the better. When we have been accustomed to the usage of a certain site, and when some developer comes along to make some changes on the existing site, it does throw off its users for a while. Most of us are used to following a specific pattern when it comes to certain sites that we regularly visit. For example your online banking account or your email account. Small changes like the way the month is put out in words and not in numbers can affect the normal routines users follow creating an unpleasant experience. Though these attitudes change over time, it affects the user experience on sites that depend on them.
- Create a Structured Design:
Look at the structure of your design from the eyes of your user. Create a design based on the order of importance or as per the procedure to be followed by the user on the page. Use fonts and colors that are attractive enough and visible to the eye. A properly structured design can make a chaotic page into an easy to use website.
- Minimize Usage Time:
Creating defaults on things that users are most likely to change on a daily basis such as a date or time, or a customer setting or a tone, is what is expected by the users. This may be simple, but it saves time and adds to the user experience.
- Loose the Drama:
Try to reduce the urge to make customers flee. If you have the need to create a client database by collecting emails, probably you should concentrate on that by using other means. Try to avoid adverts that take up the full screen, auto-play videos that make a customer force close your site, and forms that force people to sign up for your newsletter. These are the most detestable things that every prospective customer goes through. So if you want them to continue looking at you as a line of business, make sure there’s nothing in their way that hinders them from reaching their goal.
So in conclusion, putting together a design for a website is like putting a puzzle together. If you put it together right, you’ll have a beautiful image to share with the viewer.