Guide to Developing Website UX and UI

Often sidelined or overlooked, successful website design and development relies on the implementation of effective, optimised UX and UI design. In this post, we’re looking at what those terms mean, what UX and UI involve and a few best practice tips. Let’s go!

UX, shorthand for user experience, refers to the look, feel and usability of a website, as well as the processes put in place to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty. If a website is frustrating or confusing to use or engage with, users are more likely to leave than see it through.

Website UX designers consider the why, what and how behind the product, (or in our case the website). We look at the motivations, values, functionality and accessibility to create the ideal website based on what the customer is looking for.

Our main responsibilities include:

To be successful with UX, you’ll need to consider having:

Your content should be easy to navigate, with clear links that make sense between pages. Avoid burying an important page for the user behind three different clicks – if it’s important to the user, it’s important to you!

Your Calls to Action, or CTAs, are what drive visitors through your website to the pages you most want them to see. That might be your product pages, a service page or your contact page – either way, you want to make sure that you have prominent, relevant CTAs on your website, but avoid annoying pop-ups as these might turn users off.

Again, you don’t want to interfere with conversions by having users jump through hoops. You want the shopping experience to be smooth, from identifying products and adding them to the cart through to a seamless payment process.

When creating forms, remember that brevity is really important – people don’t like spending too much time on a page or giving out a lot of information. Keep it to the absolute necessities for your purpose and optimise it for the user.

A responsive website is not only recommended but vital in the modern age. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly and responsive, it’ll be harder to rank and you’ll get fewer conversions.

UI, or user interface, design is the look, feel and interactivity of a product or website. A UI designer is all about aesthetics, and building a solid image for your product or website.

Once you have a solid skeleton of a website, UI designers come in to make it look pretty – you might have the best website of all time, but if it looks spammy or unprofessional, you’re unlikely to get many conversions.

The main responsibilities of a UI designer include:

Main responsibilities include branding development, interactivity and design & customer analysis. They are usually heavily involved in the visual design and things such as the colour palette, typography, buttons & interactions. Further developments are now edging the designers to consider animations, interactivity and responsiveness of the designs in addition to their other responsibilities.

As the way we use technology and consume content changes, UI designers also find themselves looking at animations, interactivity and responsiveness.

Yes, it’s a fine line to walk, but your website’s UI should retain some level of familiarity, while still being unique and creative. Few users will stick around to pursue a product on a website that they have to figure out first – they’ll just leave and look elsewhere for an easier experience

In 2017, a Reddit thread went viral as some bored web designers came up with the worst volume controls imaginable; all of them are highly creative but volume control is already optimal, so it’s terrible UI!

Things like typography, font size and colour schemes should be fairly consistent across your website. Not only does this make your site more visually appealing, but it also means that if you need to draw attention to something, like a special offer or seasonal promotion, you can draw the user’s eye to that much more easily.

As much as it might feel like it, not every element of a page is created equal. Some text might need to be more prominent, while other bits can be smaller or more subtle. Identify what needs to be highlighted and what can take a back seat, so that your visuals aren’t too overwhelming.

Website UX and UI can only do so much; it’s imperative that you, as a business owner, know your demographic. A website aimed at selling hearing aids to 80+ year-olds will look and navigate remarkably differently to a website that sells eyeliner to students.

Additionally, this will help your UX and UI web development team succeed in making your dream website come to life. The best plan is to have brand guidelines prepared in advance so that your development team can help you find an optimal layout and design.

Planning is a key component of any website – as the old adage says, fail to prepare and prepare to fail! Make sure your website has a clear structure that will be easy to navigate and consider how much content you already have (if you have an existing website) or how much you want to be able to put on the site (if it’s a new site).

You want your customers to move down the sales funnel so your layout should promote that, and your design should aim to be interesting without being over the top or slowing down page speeds.

With that in mind…

When you hire a web designer, developer or team, you’re hiring their expertise as well as their skills. You might be able to reel off a list of 100 things you want to feature on your home page but in reality, this would be quantity over quality, and a good web developer will tell you when something is too much.

Clarity and simplicity are key, so be prepared to compromise a little to make sure your vision is still user-friendly!

Every single business with a brand image and a website has gone through some elements of UX and UI. In order to build a successful brand your customers love and respect, the image and interface must be optimised for your audience. Invest in UX and UI for your website today, or contact the experts at Welford to learn more.