Let’s face it, every website needs a great User Interface if it is going to succeed. Fortunately there is plenty of research on the topic, many of which we are going to cover in this blog post to give an overview of some practices which are considered best to implement.
What Is the Difference Between UI and UX?
UX means in its long form means user experience design. UI is an abbreviation for user interface design. While similar, they do have differences in their application.
A User Experience focuses on the experience side of the design. It is less focused on the actual visuals and more about the overall experience. Questions this practice are for example, how easy and enjoyable was it for the user to go from landing page to purchase?
A User Interface helps guide the user through the overall interface. This includes visual, interactive features. Think, buttons, icons, font, colors, and the responsiveness of photos and the website.
Design Tips To Keep In Mind
Consistency – Keeping fonts, colors, design standard across pages. Your website should look like one cohesive site, rather than several sites mashed into one. Make all your buttons, headlines, colors, the same across multiple pages.
Clarity – Things should make sense and be easy to understand. When designing an ordering page, help users understand where they are in the whole process. When going through a transactional website, it should be clear where in the funnel they are from: Product Page to Shopping Cart to Checkout, and Payment Page.
Keep With The Standard – If you compare a number of different websites you’ll notice some design choices are standard. Menus and search bars are at the top. Checkout is usually on the right side of the page. Privacy, Terms of Use, etc are on the bottom of the page.
Test Usability – Run some tests once you’ve create a website. Monitor how users flow through the process and see what could be improved. A/B testing is one way the designers can show two different versions of a design to see which one performs better. Monitor if there is any point with your funnel from home page to purchase that users are dropping off at.