Guide to Create Modern Website with Topnotch UX Design
This is the era of sophisticated technology advancement and extreme competition. Almost every business market is becoming more and more competitive and it is critical to have the online presence through a website. But, it is not enough to have a website because the website should be able to attract and engage maximum people through its design, content, and user interface. A website should be designed while keeping the user experience in mind. No matter how much aesthetically beautiful your website is and how much technique you have used in designing it, if your end user is not happy while browsing through it, then you actually achieve nothing. So, make the needs of your user your priority so that your brand gets its return in the best way.
The Most Popular UX Designs Trending
The functionality of website is one thing but it should also be user-friendly in several terms. The design of a website should be easy to use, understand, and memorize to improve the user experience. There is not one design which can provide the best user experience. The best design depends on the nature of the website, its usage, and targeted audience. When it comes to UX design, change is the main factor. Most of the designs keep on evolving while others go into the background and new ones take their place. So, when it comes to those designs which ultimately stay there, the reason is simple – those designs are popular among both the developers and the end users. They provide a good browsing experience and generate revenues for the businesses and the brands.
How to Create the Best UX Design for an Awesome Website
The best UX design is created when you are clear about what kind of features you want to provide your clients with. Complexity is not appreciated these days. People are really busy and they want to browse through such websites which provide them with instant results. So, no matter what your industry is, you need to keep the following points in your mind:
Go for a Responsive Website
Your website should be responsive. Just like I have mentioned above, the end users are extremely busy and want the websites to load as soon as possible. So, if your website has a longer loading time, then no matter how excellent your services are, you are bound to lose some prospective clients.
A responsive website gets your more customers and thus generates in more revenue as well. The more responsive a website is, the more traffic is automatically diverted to it. If you are still confused about what a responsive website is, then you can understand it by the fact that it is designed in such a way that any screen of any size can accommodate it. The text size, the font used and the various columns and rows should fix automatically on a computer screen as well as a mobile device. Let’s have an elaborated look on why a responsive website is the most important part of a UX design.
It is Ideal for Users who Go For Multiple Devices
If you have a loyal customer then chances are that he revisits your site many times a day. It is obviously an awesome thing for your business. But the catch is that the same customer may access the same website through different devices. It can be anything from a laptop computer to an android device. So, if the customer does not find the same thing when switching to another device, then you are actually in for a big loss. This is why the website features should be the same on the desktop as well as the mobile version. You don’t want your customers to go away and shop from your competitors just because their website is highly responsive.
One Website is Easy to Manage
So, if you have designed two different websites for your desktop and mobile users, you have actually doubled your work load. You have to upgrade two websites simultaneously. If one item is out of stock, you have to point it out on two different platforms. You actually go through a lot of hassle doing just that. Plus, the cost which you have to pay to the developers for not just developing two websites having the same stuff and upgrading them constantly is not suitable for your budget. So, this is why you need a responsive website to reduce the workload and to make sure that the updates are uniform throughout. Managing one website is also easy and you know that you are doing your best and not forgetting to bring the changes on the other website. You have a centralized methodology for all the devices, and your users also know that the same products and services are being provided to them irrespective of whichever device they sign in from.
Your SEO Ranking Improves Manifold
Your SEO ranking determines how much traffic is diverted to your website. Whenever a user searches for a specific product or a website, Google automatically puts up a “Mobile Friendly” mark on the highly responsive websites. While it is a relatively latest trend, yet Google is all set to take it further ahead in determining the rankings of mobile friendly websites. So, responsive web designing is definitely a vital factor for effective Search Engine Optimization.
Future Prospects
Technology is evolving almost on a daily basis. New mobile devices are emerging, and the internet is literally in the palms of everyone. Having a responsive website means you are running along with the changing technology instead of behind it. This also ensures that you can easily incorporate any further changes in website designing easily into your website.
Deliver the Message Effectively
The copy of your website should be concise and clear. Nobody wants to read long and repetitive sentences. Convey your message in short lines by using simple words. While developing the copy is not a designer’s job, you have to make sure that the font which you use is clear, eligible and easy to read. Your web design should support the content of multiple formats because a website only with text is not going to engage people. The website should have images and videos to ensure that people spend some time of your website. The content that you want to highlight should be at the top and center of the web page because people concentrate on the center of the screen. The borders should only have lists and ads. It is very old design trend but it is very effective especially for the ecommerce website. You every web page should have a call to action message but you have to present it in an elegant way. Over stressing the call-to-action message usually frustrate users. Your call-to-action buttons should be attractive having some catchy messages written on them. Remember that most of the times users are compelled to further explore your website if you have a creative call-to-action button. You have to really give an incentive to your prospective customer to further click on the website.
Think Out of the Box When it Comes to Scrolling
Obviously, everyone has to scroll through a website there was a time when scrolling down was the most popular option given by the web developers. However nowadays, scrolling across is also getting popular. However, whether you opt for a vertical or a horizontal scroll depends entirely on what your brand is all about. You can use panorama images with horizontal scrolling option which will give your website a unique look. You don’t need to use this type of scrolling for all pages. You can start it from the home page only. Initially, this was not considered as good design because computer mouse doesn’t offer scrolling wheel for horizontal scrolling but now most people use laptops which offer easy swipe options for both vertical and horizontal scrolling. Therefore horizontal scrolling is trending and this trend is going to stay.
Be Interactive
Interaction is the entire norm these days. You have to interact with your customers as much as possible. So, if your customer has clicked on another link on your website, you should interact by showing that the page is getting loaded. The live chat feature is one of the best features in modern websites. It allows users to clear their queries instantly but the efficiency of this feature depends on the effectiveness of customer support department of the company. If they don’t respond to users’ live questions then there is no point in adding this feature. Therefore, it is important to have vigilant customer support department before adding this feature in the UX design of the website otherwise it is recommended to avoid it. There are lots of companies out there which are getting immense benefit from this design feature. Snapchat is effectively running this digital strategy and many other corporate brands are following in its footsteps. When you interact with the user, he knows that the website is working and there is no problem with their mobile device or computer.
Use Multimedia Carefully
If you are planning to add an audio or a video to your website, then think twice before doing that. This is because multimedia content tends to slow the loading time and can actually divert the potential customers from the website as well. If adding a multimedia content cannot be avoided, then make sure that you do not add an audio or video that gets played automatically. You also need to test your content multiple times before uploading on the website. If you observe the design of extremely popular website like amazon.com and alibaba.com, you will find out that they don’t use videos and audios too much. Amazon is now using moving images (GIFs) to promote some of its products. This type of multimedia is small in size, easy to load, and engaging, therefore, professional websites preferring to use GIFs. The loading time of web page is very important but it is also important to provide comprehensive information to users. One way to solve this dilemma is to use hanging videos and audios. It means the audio and video file will be displayed on the web page but they will not be load unless the user clicks on them. It will keep the speed of the website fairly high while providing detailed information to users. YouTube is using this technique but it also has super fast dedicated server and every business can’t afford them.
The Desktop and the Mobile Version Should be the Same
Consistency is one of the primary requirements of effective UX design. The design should not be consistent for one device but also consistent across different devices. Multinational companies consider their web design as their brand image. They keep the main theme of their design similar for all versions of the website and mobile applications. Therefore, the mobile version of your website should be the mirror image of the desktop version. Remember that your priority is to provide an excellent experience to your user. So, if your website tends to differ on a mobile device, there is a high chance that your user may find it all to be in a bad taste. A mobile website having as many similar features as possible provides an awesome user experience, and they actually enjoy browsing through the website. It means you have to consider the design of the website for mobile too while designing the website for the desktop. Don’t include those features and segments in the desktop version that you can’t replicate on the mobile version. A knowledgeable designer can make fancy web design but a professional designer is the one which keeps synchronization and compatibility issues in mind. It will also reduce the cost of website development of different versions of your website for different devices.
Focus on Thumbnails
There was a time when thumbnails were not as important as they are today. We owe all this importance of thumbnails to the invention of smart phones. Your thumbnails should be attractive and creatively designed. Remember that your mobile device user interacts with your website by touching the screen. This is why your thumbnails should be interactive and should let the web page load easily. Thumbnail is one of the best ways to give an idea about the content. The importance of this feature is social media websites and forums which involve the interaction of users. We all know that we identify people in social media websites and forums through their profile picture. These websites use their profile picture as the thumbnail and display it with their name on comments sections and listings. It makes searching super easy for users. This feature is also very useful for business websites with different products and services for sale. One thumbnail is used to represent one product and service. The biggest benefit of thumbnails is that they are very small in size and they help to create visual graphics in the mind of users without increasing the loading time of the webpage.
Think From the User’s Mind
Though it may seem too unrealistic, but you are actually designing your website for the user, not for yourself. This is why; you have to understand what your user wants when it comes to browsing through a website. The “hamburger” menu is all the rage these days and is quite popular among both the designers as well as the users because of its easily recognizable design. At the end, users decide the effectiveness of the design no matter what literature and professionally designers say. If your targeted audience is not satisfied with your design and your website is not going help you in achieving your objectives. Every designer is also a user of other website and it is recommended to evaluate them from the eye of user rather than developer.
Testing
The best way to check the efficiency of user experience design is to create a test group of some common users of the internet. Ask them to use the website for 10 to 15 minutes and then ask few questions about the web design. You can select five to ten of your friends for this purpose. You can ask them about following attribute of the web design.
- Easiness
- Consistency
- Satisfaction
- Attractive
- Engaging
- Memorable
These attributes of user experience are the primary attributes that every web design must achieve in order to make the website successful.
Conclusion
The above-mentioned trends are the most popular ones and you can find them on websites with a high conversion rate. There are a lot more points you can focus upon while designing a website, however the above-mentioned points are extremely important for a great user experience. UX designing is evolving and new trends are emerging every day. For maximum outcome, keep yourself up to date with the emerging trends, and you will have a well-designed website successfully converting your traffic into revenue.