Tuesday 31 January 2017

5 ways effective UI design promotes UX

A user experience is something that every website offers to those who visit it. However, the experience will differ from website to website in a wide variety of ways.  Some are easy to navigate, some are a joy to use, some are clunky but you can still plod your way to where you want to go, and some are so difficult to understand that you just hit the back arrow on your browser.

One of the biggest influences on user experience is the user interface—the actual design that users will interact with—there are several factors that make up an interface, such as how easy it is to navigate through a website or how easy it is to read content. Users will also form their opinions based on the website’s perceived value and usefulness. The better it helps them accomplish their goals, the more useful it will be perceived to be.

The emotions that users feel while using your website, will end up having an impact on the associated business. If users can easily find what they are looking for on the website and feel satisfied, they are more likely to purchase from it, meanwhile, if they feel frustrated or confused, it is quite likely they will move along and purchase from someone else that offers them a better user experience. Lackluster user experiences hold many businesses back from their full potential, leaving their websites underperforming, and wasting valuable advertising dollars when visitors are not converted into customers.

Below are 5 simple, but potent, ways in which clever user interface design promotes successful user experience:

1. Improving page load speed

The page load speed of your website is an extremely important element of user experience. While designers often get caught up in trying to show off their visual design skills, the truth of the matter is that website visitors generally care more about page load speed than gaudy adornments.

According to a recent study by Kissmetrics, nearly half (47%) of all consumers expect a web page to load in 2 seconds or less; if your page takes longer than that to load, it is reducing the quality of the user experience. If your page takes more than three seconds to load, you will have, on average, 40% of visitors abandon your website; that will increase by 7% for each additional second it takes your website to load. A slow website translates into lost opportunities and lost sales.

Additionally, while slow load times cut down on the number of conversions your website generates, slow load times also work to reduce the number of opportunities your website will give rise to by having a negative impact on its search engine ranking. The effect is small, but you certainly want to do everything you can to improve your website’s search engine ranking.

To help keep your pages loading in under 3 seconds, try utilizing the following tips: first, opt for a simpler design style avoiding unnecessary items and flashy decorations (in A/B tests, simpler designs generally outperform ornate designs anyway); second, optimize your images in a graphics program, you don’t want to use html to resize them; third, avoid using too many plugins, they slow down the experience for site visitors; fourth, if your site is popular, consider utilizing a content delivery network to improve server response time.

2. Leveraging white space

White space is often overlooked but it is a very important part of effective user interface design. I am sure you have been in the same situation as most designers where clients view white space as empty space and rush to fill it, thinking white space is a waste. In fact, the opposite is the case; white space is one of the most important parts of a website.

If used properly, white space can dramatically improve the user experience of a website. White space helps make a user interface easy on the eye, which helps retain visitors and keeps them reading. It does this by making content more legible. The white space around website text and images helps people improve comprehension and creates a better user experience.

White space also helps improve the appearance of your website, giving it a nice, clean professional look. White space helps reduce confusion on the part of visitors as websites lacking in white space often look disorganized. You want to create a nice balanced look for your website using white space to separate different blocks of content.

White space is also effective to highlight something important such as your call to action. The proper use of white space in your design helps guide your visitors’ attention to key parts of your website and without it, visitors may overlook important items.

A wonderful example of this is the Chanel website. It is a beautiful, clean site that uses white space well to draw your attention to key areas of the site.

3. Cutting down the amount of text

Website visitors will generally just skim your web pages looking for important keywords, significant headings, and scannable lists. Visitors are typically in a hurry to find the information they’re looking for and will skip over content that appears to be inconvenient or irrelevant. Because of this, you should understand that visitors will most likely not read your content if it is not formatted to this pattern of behavior. Avoid creating long blocks of text that appear uninviting to users wanting to quickly scan your website. When it comes to the modern web, less is definitely more.

You also want to avoid over-indulging in promotional writing, as customers will quickly see through fluff and stop reading. Having the correct tone is important. According to the Nielsen Norman Group, objective copywriting in a concise, scannable style results in 124% better usability.

When and where it is possible, utilize visuals as people tend to be better engaged by visual content. Utilize icons, attention grabbing images, video clips and infographics to help get your message across rather than relying on large blocks of text.

Bellroy illustrates this concept well on their website as they keep text down to a minimum amount and showcase their products with big, easy to view images.

4. Reducing visual clutter

Treat your website visitors’ attention as a precious resource. As visitors arrive at your website, remember that they will be quickly scanning for pertinent information and not paying full attention to everything on the page. If you clutter up your user interface, it will overload website visitors with too much information, make your website seem complicated and reduce the quality of the user experience.

Start by removing items that are not essential. By getting rid of anything that isn’t necessary to the user completing their intended actions, you will reduce the clutter and improve visitors’ ability to focus on and comprehend essential information. 

ETQ’s website shows how by eliminating clutter you are able to focus on the products themselves.

5. Providing a clear call to action

You should have a clear goal for visitors who arrive at your website. You want this to be obvious to visitors and easy for them to complete. Perhaps you want visitors to make a purchase, request a quote, or just to call you, let them know what to do to keep them moving forward after landing on your website. 

Your call to action is how you tell visitors what action they should take while on your website. We regularly see websites with no clear call to action and it is no surprise when we find out they are not performing the way their owners’ hope. Your call to action should stand out and make it easy for the visitors to take the desired action.

Before deciding on your website’s call to action it is best to understand your visitors’ reasons for coming to your website. Having a call to action that runs counter to visitors’ intentions will reduce its effectiveness. If visitors just want to make a purchase but you push them to ask for a quote it can cut down on the effectiveness of your call to action.

Dollar Shave Club’s buttons just beg to be pushed. Their website illustrates how clear calls to action can draw your attention and promote forward movement.

 

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from Webdesigner Depot http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2017/01/5-ways-effective-ui-design-promotes-ux/

Monday 30 January 2017

Essential design trends, February 2017

An interesting visual presence above the scroll is the first impression a user gets of a website. Whether that user continues to click can depend on a number of things, including imagery, readability and overall interest in the content.

This month we are looking at three trends that make a distinct first impression—dark color overlays on images, brutalism and hollow lettering styles. Here’s what’s trending in design this month:

1) Dark overlay on images

It doesn’t matter if the hero image is still or moving, a dark color overlay can help even colors in a way that makes it easier to add text and other elements to a layer on top of the image. While this might sound like a shortcut at first, there’s a lot of value in this technique.

The primary reason to opt for a color overlay is to enhance readability. Most images contain light and dark color variances, making it a challenge to add lettering that is readable on every device. Even if there’s a perfect placement for desktop wide screens, the same image and text combination may render undecipherable on a mobile screen.

That’s where a color overlay helps. The semitransparent wash of color over an image or video should amp up the contrast. Then white or light-colored lettering has a place and will remain readable.

Dark color overlays are visually interesting for other reasons as well. Don’t get stuck in the trap that dark means black or gray. A dark overlay can be any color, such as the green used by Internetum, below. A fun or unusual color choice can help draw users into the design.

A dark overlay can do one more thing: it can help camouflage an image or video that you don’t want to be at the forefront of the design. This could be because the image is a little old, a little soft in terms of composition or just one that falls a little flat. A color overlay can change the mood of the image, make it a little less prominent and help the design focus more on other content, such as text, calls to action buttons or other graphic elements.

Overlays can be really dark, such as Digital Werk or can provide a subtle darkening in the manner of Lytton Living. You know you have the right balance when you can still see the image and all layered elements are easy to read.

2. Brutalism

Ugly. Harsh. Sharp. Busy.

These are just a few of the words that some have used to describe the brutalism website design trend. But just because a designer experiments with brutalism does not mean the design is a hot mess. It’s quite the opposite.
This style employs a different style and sensibility that includes things you see and things you can’t. Ben McNicholl described it this way in a post for Envato: “’Brutalism’ comes from the French word for ‘raw,’ so keep that in mind when you’re writing your code. 
“A website doesn’t have to be a horror show of unordered images and clashing font colors; the way the code has been written is also symbolic of the style. Embedded CSS, untabbed code, HTML tables, the list goes on.”
There are enough examples of brutalism that there’s a whole website gallery devoted to these designs.  In the introduction, the website refers to brutalism in this way: “In its ruggedness and lack of concern to look comfortable or easy, brutalism can be seen as a reaction by a younger generation to the lightness, optimism and frivolity of today’s web design.”

What’s particularly interesting about brutalism is that the design looks so different from all the flat and minimal styles that have been so prevalent. If you come across one of these designs, you can’t help but stop, look and explore. Whether you think it is beautiful or ugly or something in between, that’s the ultimate goal of any website design.

3. Hollow lettering

Letters with interesting fills are beginning to pop up all over the place. What’s interesting about this trend is that it has two distinctly different looks:

  • Hollow lettering over an image or colored background, such as C&C Coffee.
  • Lettering filled with an image on a plain background, such as The London Loom, with an alternative version where you can almost see the image with a background with subtle transparency, such as My Mother Before Me.

While this trend has a lot of visual impact and is a lot of fun, it can be somewhat difficult to execute.

When it comes to hollow lettering over a photo, there aren’t always that many typeface options to choose from and designers can get stuck using the same few fonts. This is not an ideal situation for web projects at all. There’s more flexibility for non-web projects where you don’t have to worry about font integration and rendering.

When it comes to filled lettering, the trick to making it work is that the images inside letters need to be discernable. If users can’t tell what the image is, then the design won’t be effective. To help, most designers opt for thick block letters here so there is more room for images to show through. Images are often more abstract, or textiles or landscapes because the human brain tends to fill in the blanks of the image and it still works for them. It’s much more difficult to use images with faces or objects that you need to see in a certain way because they have to be positioned perfectly within characters.

Despite being somewhat challenging, both lettering styles can be visually interesting and fun to create.

Conclusion

Unlike some other trends where you can implement small changes, these three options present more of an overall style shift. Can you see yourself using any of them in future projects?
What trends are you loving (or hating) right now? I’d love to see some of the websites that you are fascinated with. Drop me a link on Twitter; I’d love to hear from you.

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from Webdesigner Depot http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2017/01/essential-design-trends-february-2017/

Sunday 29 January 2017

Popular design news of the week: January 23, 2017 – January 29, 2017

Every week users submit a lot of interesting stuff on our sister site Webdesigner News, highlighting great content from around the web that can be of interest to web designers. 

The best way to keep track of all the great stories and news being posted is simply to check out the Webdesigner News site, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the most popular designer news that we curated from the past week.

Note that this is only a very small selection of the links that were posted, so don’t miss out and subscribe to our newsletter and follow the site daily for all the news.

10 Hottest Web Design Trends You Gotta Know for 2017

 

Best Practices for Long Scrolling

 

Add Pre-Designed Buttons to your Site with Butns.css

 

Material Design – Helpful Resources, Tools and Code Snippets

 

Designers React to the Mozilla Rebrand

 

Flex your Design Muscles with these 10 Creative Exercises

 

The End of User-Friendly Design

 

This is the Guy You Have to Thank (or Blame) for Comic Sans

 

How to Spot a Design Poseur

 

How to Make your Web Text Unreadable – ColorWiki

 

Npm for Beginners: A Guide for Front-end Developers

 

Identity Design: 5 Basic Types of Logos

 

12 Inspiring Ecommerce Website Designs

 

How Intuitive Website Design is the Key to Better Conversions

 

Want to Become a Coder? Act like A coder.

 

Site Design: Upstatement

 

Making Responsive HTML Email Coding Easy with MJML

 

Every Website will Break (Eventually)

 

5 Designing Lessons You Should Learn from Milton Glaser

 

New Identity for London Symphony Orchestra

 

Quirky Font Magically Adjusts to What You’re Writing

 

Fullstory Launches Free Edition for UX Designers

 

Don’t Set Goals, Create Systems

 

What is UX Writing?

 

Creative, Win More Clients – 14 Proven Ways

 

Want more? No problem! Keep track of top design news from around the web with Webdesigner News.

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from Webdesigner Depot http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2017/01/popular-design-news-of-the-week-january-23-2017-january-29-2017/

Saturday 28 January 2017

Comics of the week #376

Every week we feature a set of comics created exclusively for WDD.

The content revolves around web design, blogging and funny situations that we encounter in our daily lives as designers.

These great cartoons are created by Jerry King, an award-winning cartoonist who’s one of the most published, prolific and versatile cartoonists in the world today.

So for a few moments, take a break from your daily routine, have a laugh and enjoy these funny cartoons.

Feel free to leave your comments and suggestions below as well as any related stories of your own…

Cheap stock art

Computer stalker

 

Photoshop workout

Can you relate to these situations? Please share your funny stories and comments below…

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from Webdesigner Depot http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2017/01/comics-of-the-week-376/

Friday 27 January 2017

9 rules effective “coming soon” pages follow

A lot of people have the misconception that they have to have a complete website in order to start building leads and actively promoting their business. The truth is, you can generate a lot of buzz about your client’s business and their website, with an effective coming soon page.

What goes into an effective coming soon page? With the right mix of elements, you can have a powerful method for jump starting the success of your client’s website, even while you are in the middle of building it.

1. Use a countdown timer (and make sure it’s accurate)

Letting visitors know that you have a set launch date builds anticipation for your client’s website launch. It also lets them know how far off they are from launch. Keeping their audience in the loop is important if you truly want a successful launch for your client.

2. Collect email addresses

Life is hectic, and especially online, we are constantly being bombarded with information, news, media, email subscriptions, and so much more. People forget things easily. If you set up a coming soon page for your client, be sure to have an email collection form, so you can send an email once the website is ready. You’d be surprised at how many people will show up after a simple email. This initial burst of traffic can make the difference between your client’s site being a success or a total flop.

3. Pre-sell their products or courses

If your client has an established audience prior to launching the site, you can use the coming soon page as a way to offer a presale or early adoption discount on their product or online course. There have been many cases where the additional revenue generated was used to finish a product or course quicker, or improve its quality. It’s important to note that in order for this to work, they should have established trust with their audience prior to attempting this.

4. Promote their social media accounts

Not only can you build their email list, but you can also build their social following using a coming soon page. You can make it a game to give visitors an incentive to follow your client on Twitter or like their Facebook page. You can do things like offer a free e-book in exchange for a follow, or you could host a giveaway, using social promotion as an entry.

5. Make sure the coming soon page reflects their brand

You can help their business build recognition early by instilling their brand throughout the page. Prominently display their logo, and design the page to reflect the personality of their brand. The coming soon page should reflect what their website is about.

6. Use simple, but concise text

Their coming soon page isn’t the place to get too wordy, but it’s a good idea to mention why visitors would want to follow them, or subscribe to an email announcement of their launch. A good example would be if they were a marketing company and their site provided free marketing materials to small businesses. They might say “Launching soon, Company XYZ: Providing Premium quality Marketing Materials to Small Business For Free, Along with free tips and Strategy guides.” Right under that would be a great place to put an email opt-in form.

7. Optimize their opt-in form

A lot of times, it’s not what you say but how you say it. This is especially true with online marketing. Instead of using the normal terminology, like “sign up” or “join now” you can switch things up to make them more inviting:

a. ‘Get access to 10,000 free marketing tips.’

Make it sound like it is a privilege to be a part of what they’re doing. Making it sound like it will benefit them makes them not want to miss out on what your client is doing.

b. ‘Join 23,000 other marketing professionals.’

Make it about inclusion. If they’re a marketing professional, they will feel the need to be a part of this, as a way of validating their own identity.

c. ‘Find out the marketing secrets real experts will never tell you.’

This is another way of making it about inclusion. It piques curiosity and generates a lot of interest. People never want to miss out on information, especially that everyone else will get to know.

8. Video is more engaging: use it when you can!

This is especially true if they’re launching their website centered around a product, service or course. A simple video showcasing their product or service, testimonials, and any other type of persuasive proof can help generate a buzz around their site before it is even built. Accompany this with the tips above, like using their coming soon page to pre-sell their products or services, and they’ll be generating revenue before their site is even finished.

Their video can also be a great way to introduce their new audience to them or their team. You can show brief interviews of each team member. Each person can give a brief bio about themselves and their special skills that they will bring to the table. It can also be a sneak preview of the types of products and services that they will be providing.

9. Provide something enticing or interesting at launch

If they use their coming soon page to gather email addresses and build a buzz around their site before it is launched, when they’re ready to launch they should do something special. Put together a valuable piece of information, a freebie, or something of value that will entice visitors to come back to their site. Then, use a well-designed email blast to everyone who signed up, letting them know they’ll get something nice for coming back to see the newly launched site—all most people need is a little incentive.

Conclusion

Your client’s new website’s coming soon page doesn’t have to be a stagnant, static page. Don’t think of their coming soon page as a placeholder, but more like a buzz-generating marketing tool that prepares their audience for the great things that are about to come from your client and their business. It’s a great way to get their audience excited about what they are doing, without being overly salesy.

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Source

from Webdesigner Depot http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2017/01/9-rules-effective-coming-soon-pages-follow/