User Experience Design (or UX Design) is the process of enhancing user satisfaction by improving the usability, accessibility, and efficiency of user interaction with websites. That is what I was taught in my design school but when I started working at Inbound Mantra my opinion completely changed. As a UI & UX designer, my job is to make complex SaaS websites easier to understand by making it interactive and user-friendly. It was after I started working that I realized UX Website Design has a lot more to it. The designing & development team at our workplace is focused towards enhancing the visual details, which mostly include the functional elements.
The user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design play a crucial role in the success of a website or app. If users can’t find what they’re looking for at your website, they’re likely to go elsewhere. This article takes you through the tips to keep in mind when designing your website. The UX industry places an enormous emphasis on usability. User stories, sitemaps, wireframes, and usability testing get all the limelight—while visual design fades into obscurity. But in my experience, design plays an important role to enhance your website.With all that in mind, here are Tips for UX Design that you can use to improve user interaction with a better visual design.
1. Flow
- Always have an obvious way to access the navigation menu on your website. 
- Consistent and easy-to-use web interfaces help users concentrate on the content and move through it. 
- Use common website patterns and interfaces; don’t make users learn something new, this will leave them confused. 
2. Scrolling
- Users will scroll down the webpage as long as it is clear that additional, relevant information is below the fold. 
- The longer the website page, the less likely someone is to scroll down to the bottom.
- Running web pages are nice because scrolling is faster than clicking – just don’t make the pages too long. 
3. Contrast & Color
- Be aware of the contrast on mobile websites. Screen glare can render your website unusable. 
- Reserve one color for CTAs on your website and don’t use it for anything else. 
- Warm, bright colors come forward and cold, dark colors stay in the background. 
4. Loading
- Make sure website users can complete their primary goal quickly and easily. 
- What matters the most to users is that your website feels fast (even if it is just their perception). 
- Perception of website speed is based on load time, load behavior, waiting for times and smoothness of animations.
5. Mobile
- Mobile interface elements are hard to tap accurately if they are small or close together. 
- The minimum size for a touch target on mobiles should be 1cm x 1cm with proper padding. 
- Someone using a pinky finger on your mobile website or app means that the interface targets are too small. 
6. Navigation
- Always have an obvious way to access the navigation menu on your website.
- If your website hierarchy is greater than 3-4 levels deep, it’s time to redesign. 
- Consider using sticky menus, especially on long web pages or when quick access is needed. 
7. Forms
- Align form labels and fields in a single vertical line to allow for fast scanning.
- Field labels should be outside the text field, not inside, so users do not lose track of them. 
- Split up sections with separators to make long web forms more user-friendly. 
8. Links
- Links on the website must stand out – use blue text and/or underline to indicate hyperlinks. 
- Links should always look like links. 
- A user shouldn’t have to click on a link to figure out where it leads, the link text should tell them. 
9. Buttons
- Buttons on websites must look clickable and have enough space for users to click or tap comfortably. 
- Frequent actions on websites or apps should be large buttons, placed in easily reachable zones. 
- Background colors, borders and action-oriented labels on a web site signal to users that an element is clickable. 
10. Icons
- Icons must visually describe their function and purpose. Make them simple, familiar and meaningful. 
- Icons should only be used when necessary, avoid overusing them and do not use them simply for decoration. 
- Simple, obvious Icons are better than complex icons.
11. Content
- The most important information on your webpage should always stand out as the most visually prominent. 
- Put key information first, users start at the top left and the first 2-3 words are scanned the most.
- Place high-priority content at the top of the website page. Use analytics to determine priorities for different devices. 
12. Readability
- Most users scan first and read later. Use visual variety and meaningful text to make scanning easier. 
- Readability isn’t just about whether you can read something – it’s also about whether you want to read it. 
- Use increased line spacing between bulleted lists, numbered lists, lines, and paragraphs to increase readability. 
These were the UX Design Tips which I think are really important but are occasionally forgotten. If you think that I missed any, drop your message in the comment section.
