Quite just lately, I visited an internet site that I would not like to say right here for apparent causes. The reality is was merely shocked by the graphics and determined to test it out additional. But after about 10 minutes of shopping by way of the positioning, I used to be on the verge of pulling my hair out. The person interface was so poor that I could not discover my approach by it.
Considering that I’ve been utilizing the web since 1999 and have seen many Interface I rated it as the most effective when it comes to graphics however one of many worst when it comes to person interface design. Also, now that we’re utilizing internet 2.0, person interface design turns into all the additional necessary.
So how do you make your current person interface extra fascinating? Or how do you utilize the most effective person interface strategies?
Easy to Use
No matter how enticing the graphics in your web site may be, the person will merely shut it whether it is too cumbersome to make use of. A effectively designed web site with a top quality person interface merely flows when it comes to content material and hyperlinks. Nothing appears misplaced or compelled into view. You might need the most effective options however I place ease of use over the whole lot else. Why is Google one of many high search engines like google in the present day? Because it locations ease of use over the whole lot else. It’s easy actually.
Design
Once you’ve got accomplished the benefit of use half, then the design side comes subsequent. 92% web sites on the web will be simply categorized into one specific class on the idea of their design as a result of someplace down the road, they use the identical design strategies.
Try and get into the remaining 5% and you’ll have gained half the battle. Always hold the highest person and the fundamentals of design in thoughts. You can not design a company web site like a Las Vegas Casino. It has to observe the principles
1) Simplicity
Great user interfaces tend to be nearly invisible. They are not made up of gaudy adornments or unnecessary elements. A quality user interface is made up of necessary elements that are logical and concise. While you are working on the design of your interface, ask yourself “Does the user really need this to compete their task?” before adding features and content. Limit your interface to the items that are essential for the user. Don’t add items just to feed your ego, but rather, focus on the quality of the user experience.
2) Clarity
Clarity is one of the most important attributes of any user interface. Keep in mind that your user interface exists for the sole purpose of facilitating users interacting with your system. To do this it must clearly communicate with users. If users can’t figure out how to use your interface easily they will become frustrated and abandon the experience.
To help improve clarity, create clear and concise labels for buttons and actions. You want to hold your messaging simple to improve the experience as well. The easier your labels, navigation and content is to read, the easier it’s for users to understand what to do.
3) Consistency
With your user interface, you will want to maintain consistency throughout the entire experience. Consistent interfaces will allow your users to rely on and develop usage patterns that will improve the experience. People crave consistency and you should give your users the opportunity to be proven correct when they rely on it.
They want an experience where if they learn to do something, they will be able to rely on it working the same way on other screens. Maintain language, layout and design throughout your interface. By doing so you make it easier on your users to understand how things will work, increase their efficiency and improve the user experience.
4) Familiarity
One of the goals of UX design is to make an interface intuitive for users. Let’s consider what intuitive means when it comes to user interfaces, if your interface is intuitive, it can be naturally understood by users. To do this, it is important that you leverage familiarity in your design.
Your interface will feel familiar if users don’t have to think how to use it because they already understand it. When users are familiar with something, they know what to expect and don’t have to think about what to do. Because of this, work to identify areas of your design where you can leverage familiarity to make interacting with your system easier for your users. A current example of this would be the hamburger icon seen on so many apps these days. Any time you see this icon you instantly know where the menu is and you don’t have to cease and look for the menu and think about what you are supposed to do. It comes naturally because you are familiar with this icon.
5) Visual Hierarchy
One attribute that is often missed but is important to a quality UI is designing your interface so that it allows users to focus on what is important. If you try to make everything look important you just create information overload and reduce the quality of the user experience. The contrast between the different sizes, colors and placements of elements should work together to give a clear understanding of your interface and what a user should do. A well designed visual hierarchy reduces the appearance of complexity and helps users accomplish their tasks.
6) Efficiency
Your user interface is how a user will get to where they want to go and do what they want to do. A quality user interface allows users to perform tasks with speed and ease, in other words, it operates with efficiency. One of the best ways to improve the efficiency of your interface is thru task analysis.
To perform a task analysis, consider the activities and tasks users are most likely to perform and then streamline the process to make each as quick and easy as possible for users. Consider carefully what functions it needs and what goals users try to achieve. Rather than just creating a list of where users can navigate, consider what your users are going to want to do and help facilitate those activities through your design.
7) Responsiveness
When it comes to the responsiveness of an interface, you should consider a couple different forms of responsiveness. To begin with, a responsive interface is fast. You want your interface, and the system behind it, to work fast. Users easily become frustrated having to wait for a web site to load for instance.
In fact, these days if your web site hasn’t loaded in three seconds you will start losing guests quickly as they just begin hitting the back arrow on their browser.
Additionally, when you think about responsiveness you should also think about your interface responding to users. Your person interface ought to present suggestions to the customers. Let your users know what is happening and that their effort to engage with the interface has been understood. For instance, create a response to let them know they have pushed a button successfully or create a progress bar to let users know the next display is loading so they don’t assume it’s stuck. These types of suggestions improve the user experience and reduce errors.
