The Fundamentals of UX Design

User experience design, or UX design, is an umbrella term for processes and strategies that focus on user satisfaction, and the methods that work toward achieving this. It is used to improve customer satisfaction and puts the user at the forefront of the equation. It aims to understand the user’s objectives, needs and meet them when developing the product or service. Now that we’ve gotten the “What is UX design?” question out of the way, let’s get into how to implement it.

UX Design Principles

Many still think of the vague idea of pleasing consumers when they think of UX design implementation. However, the fundamentals of UX design boil down to some basic principles which can be applied to most situations to ensure success.

User-Centric

The most important principle to keep in mind is that the design process is to benefit the users, and not yourself (You ≠ User). In order to do this, one has to put themselves into the users’ shoes and rely on data from user interviews and user testing to inform their decisions.

Hierarchy

Hierarchy is the key to smooth navigation and comes into play in two main areas – content hierarchy and visual hierarchy.

Content Hierarchy

This is seen in navigation, with categories and sub-categories of information and content. The primary navigation menu is the uppermost level of the hierarchy with secondary menus being lower levels.

Visual Hierarchy

On the website itself, there is a clear visual hierarchy that can be seen in terms of font size, colors, etc. For example, important content such as headings are usually in a larger size, bolded or italicized, and less important content such as body text is in a smaller font. Links to different pages may be in different colors. CTA buttons may be separate entities in different colors as well. These differences establish a visual hierarchy and a clear structure to follow.

Take, for example, this blog post – the heading “Hierarchy” is divided into two sub-headings, “Content Hierarchy” and “Visual Hierarchy.” The heading is much different from the two-subheadings, showing that it is distinct from the two sub-headings. The two sub-headings are in the same style, grouping them together. These changes in layout guide the user.

Another example is alignment. If all the text on your page is left-aligned and your CTA is centralized, it will stand out. Similarly, bright colors stand out and attract more attention, and larger fonts are more prominent.

Consistency

Consistency across platforms helps consumers since they depend on products to be similar. By following a specific pattern, you will allow users to pick up on familiarity, which will then allow for ease of use. This can be achieved through using specific design languages, familiar icons, type systems, and more.

Accessibility

In order to ensure the best possible user experience, a product or service has to be accessible to all. Designing with this consideration in mind will enhance UX and include those with disabilities. Closed captions on videos, for example, can be used to help deaf users, while audio narration can be used to help those who are blind. Those who are visually impaired but not completely blind may benefit from contrasting colors (text and background) or the option for a larger font.

This not only includes everyone but shows consumers that you care about their individual needs, increasing goodwill and putting the halo effect into action.

Language & Clarity

Instead of using technical jargon, it is best to use simple and clear language that users can understand without difficulty. Short sentences and paragraphs should also be used to increase readability since large chunks of texts are unappealing to users.

Clarity is also essential in UX design when it comes to CTAs – instead of asking “Do you want to return to this page in the future?”, it would be better to use “Save for future use.” It is best to use simplistic terms since confusion can increase bounce rates.

User Control

User experience – the user is right there in the name. Good UX design principles involve giving users control over their actions. Instead of them feeling helpless or frustrated, they are given the option to undo mistakes such as accidentally leaving a webpage. Another important example includes offering a play button instead of auto-playing videos.

Confirmation

Users are human and can make mistakes. A well-thought-out UX design ensures that does not result in frustration by giving users the option to cancel mistakes or retrieve lost information. Confirmation is especially important in cases of unintended payment, which may ruin the user experience and cause them to avoid future visits. Confirmation also allows users to reconsider deleting important information such as a form that is already filled out or items that have been added to their baskets.

UX Design & Digital Marketing

UX Design is integral to digital marketing. A study by Forrester showed that UX design can result in the conversion rate increased by 400%. It does so in a number of ways, such as connecting with customers and improving branding. Benefits of UX design on marketing include the following:

Lower Bounce Rate

Keywords can only do so much. They can increase traffic but bounce rates can still remain high. It is only with UX design that users want to stay on your webpage, which increases the likelihood of conversion.

Higher ROI

Investing in UX design encourages users to support you. Marketing isn’t effective unless the audience is drawn in, and UX design does exactly that.

Branding & Visibility

UX design increases brand relevance which increases its following. The more effectively a brand caters to its users, the more users will flock to them. Sharing and linking also increase, promoting the brand even more, and recruiting additional views.

Sales Conversion

Since UX designs focus on improving the audience’s experience, they are more likely to convert to sales. UX design focuses on making website landing pages more attractive to consumers, with inclusions such as visual interest (through videos and images). Since users stay on the page longer, they come across more CTA buttons and are more likely to convert.

SEO

UX design caters to the needs of the user and SEO provides users with the information they are searching for. UX design improves SEO since it uses strategies that make websites more appealing to not only users but also search engines. This includes page speed, mobile-friendliness, content readability, and images. The principles of UX, therefore, inherently improve SEO.

Since UX design is such a huge part of digital marketing, it needs to be focused on as much as SEO and other aspects are. However, sometimes businesses just don’t have enough human-power or time to handle everything themselves, and have to outsource some of the work – that’s where I come in.

If you’re interested in discussing this more or any other topics on digital marketing, feel free to contact me to keep the conversation going!