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UI and UX are important in website design, especially in creating a website that will appeal to your target audience. Being able to choose the right design elements will enhance the UI for your website.
Before we delve into the UI elements that will help enhance your website, however, let’s start with defining these two concepts, because people tend to use the two terms interchangeably when they’re actually two different things.
UX refers to user experience and the tasks associated with it tends to be more technical in nature. An example of UX design is Amazon’s one-click feature. This feature helps customer order and pay for an item at the click of a button.
UI is an acronym of user interface and it has more to do with the visual design of a website. UI design is very much the visual aspect, it’s how the visitor or customer reacts to any visuals you may have on your website or application.
In this article, however, we will be focusing on the UI Design side of web design.
There are multiple elements that we need to take into account when developing a website. This is especially so when the website in question is tailored for a specific market. Utilizing design thinking methodology will help create a website with UI and UX design with your target market in mind.
Some of those design aspects include the following:
Selecting the right typeface for your website is an important decision—it needs to invite a visitor to read your content. Don’t choose a typeface that’s difficult to read or too small. That would only serve to increase your website’s bounce rate.
There are several things you should consider when you choose the right font for your website:
Finding the right colour to entice your target market to your website is crucial—colors that are too bright may cause older customers to abandon their purchase whereas a website with colors deemed unenticing or boring may cause others to leave your site.
Studies have found that color can be an important deciding factor in a purchase decision. In fact, in one study, 85% of shoppers surveyed stated that color was the primary reason why they purchased a product.
Along with individual color preferences, however, there is also the psychology behind each color.
For example, research conducted by the University of Florida also found that consumers are more likely to pay attention to red labels than blue labels. The color red draws our attention, which is why banners for breaking news are red and why red is used for warning signs.
The most popular color for branding, however, is blue. This is due to the fact that the color blue conveys trustworthiness, safety, and sophistication, among other things. And that’s precisely why approximately half of Fortune 500 companies have blue in their logo and why most financial institutions have blue logos.
There must be a reason for the use of an image in your website. Whether it’s on your services page or your blog post, make sure that the image you’ve chosen adds something to the content. An image that is irrelevant to the content would not be adding value to your design and has no reason to be there.
Also, keep in mind to limit images unless it’s for your product page, for example. Having an image-heavy website will mean that it may be too heavy to load on slower connections or on mobile.
Utilize appropriate imagery for the right target market. A website for a product aimed at the college-age demographic should probably not have images of middle-aged people, for example.
Placement of the image is also important—this is due to the fact that there’s a specific order that we tend to read something. Whenever we look at a page, our eyes tend to be directed first to the image. Research also found that a headline that is placed under an image is likelier to be read than one placed above it.
Animation can serve many purposes—whether it’s to direct your visitor’s attention to a button, to reveal information on hovering over an image, or even to let them know that they’ve made an error in filling in a form.
However, like the rest of the items on this list, you need to be aware of how you use animation on your website.
There are factors that need to be considered. The speed of your animation, for example. If the animation is too fast, it may jar the visitor’s attention. It also shouldn’t be too slow—a visitor’s patience is hardly finite.
According to Val Head, an expert in UI/UX animation, between 200ms and 500ms is ideal for animation speed. However, you also need to take into account the device that your visitor is using. While Val Head’s animation speed may be ideal for desktop users, mobile and tablet users’ ideal speed may actually be faster.
Are you thinking of a website revamp? Or perhaps you’re looking to build a landing page for a new product or campaign? Here at Crubiks, we offer services in website design and development. By utilizing the Design Thinking methodology, we make sure that our UI design would entice your target market to stay on your website and to increase your chances for a conversion. You can read more about Design Thinking on our blog. For more information about our website design and development services, please contact us.