UX and UI Designers Need to Strike a Balance Between Delightful and Dangerous Designs By Tory Darling, Codal Inc
______________________________________________________ The development of websites and apps has significantly improved in the recent years. Mobile application development agencies and web development services continue to compete in the digital sphere to have the most innovative and beautiful design. Although this trend towards creating a “delightful design” has been primarily focused on the aesthetics of the web page or app screen, rather than the entire experience of the user. In order to truly provide the user with a delightful experience, constant user experience research need to be implemented to ensure the visual look is also successful in its functionality. Make Sure the Details Have a Purpose Adding small details to a website or app can really add to the brand personality of the design. More importantly, these slight details can also help your website stand out and incorporate an element uniqueness to the site. That is if these details are done in a way to have the user in mind. Often when UI designers decide to include these unnecessary or poorly designed details, they are not asking themself the fundamental design question “Will this improve the overall user experience?” Functionality and user experience need to be at the core of every addition to the site, regardless of how “pretty” the button makes the page look. Delightful Design’s Definition is Always Changing Part of what makes a design delightful is that is new and innovative. As a result of this aspect, it also indicates that the it design of today, will soon be the forgotten design of tomorrow. Thus, the websites that stay on top of the latest trends are the ones with a strong UX background. Unlike design, what will not continue to change at such a rapid pace is the process of user experience. That is not to say the user will not continue to expect more, because they will, but their overall ability to navigate a webpage or app will remain relatively stagnant. UX and UI designers need to work in a way that first establishes a plan for a
providing an exceptional user experience, and then implementing the latest trends with that plan in mind. “Delightful” Does Not Have a Universal Understanding Preferences to design is one of many variables and subjectivity. One UI designer may find a homepage to be simple, unique, and interactive whereas a user may find the same design to be complex, confusing and frustrating. If this is the general consensus of your web page by your users, than it does not matter how innovative or delightful the design is. Knowing full well the diversity of those who can potentially user your site or app, it is critical for the success to undergo extensive user experience research. This research will be able to provide the evidence you need move forward with some aspects of design and omitting others. Conclusion UX and UI designers need to work hand and hand when developing a website or mobile application. More importantly, they need to constantly keep the user in mind when designing and developing any aspect of the site, regardless of the significance. The last thing you want is to lose a conversion because a simple button or homepage layout was poorly designed for the user. Looking for more insight on UX design services? Visit Codal’s blog, or come talk to us here! We’d love to hear from you.
Codal Inc App Development & UX Design Agency www.codal.com