When developing your website, it’s key to consider your users and how they interact, navigate and make decisions.
This is called User Interface (UI) design and it refers to the relationship between people and the system. Most users may not even notice the UI of a design until it’s not working for them. Poor UI design can cause problems while good UI design is almost invisible. If done right, users are able to navigate your website with no confusion, getting the information they need without interruption.
UI Design can improve your customer’s experience with your brand, meaning your audience is able to clearly see what your services are. Your website should draw your visitor’s attention and keep them on your site longer. UI design is important as it can make or break your customer base – if they can’t find the information they’re after, they’ll leave and go to a competitor. So what makes good UI design? Here are some key golden rules to follow.
1. Keep it simple
Stay away from complex designs that can take multiple steps and screens to get to what the users are looking for. Be sure to keep your pages organised in a logical format that allows for an efficient user experience. Keep in mind the ‘three click rule’: users should be able to achieve any action or access any information they require by clicking no more than three times from anywhere within the website.
2. Predict and preempt
Before you get started with design, make sure you fully understand your audience and their needs. Once you know your user, you can predict what they’ll want to do next. You want to ensure you’re providing users with everything that they need.
3. Consistency
Simply being consistent is incredibly important with UI design, not just as a brand but also with industry standards. For instance, your visuals may include underlining parts of titles or text but for web, this would be expected to be a link that takes you elsewhere. If you’re not doing what users expect, it will often just confuse them.
4. Prioritise Functions
By creating a clear hierarchy you can streamline your UI and ensure that everything is essential to the user experience. You can achieve this by simply changing the size of buttons, text, or other elements.