The importance of a great UI/UX design is not an alien concept. The whole world today is connected through the internet where an average person spends more than 3 hours online everyday accessing the services through a multitude of devices such as desktops, Smartphones, tablets and what not. With that amount of usage one can easily guesstimate the content available over the web for over a trillion users. There are over a million apps that fight for the user’s attention and what can possibly help your app stand out of hundreds and thousands is a great user experience which goes hand in hand with the UI and UX design of a web application.
Evidently, the UI and UX of an application is what grabs attention from a user and if planned and developed capably can be compelling enough to build a long term user base.
Design should enhance experience
The design of the application should be planned and developed keeping in mind the target audience and the relative user base of the application. Most of the information presented in an application surpasses the attention of the user as people tend to have a very short attention span. Therefore, gripping the minds of the audience is majorly done by the interactive design of the application. This is where UX Design comes into play connecting the people emotionally with the application. Ensure a seamless combination of text, graphics and layout along with interactive aspects.
Aim for simplicity and clarity as a first
When users visit or indulge in your application for the first time, it takes them as little as 0.5 seconds to decide whether they want to go further accessing the application or not. So, an application must be able to create an impact within that short window. Also the design must be such as to clarify the options a user is offered as users should not have to spend time thinking about what you want them to do. Simplicity is the key for an effective user interaction.
Creativity with Smartness
Innovation and thinking out of the box must surely be encouraged but random experimenting withuser experience design UI designs must be dealt with care. Given the short time window, you surely wouldn’t wish to get the users thinking hard about where the common elements are. A cutting edge yet simple navigation is essential allowing the users to look around freely while putting all the necessary controls in vicinity. Creativity in such cases must enhance usability with a proper balance.
Scrolling over Paging
Mostly users don’t go through the application or website in their first visit rather they just scan it. Therefore, info-graphics play a very vital role in establishing a strong connection with users. However, this connection soon breaks when the user has to shift to another page which takes a few seconds to load. Thus scrolling beats paging as clicks are often considered expensive in terms of the time required to refresh every page.
In the end, a nice responsive design will result in a fluidic interface for devices of various sizes and platforms. So, keep these pointers in mind before venturing on to create a masterpiece of a UI/UX Design.
