Have you been providing your customers with reliable and timeless solutions, but for some time, fewer and fewer people have been using them? Or maybe your employees unobtrusively suggest changing your company’s software to that recently launched by your competitors?
Changing completely efficient and functional software tools for new ones is certainly not a priority on your to-do list. However, there is something you can do to improve the user experience of your product or service. How do you enhance usability without drastic and costly changes? Take advantage of the proven patents of UX designers described below and provide a satisfying user interface with intuitive software solutions.
Powerful App Back End Is Not Enough
Modern digital solutions are far beyond a simple website. When you upgrade legacy tools, you must expand their back end to be much more powerful. Today, you need to process massive amounts of data quickly and seamlessly integrate with other company products, social media, and more.
However, people pay just as much attention to an inviting product design as to the speed of page loading or query processing. Studies show that overall user experience is so important that 80% of users could pay extra for good UX design. At the same time, we also know that every dollar spent on improving the user experience pays off in $100 in profit. Can you afford to let go of the 9,900% ROI?
Principles of Creating a Product with Excellent UX Design
UX won’t design itself. Fortunately, you don’t have to work blindly. UX design is based on essential principles that help you build your product according to users’ needs and expectations. Look at the paragraphs below and discover the universal fundamentals of UX design.
Define the Design Goals
What needs does your product meet? Who will use it most often? Before you create wireframes and choose colors, analyze your application’s target user group. Design principles will be different depending on product functions.
It is also essential to consider the people using your product. Will there be people with disabilities or elders? Consider additional facilities to minimize the churn of customers with potential difficulties using software solutions. According to WHO, about 16% of the world’s population has various disabilities. Ignoring their needs can significantly slow down your company’s growth.
Discover the Users’ Needs
You certainly know what solutions you like the most, but your beliefs may not always match the feelings of end users and potential customers. This is especially true when it comes to digital transformation and a drastic change from legacy analog solutions to modern software or applications.
Discovering the users’ needs has helped us succeed in digitizing the chain of medical facilities. Scalo experts and the nurses created a digital version of patient charts designed exactly like the paper ones. As a result, the transition from physical versions to the IT system was more straightforward and didn’t reduce the efficiency of the medical facility staff. You can read more about the digital transformation of documentation management in this case study.
Arrange the Elements
Want users to have easy access to the most critical information? Ensure this at the design stage. To make your app successful, you must understand how people search for information.
Once you know how people behave when seeking important info, you can create a helpful sitemap. With a sitemap, you will clearly illustrate the information architecture of your software solution. By categorizing content and grouping it into logical paths, you will reduce the time it takes to get to the essential information.
Prepare the Wireframes
You already know who will use your product, their preferences, and how you will serve the content. It’s time to prepare the prototype of the application interface that will help UX designers create the most user-friendly front-end layer.
What is a wireframe? It’s a mock-up of a website or application that includes a preliminary layout of graphic and text elements. Wireframes are usually prepared in shades of gray, with no images, animations, or colors. The initial layout concept allows you to see the shape of the idea and verify its user experience before designing the visual elements.
Adjust the Visual Layer
Although UX and UI design are usually considered in tandem, we have focused solely on UX research until now. You can move to visual design when the initial concept begins to take shape. Now is the time to choose colors, prepare graphics, plan animations, etc.
Do you want your software solution to be pretty and distinguish among competing products? Pay attention to consistency. At the wireframe stage, focus on standardizing the size and shape of buttons or icons. When preparing the UI design, choose a consistent color scheme and graphic style of distinctive elements. This approach will make your product aesthetically pleasing and give it unique features that your audience will associate with your brand.
Prototype, Test, Repeat
User experience design is the process that also involves repeated testing of assumptions and solutions. Elements that look great on mock-ups may not be practical for real users. Therefore, create prototypes and test them until you receive the best UX for your product.
Again, remind yourself of accessibility, which means adapting UX design to individuals with specific needs. Invite people with disabilities to test and see which elements should be modified to simplify the interface.
Wrapping Up
As you can see, user-centered design is about constantly contacting end users and listening to their needs. You must thoroughly test the solutions you create to eliminate any difficulties users might encounter. The more needs you meet, the fewer customers will be disappointed using your software tools.
If you don’t feel confident transforming UI and UX design in your company’s tools on your own, take advantage of the expertise and experience of the Scalo design team. Our specialists will eliminate unworkable elements in your application and make design decisions that will increase the profitability of your products. Book a consultation and see what we can do for you!
