Mastering User Experience: Best Practices in Web Design

Thanks to the ubiquity of smartphones, tablets, and computers, more and more brands are migrating their stores and services onto the web or mobile apps — if they haven’t already.

Websites are now an absolute necessity for any brand that wants to remain competitive in today’s market, and company sites themselves have to be constantly updated and reiterated to ensure the best possible performance and aesthetics.

One key aspect of web design is the User Experience (UX), which determines how positive or negative an interaction your target users will have with your web page or app.

So, how can companies ensure their websites perform well in UX terms? In this article, we will share some of our web design best practices and the essential principles of UX in web design. Read on to learn more.

The Definition of UX in Web Design

But before we consider best practices, we must first consider what exactly is meant by the term ‘UX.’

In brief, the term UX refers to the journey or interactions a user will have with an application or website. It takes into account what the user will want to achieve by visiting your page and works to make it easier for them to achieve their objective through the use of design elements such as graphics, animations, menus, font choices, typography, and other interactive cues.

An effective UX seeks to make the experience of navigating your website as seamless and intuitive as possible, as well as fostering a positive emotional and aesthetic response to your brand.

So, with all this in mind, let’s look at a few of Future Platforms’ own UX best practices.

UX Best Practices

Research Your Target Users

The first step any UX designer should undertake before revamping a site (or creating one from scratch) is to understand who the brand is attempting to target and adjust its plans accordingly.

You should aim to conduct surveys and polls of your existing user base to understand their design preferences and to identify some of their least-liked features so you’ll know what to integrate and what to disregard.

You should also strive to create user personas beforehand, breaking down the various types of site visitors you’ll expect to see and their differing needs.

Create a Wireframe

Your next objective as a designer is to build a prototype that is as detailed as possible, including wireframes, so you can ascertain how easy your new site is to navigate.

Wireframes will allow you to simulate how the site will appear visually and determine the average user journey as it flows from one element to the next.

This way, you’ll be able to gather valuable user feedback when you test these wireframes and prototypes — saving a lot of time, effort, and money in the long run.

Ensure Brand Consistency

Your website’s UX should be more than simply functional. Through aesthetics, it should promote a consistent look and feel with the rest of your brand in terms of its logos, marketing, content, and other relevant materials.

Therefore, when designing your UX, make sure that nothing about it jars with the mood, imagery, or values of the brand as a whole. Try to make sure that the website coheres with the brand at large.

Keep Website Copy Lean

There are few things more off putting to web users than lengthy infodumps and large walls of text. Obviously, all website landing pages need to utilise text to some degree, but you don’t want to overwhelm your users with too much unnecessary verbiage.

Remember, when it comes to copy, less is more. Edit your text to pair things down as much as possible and keep expository information to a minimum if you can.

Go For Minimalism

Similarly, it can be tempting to fill your website with as much content and visual elements as possible to capture users' attention. However, 'less is more' also applies to graphics, icons, and menus. You never want to overload your users.

With this in mind, try to utilise white space to draw attention to key areas of your site.

Avoid coloured backgrounds or cluttered text boxes, and ensure that any images you use are high-quality and clear. Try creating low-fidelity mockups to establish which visual elements are absolutely essential.

Make It Multiplatform

Remember that many website users will visit your site on mobile devices, such as smartphones or tablets, rather than desktops. Therefore, it's important to ensure that your design choices still work when viewed on other platforms.

Similarly, you should also work to ensure that your site performs equally well across all operating systems and web browsers since users will presumably be accessing your pages from various sources.

Future Platforms: Crafting loyalty-building digital experiences

Is your brand looking to create engaging digital experiences for users and customers? Future Platforms has even more web design best practices to share.

We boast a wealth of experience creating compelling websites for clients across various sectors, which we can share with anyone who chooses to partner with us.

We'll work alongside your designers to understand your target users and craft digital experiences that they can use easily and intuitively.

Want to know more about how Future Platforms can help you with your web design? Then contact our team today.