What Is Bad UX & How To Fix It On Websites?

This article was originally shared on - https://www.yujdesigns.com/what-is-bad-ux-how-to-fix-it-on-websites/

What is User Experience?

The User Experience term has gained enough traction in the business world. This is a good time to clear any misconceptions about User Experience of a website and its effects on the business returns. Before we dive into the good and the bad side of the website experience, let us revisit what is user experience. Experiences are those that usually revolve around what we expect from the environment that we’re in. If you are looking at a website, you will have certain needs and expectations from the website. You will want the website to answer some of the questions you have, gain information about the company, their work, or take a look at the available options to buy from etc.

Websites can be of different natures. E-commerce, corporate websites, websites for services and for a series of products, personal branding etc. Each website offers you a different ecosystem. Designing User Experience for these websites means designing UX for these respective ecosystems. Starting with understanding the users’ expectations and needs in that environment are important. If the businesses communicate and promote their offerings to the end users in the language they understand and can thrive on it, it is called good UX design. If and when there’s a gap in alignment of the design decisions to the business goals, that leads to bad UX.

How to identify or measure if your website has bad UX

There are mixed approaches that one can opt for. To name a few - quantitative approach, qualitative approach and data analytics.

The Quantitative Approach + Data Analytics:

Data analytics, which can answer questions like which are the pages that people visit often? And spend more time on? Which functions are being used more? What is the bounce rate? And quantitative research that provides information about traffic sources, website visitors’ demographics etc.

The Qualitative Research:

Through this approach it becomes easier to understand the mental model of the user. This method helps us understand the psychodynamics of the end users. Their expectations, needs, their preferences, likes, dislikes and their frustration points. This data helps us pre-empt the behaviour of the user and design an experience in a more efficient way.

These research methodologies together, can help you in determining whether the UX of your website is Good or Bad. An amalgamation of both research styles is important to build a strong design strategy to bring good UX to the end users. Good UX in turn, means good ROI for the business. Needless to say, Bad UX has its negative effect on the business growth. This research should be done periodically, at least quarterly, to stay relevant with the changing markets.

How to fix bad UX

1. Understand the reasons behind bad UX
2. Employ user centric design methodology to understand the stakeholders’ vision. Derive design goals from the above data.
3. Help the customers understand the concept of users possessing a specific mental model. e.g.- A hospital as per their goals and ambitions will have a different set of users on their website.
4. Understand user goals. Their expectations from a website like this. Become mediators between the business needs and the user needs.
5. Test the designs. Make formative corrections.

Make the most of this process, periodically. As it happens, many times the vision of the business stays the same but the market conditions change. This approach is important in keeping up with the changing factors and still deliver a good user experience.

Common UX mistakes a company makes while developing their website

1. Designs that do not reflect the business vision
2. Not establishing a process and science behind the design efforts
3. To fail to provide the information users are looking for
4. User-hostile messages that take over users’ screens
5. Lack of consistency in terms of design language
6. Lack of ease of use

These are some of the most common mistakes. It is highly important to understand that the fundamental goal of UX design is to help manifest the business goals.

About:
YUJ Designs is one of the best UX Design company in India providing consultancy as well as end-to-end solutions to B2B & B2C Fortune 500 enterprises

How old is User Experience?

This article was originally shared on — https://www.yujdesigns.com/ux-design-history/

Today, life without technology is unimaginable. High penetration of internet across various sections of society has made platforms like WhatsApp, WeChat and Instagram popular. Why do we love these platforms? It is because designers have taken efforts to make them user centric.

User Experience Design (UXD or UED) encompasses the science leading to the improvement of interaction between the user and object. This term was introduced by Donald Norman in 1993. He further explains UXD in his books ‘The Design of Everyday Things’ and ‘Emotional Design’. But, UXD is not a recent phenomenon; its references can be found in history right from the Renaissance.

Renaissance:
The Duke of Milan asked Leonardo Da Vinci to design his kitchen. His innovative ideas to make a modern kitchen ended into Shakespearean comedy of errors, since the people using the kitchen couldn’t adapt to it. Da Vinci’s kitchen was a disaster but, is one of the oldest example of UX and a reminder that a pre-requisite for excellent UX is designing for the user.

Henry Dreyfuss:
Henry Dreyfuss in his book ‘Designing for People’ explains how products should be designed in business savvy and user-centric manner. The designer should be involved in the entire process of production to ensure that the interface between the user and product is enjoyable and comfortable. Way back in 1936 Henry Dreyfuss designed the model 302, a landline telephone and it looked something like this:

Walt Disney
Walt Disney was well ahead of his time. With Disney Park he created a place, which immersed the audience in an extraordinary experience. He coined it as experimental prototype; a place that was changing continuously to incorporate the latest technology to improve the experience of people visiting it. Walt Disney’s goal was to entertain and bring joy to visitors. Everyone working there was trained how to treat customers right to the minutest actions like smiling or waving. Thus, people still love and are drawn to Disney Park.

Don Norman
Donald Norman believes there are three levels of human mind that design needs to address.

Visceral level is the subconscious level and responds to visual appeal of the object. The other level is the behavioral level. It is about feeling in control, understanding the use of objects, feel and heft. Reflective level questions our actions by playing on our superego, which questions every decision we make because it is more concerned about the image that we project.

So a designer has to think about all these levels and how the user’s mind will interplay at each level.

Apple products:
Apple has a clear understanding of UX design. With iPad and iBooks, you have a unique UX. Apple takes special care to study the interaction between users and the product. Thus, you just don’t have to learn or remember how to use their products. That is why people swear by Apple products.

User Experience dates back in the civilization of mankind and is not a recent phenomenon. This journey of UX continues as we get into the details of understanding cognition, emotion and ergonomics for designing simple products that makes our life comfortable.

About:
YUJ Designs is one of the top UX Design company in India providing consultancy as well as end-to-end solutions to B2B & B2C Fortune 500 enterprises