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

What makes an Ideal UX Design Company?

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

Today’s world is all about the people. We, as customers buy services, products that make a difference in our lives. An era where business leaders are investing in customer centered products rather than business centered products. UX Design companies being a major player in this transition have made a larger impact. Their design contribution has effectively facilitated channeling of the product objectives, resulting in business conversions on a much larger scale. They have practically partnered in building innovations and shaping our future.

Let’s Examine How Do We Identify An Ideal UX Design Studio.

1. The Chief
Inspiring Vision of the Future

Successful companies don’t just discover their path to success, but they succeed by exploiting the fullest potential of every opportunity and every talented resource that they have. These companies are led by visionaries, opportunists and excellent decision-makers. They envision a holistic view of the future and let data drive the decisions. At YUJ Designs, we open a two-way dialogue between the senior management and every person who represents YUJ, so that everyone can benefit from their wisdom and can share the same vision and work on it together.

2. The A Team
A Highly Motivated, Dedicated Team

82% of companies don’t believe they recruit talented resources. Out of the 18% who do, only 7% think they can retain the people.

Business leaders of top UX design companies know that talent is truly valuable and scarce. They work hard towards attracting and retaining the talent in the company. An ideal team of talented people, are an inquisitive bunch aligned with the organization on strategic agendas. Leaders, Project Managers who can make better decisions and execute clear strategies, who also use management models creating a level-playing field for all teammates. We YUJians take pride in the fact that we are an ever-evolving bunch of talented people, building a community with a purpose.

3. The Culture
An Unambiguous Environment

89% of employees at companies that support well-being initiatives are more likely to recommend their workplace to others.

Statistics like these, prove to us that a well-built company culture is an important step while seeking ubiquitous success. An inspiring studio culture sustains employee enthusiasm, which means better company performance. A culture where there is a baseline of openness, where people have freedom and take ownership of their responsibilities. Those who value learning attained through work and are united by curiosity. People who like to contribute in organizational changes. It is a matrix where every individual detail is as important as the bigger picture itself. Similarly, improving people relationships can change the company culture immensely and increase individual creativity and productivity.

It is no wonder that Amazon’s Jeff Bezos believes in seeking candidates who will positively influence the people they work with and bring a new strength to the company. This approach holds steady in our experience as well, where a balanced outlook and open communication helped us build an unambiguous culture that has fostered many accomplishments.

4. Modus Operandi
The Design Process: Backbone of Design

A well-defined design process minimizes the unnecessary explorations, wastage of time & financial resources and maximizes the work force & cumulative efforts for optimum results. In case of more dynamic projects, being able to adapt is crucial. And while staying loyal to the design process, always question the status quo. A work system where you continually evolve your design and embrace the importance of user testing. This in turn, aids the team to be timely, efficient and data driven at the same time. The Process is essential to the success, though adaptability even more so. We believe in meticulous execution of the process and design systems creating high-quality UX Designs. We are constantly working on adding value to the design system, our core strength.

 5. The Panoramic Approach
Achieving Business Goals & User Satisfaction

Among hundreds of consultancies, what sets an ideal UX company apart is their ability to approach their work in a holistic way. These companies focus on how effective the product is going to be to the user at the same time focus on accomplishing business targets, increased revenues etc. YUJ Designs has been known to work with clients to cultivate and deploy their ideas in an effective way, to achieve business goals as well as deliver a delightful experience to the end-users.

About Us:

YUJ Designs is a top-tier UX design studio in India. YUJ Designs has successfully crafted experiences for more than 100 international clients, many of them Fortune 500 companies. With a rock-solid experience of working on more than 2,000 design and research projects, we have earned a spot in the top 15 global user experience agencies. In the business of informing design strategies by a blended understanding of business ROI and user needs, our work ensures both, delightful product experience and a positive impact on the customer's top line.

8 UX Design Principles That Ensure Seamless User Experience Of Your Product

This article was originally shared on - https://www.yujdesigns.com/8-ux-design-principles-that-ensure-seamless-user-experience-of-your-product/

User experience increases chances of customers recommending your product by 16.6%. UX is an art within the boundaries of science that makes business sense and drives ROI for organizations. A seamless UX is about providing meaningful and relevant experiences to users in order to increase interactions and retention. It can be created with continuous improvement in designs with regards to usability and customer’s perceived quality. There are several recipes one can use to make UX Design a success. These are our top 8 recommendations of UX Design principles to create successful experiences.

1. Focus on real users:

The main goal of any business is to make the end customers happy. The first and very essential principle of UX design is to focus on real users- their needs, expectations, motivations and frustrations. A clear understanding of these important user aspects helps designers to build personas, and focus on these personas throughout the design cycle. One can elicit real users’ needs using common user research methods such as interviews, focus groups, contextual inquiry and shadowing.

2. Focus on business:

For any product to be successful in the industry, UX design of that product MUST make business sense. Defining your business goals upfront is extremely important. A good UX design creates a great balance between business and user goals. Making the end customers happy while meeting the business goals will eventually result in ROI for your business.

3. Data informed design:

A design is great not because it is created by a designer, but when it is informed through multiple data sources. Designers use data as a source to make effective design decisions. Data can be qualitative or quantitative in nature. Examples of data sources are users, business and marketing stakeholders, competition, market buzz, and site analytics. Data informed design will help achieve long-term business as well as user goals and also give users a great experience which will eventually help in user engagement and retention.

4. Design for user’s mental model:

User’s mental model means the perception that a user has in his mind about a particular product or service. Once you understand users’ mental models, you can replicate that in your design to give desired experience, thus making it easy for users to complete their tasks and achieve their goals. Research techniques are used to capture user’s mental model.

5. Design for Learnability, Memorability, Task Efficiency and Human Memory:

One of the important UX design principles includes creating designs that are easy to learn, create memorable experiences and make users do their tasks efficiently and effectively. Learnability of the design is based on the user’s understanding of the design. Memorability means, when the user returns to it, he or she should be able to remember how to do things, as users are not using the application all the time. Here, user experience plays a crucial role as a differentiator. When the user has decided to do a task on a website or in an app, then he/she should be able to complete it efficiently which is also achieved with the help of great user experience.

6. Validate Designs:

Design validation means a detailed evaluation and analysis during or at the end of design and development. The goal of validating designs is to ensure that the design is able to achieve the set goals. Validation of design helps to improve design decisions and maintain consistency. Typical techniques used for design validation are expert review, cognitive walkthrough, formative and summative usability testing, and A/B testing.

If you want to create memorable product experience for your users, we can come up with design strategies that create a staged experience for your users. We will deliver you the value that you truly deserve. Visit https://www.yujdesigns.com/ux-design-development/ to see our offerings.

Trends 2020: the most promising emerging UX themes

Another year has come to an end, we are already reminiscing about the year that was. The most emerging themes in UX, UX trends are what everyone’s talking about. UX significantly impacts the success or failure of product and companies. Thus, observing emerging trends in UX becomes a priority.

Here some of our observations of what to expect from UX design in 2020:

1. UX: The Reformed Definition
The coming year will see a wider application of UX design. UX design won’t be limited to product design and innovation. The role of UX will not only facilitate sharing of useful information but also engagement with customers that allows for emotional connect. Knowledge and information transfer efficiency that empowers individual choice. And building harmonious man-machine interactions through multi-sensory interactions. UX design will play a bigger role in this area with micro-trends like Conversational UI, Designing immersive digital spaces/ experiences etc.

2. Hyper-personalization
This will be a buzz word in the next few years. More sensitivity towards accessibility will be expected from UX designers. One thing that we don’t see changing, thankfully, is - good UX will always tell a good business story.

3. Data-driven Design
Design tightly coupled with data analysis will grow exponentially. Higher design iterations based on moment-to-moment data is going to become a trend. This will be the beginning of an era where design is seen as a continuous effort and not a one-time effort or even an after thought for that matter.

4. Connected Digital & Physical Experiences
Design applications will go beyond the screens, to solve every other organization-related problems, blurring boundaries between physical and digital design. UX design studios will need to reinvent themselves as well. They will have to adapt and move beyond screens offering holistic design services, to stay relevant.

5. Minimalist Design
This would be another trend to look out for, adding to the overall efficiency and productivity of the designs. Better compatibility, faster loading time, great usability are just a few benefits of this approach.

6. System Synchronicity
The future is all about integrated but seamless in-the-moment experiences. Solving contextual problems of the users by enhancing their experience of interacting with the product/ brand.

7. Connected Automobiles
Given the advances automobile industry is making, designing interaction methods is a promising area for experience/ UX designers. The touch screens in the cars are here to stay. Though the way we interact with it, with touch - haptic controls, is still quite rudimentary. Effective UX design sensing the context, solving problems is the future.

8. UX and New Tech
Moving forward, designers will need to have a greater understanding of newer technologies. They need to be able to create hybrid solutions using these new technologies. Video, voice, MI, AI and gesture designs will have to be based on user needs, solving the right problems - not as a feature and technology marvel.

9. The Rise of UX Designers
There has been a constant higher demand for UX designers. As an effect of it, senior designers who are individual contributors to design projects, with high salary, will have a tough time proving value.

Due to swarms of UX designers and design startups available in the market, the UX professionals may continue to see lack of opportunities where they can demonstrate their end-end UX skills. As a counter effect, senior professionals fear loosing the edge over their craft and expertise.

10. Design Economists
Design Economist is a designer who understands the ecosystem of the user and the business. One who works towards synthesized solutions that add business value and successfully provide an enhanced experience to the users. At YUJ Designs, we are witnessing a new cult of design economists on the rise.

11. Mindful Design
How human behavior can be used to integrate your product design into the lifestyle of users rather disrupt it is becoming a trend fast. Design that considers building and shaping user’s perception.

12. Micro-interactions
In the last decade, the ever-increasing influence of mobile and portable devices has dramatically changed the way many of us live our lives. In a world where reality is viewed in a combination of multiple micro-moments, design for instant gratification has become essential. Designs solutions through micro-interactions such as less clicks, pages, load time and screen flows will prevail.

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