There’s more to great UX design than just user journeys and wireframes. Subtle UI choices can significantly impact the user experience. Here are 25 tips to help you create a truly exceptional user interface.
- Streamline form interactions: Align form labels and fields in a single vertical line for faster scanning by users.
- Maintain search consistency: While search icons work well for mobile devices, the search field should always resemble a text box on desktops.
- Prioritize readability: Avoid small fonts, especially for lengthy content, and never use condensed fonts in body text across all devices.
- Leverage color psychology: Warm and bright colors tend to stand out, while cool and dark colors recede into the background. Use this to your advantage.
- Make calls to action clear: For flat designs, ensure action buttons have a contrasting color and an action-oriented label to guide users.
- Ditch carousels: They overwhelm users with information. People can only focus on one thing at a time, so prioritize showcasing a single element.
- Simplify mobile interactions: Avoid double-taps. Allow users to interact with elements using a single touch.
- Focus on mobile context: Prioritize features like location, emergency information, and relevant context for mobile users.
- Visual hierarchy matters: Users pay more attention to items placed near the top of the page, so prioritize content accordingly.
- Differentiate visited links: Use a different color for visited links to reduce user memory load and improve navigation ease.
- Implement breadcrumbs: Breadcrumbs help users understand their location within your website’s hierarchy.
- Accessibility first: Design for color blindness by converting your designs to grayscale and ensuring all users can access crucial information.
- Sticky menus for convenience: Consider using sticky menus, especially for long webpages or when users need quick access to navigation features.
- User control over carousels: Website carousels that automatically slide should switch to manual control once users interact with them.
- Progressive loading for a smooth experience: Show a skeletal layout of the website’s elements while it’s loading to communicate the overall structure.
- Readability goes beyond visibility: Readability isn’t just about font size and style; it’s also about user engagement. Make sure your content is visually appealing and easy to follow.
- Visual prominence for key information: The most important information on your webpage should always be the most visually prominent element.
- Helpful and clear error messages: Error messages should be user-friendly, concise, and easy to understand. Guide users towards resolving the issue.
- Infinite scrolling for relevant content: Users will scroll down the webpage as long as they anticipate finding additional, relevant information below the fold.
- Mobile touch target size: The minimum size for a touch target on mobile devices should be 1cm x 1cm with proper padding for easy interaction.
- Improve readability with clear structure: Make long text blocks easier to read by including only one idea per paragraph and using clear spacing.
- Vertical over horizontal menus: Menu dropdowns should be vertical, not horizontal hover-activated menus. Horizontal scrolling can be cumbersome for users.
- Cons of accordions on mobile: Accordions on mobile websites can increase interaction cost and hide crucial content. Consider alternative information presentation methods.
- Keep help concise and distinct: Help and instruction text should be brief, visually distinct from other interface elements, and easy to understand.
- Link text clarity: Users shouldn’t have to click on a link to figure out where it leads. The link text itself should be clear and descriptive.
By following these UX tips, you can create user interfaces that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also intuitive and user-friendly. This will lead to a more positive user experience and a higher chance of user conversion.
