Did you know that most users abandon a website or application if they don’t like the user experience (UX) or struggle to navigate the user interface (UI)?
UI is the process of improving the interactivity and presentation of an application or website. In simple terms, it focuses on the look and design of an application. It includes all the visual aspects, such as the menu and buttons.
On the other hand, UX is how users interact with and experience a website or application. It includes a user’s perceptions of ease of use and efficiency. A UX strategy involves design aiming to deliver maximum consumer satisfaction.
Having a strong UI and UX approach to the design of a website or mobile application is a great way to intrigue users and entice them to return. However, it can be difficult to implement the best approach without the help of skilled and experienced professionals.
This is where businesses seek UI/UX developers for hire.
The Role of UI/UX Designers
UI/UX designers are professionals who identify new opportunities to create better online experiences for users. They work to develop aesthetic branding strategies that help them effectively reach more customers.
Some of the responsibilities of UI/UX designers include:
- Identifying user requirements, in collaboration with product managers.
- Illustrating ideas using process flows and sitemaps.
- Developing UI mockups and prototypes that effectively illustrate how websites or apps function and will look.
- Assisting outsource omnichannel support teams to find the right platforms and channels for the best user experiences.
- Designing powerful graphic user interface elements, such as menus, tabs and widgets.
- Identifying and troubleshooting UX problems.
- Conducting layout adjustments based on users’ feedback.
To successfully complete these tasks, UI/UX designers must have a range of special skills.
Some of these include:
- Proficient in prototyping tools such as InVision
- Working knowledge of HTML and CSS
- Ability to pay attention to detail and have a keen eye for aesthetics
- Ability to include the voice of customers by incorporating feedback, usage metrics, and usability findings into designs
- Strong communication skills
- Excellent time-management skills
It’s important to understand that UI/UX design is a multidisciplinary field with an increasingly growing range of niche specializations including interaction design, UX writing, visual design, usability testing, and more. UI/UX job descriptions usually mention a mix of these roles.
The Benefits of UI Designer
Even though the terms “UI” and “UX” have been around for some time, questions like “Why is it so important?” still pop up with businesses all the time during the design process.
The answer is that it brings a large range of benefits to businesses.
Some of these include:
#1 Optimized resources, time and costs
Integrating UI/UX design into a development process highlights and allows businesses to address most of the usability issues they would have encountered during and after the development of a website or app.
A UI/UX specialist designer has the knowledge to anticipate users’ needs prior to going into production, and ultimately guarantee the design’s scalability. Adopting a strong approach focused on users with UI/UX design can save businesses considerable resources, including time and money.
#2 Enhanced accessibility and usability
UI/UX designers know how to make websites and apps easily accessible to users. This optimizes the consistency, visibility, speed and user-friendliness of websites and applications.
#3 Improves user engagement
The easiest and most effective way to get visitors engaged with a brand’s website is to guide them towards taking a particular action using well-thought-of design elements.
#4 Better brand awareness
UI/UX designers have the ability to develop unique and compelling UI and UX designs that help businesses stand out from the crowd and give them a boost in brand recognition.
#5 Enhances customer acquisition
A strong and highly valuable user experience offers businesses strong competitive advantages in attracting and retaining customers.
#6 Increased customer loyalty
Great UX design not only draws new users but also retains them. Users that keep coming back are loyal users and customer loyalty is won by offering positive experiences with a website or mobile app. These positive experiences hook users to products and keep them coming back time after time.
#7 Improved productivity
Employing an efficient UI/UX design can help to streamline layouts that facilitate engagement and help motivate workforces to do their tasks more effectively.
#8 Reduced troubleshooting costs
Much of businesses’ engineering budgets are spent on resolving avoidable errors. These errors are usually inaccurate assumptions regarding user behavior, complex navigation that results in users getting stuck, and new features that are unnecessary or completely inaccessible.
Making sure that the user design of platforms is done effectively from the beginning will help ease any major headaches in the future.
Leading Companies With Highly Effective UI/UX Strategies
#1 Airbnb
Airbnb is a company that is leading the way when it comes to creating user-friendly booking experiences for users. Their homepage addresses typical pain points most travelers have when looking for accommodation. The action of booking is also simple and placed at the top of the fold. It’s quick, clear and very user-friendly.
#2 Miro
Miro does a great job of encouraging users to take action by focusing on the job they need to get done. The site enables users to build an effective collaboration board and learn along the way with modal popups. The popups are perfectly tailored to users’ in-app actions.
#3 Duolingo
Duolingo uses gamification to enhance its UX design.
The platform is portrayed as fun and friendly while also challenging users to carry on learning. The company manages to make the experience of learning a brand-new language much more interesting by combining exciting animations, a friendly tone of voice, and gamified experiences.
Other Popular Specialists That Complement UI/UX Design
As increasingly more businesses recognize the value of UI and UX design outsourcing, there’s a growing need for professionals who can create more satisfactory user experiences. Managers and team leaders can play an important part in bringing roles together and setting up a UX team for success.
Some specialists that can be outsourced as part of a UI/UX team include:
#1 User researchers
This specialist is the link between the design team and end-users. Researchers conduct and document the research at every phase of the design process.
#2 Visual designer
Visual designers work to inject style into UX designs. They take wireframes and prototypes UX designers create and transform them into detailed, working interfaces.
#3 Omnichannel professional
An omnichannel professional is a specialist that works to identify the right channels, platforms, and devices to build great user experiences on.
#4 UX writer
UX writers have the responsibility of taking care of all the text users interaction when navigating a product, including welcome screens, call-to-action-buttons, error messages and notifications.
The Bottom Line
Catching and retaining potential customers’ attention has become very difficult for businesses, so including a good user UI/UX design strategy in the development process of a web or mobile application has become very important to stay competitive.
Because when businesses spend capital to drive traffic to their digital assets, they want to make sure they optimize user interfaces to create easy-to-navigate and intuitive user experiences.
Ultimately, it’s all about maximizing the opportunity to convert visitors into buyers. This is why it is so beneficial for businesses to invest in UI/UX designers and the skills and experience they bring to projects.
