Common UX mistakes that can kill your project
Designing a great website or application is much more than just adhering to fancy design trends. It’s a potent mix of stunning visuals, well thought out user experience, killer content and a hail mary!
Creating a great UX is nothing but learning, observing, ideating, iterating and testing. It revolves around turning bad experiences into good ones. Although every designer is aware of the core principles of UX design, however there are few common mistakes that almost every designer falls prey to at some point in their career.
Using ‘Lorem Ipsum’ instead of real content
Everything on the internet essentially boils down to content consumption. The copy you read online probably has the biggest impact on you as a user. As designers, it is easy to fall into the trap of using ‘Lorem Ipsum’ to quickly complete your design. But in reality, using placeholder copy makes your design hard to relate to and makes it seem like a half baked product. End users and/or your clients would find it hard to visualise the actual product.
We must strive to design experiences, not templates. Using real content in the initial design process helps you narrow your focus and create a fine-tuned experience tailored to your target audience.
Solution: Research
Research your domain and learn the terminology used. Use real content that your end user will expect to see. Write provisional copy to set the strategy and tone for the page. This can be revised again by a content writing team if required. Real content can prove to be useful while testing your designs with users. They can focus on what matters versus finding minor flaws. It helps experience what will actually live on each page/screen. This makes it easier to discuss and review as well.
Not defining your target audience
Most of the information found online is generic in nature and is for anyone who is willing to listen. Users have to go through all of that information and make sense of it to find what they need. Another common mistake that designers tend to make is writing for ourselves and not for the user.
Solution: Creating Personas
Personas are the voice of the user — they guide the way you write. Start with research — who are the users, what are their behaviours, needs, expectations. Condense the research and look for patterns/characteristics that appear. Form groups based on these and then create personas that are realistic — their background, needs, motivations and frustrations.
Not Trying Different Layouts
It’s easy to fall in love with solutions you come up with. But they don’t always work the way you expect them to. Even good ideas fail. The content or layout you put up on your platform might not achieve the goals you have set out to achieve.
Solution: Testing
Conduct user testing to see how users respond to your content and observe their behaviour. With techniques like A/B testing, you can test whether your content has the intended effect on your users.
Providing irrelevant Information
Bombarding users with lot of data that they are not seeking for can confuse them, it is critical to show only what is relevant. Each user that is coming to your product will be at a different phase of their user journey and probably wants to find different information. Users could also be using the product in a particular context or setting where some information is required and the rest is irrelevant.
Solution: User Journeys
Make it easy for users to find the information they’re looking for. Based on your persona, create user journeys for each persona. See what scenarios the user might encounter and what information would be relevant in that situation. Good copy considers the context of the users:
Where are users physically?
What are they trying to do?
What did they do before this?
What are they going to do next?
Not organising your information
When the amount of information on the platform is large, it becomes difficult for users to find what they are looking for. Badly structured content hinders discovery and hence makes the product useless. A user can find it hard to navigate through the product and would lead to a frustrating experience for them.
Solution: Information Architecture
Start with a skeleton of the product by prioritising the most important features and creating the main navigation. From there, go ahead and flesh out the product’s features. Make it easy for users to find what they are looking for through clear navigation. Make it clear what their possible actions and are at a particular scenario. See what information can be grouped and how it can be structured. Clear information hierarchy plays a significant role in the performance of the content.
Some basic errors can deter users from visiting the page altogether. It can confuse and prevent them from seeing the purpose of attending a web-page or make them doubt about their further actions. To avoid a turbulent ride for our users, always ask yourself what is under the shiny surface of the user interface we are creating. And there my friend, you will find all the answers to the UX universe.
Do share your opinion on the mistakes that we often end up doing unknowingly! And, shoot out your comments or claps if you liked the write-up.
Rahul Kondi, Designer, Lollypop Design Studio
Originally published at lollypop.biz.
