UX Design

UX Design / 7 Jan 2025

Motion in Design: How Animation Enhances User Experience

In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, static websites with just images and videos are not enough to maintain people’s attention. Users now expect more engaging experiences with interactions and animations that bring designs to life.

This is why motion design has been a big part of website and user interface designs. It helps take designs beyond just visuals and information to turn them into memorable, dynamic user experiences.

Today, we explore the world of motion design to see how animation enhances user experience and boosts user interactions as well as engagement. Let’s dive in.

Layouts / 17 Dec 2024

Breaking Monotony: The Role of Surprise in Effective Design

We all love a good surprise. We’re not just talking about birthdays, weddings, and special events, but it’s also an effective strategy used in design to create more memorable websites, marketing campaigns, and even user interfaces.

Think of any website you thought was so cool and it would undoubtedly feature a surprise element. Whether it’s an attractive animation, an interactive widget, or an uncommon layout, the designs that surprise you are the ones that stay in your memory.

Today, we explore this topic to uncover the role of surprise in creative design to help you craft unique creations that break the norms. Let’s dive in.

Layouts / 26 Nov 2024

Negative Space: The Art of Letting Your Designs Breathe

Negative space is one of the most effective methods used in all forms of design to create focus and attention as well as bring things into perspective.

When used properly, negative space can help you create winning designs that are not only clear and simple but also more user-friendly.

The Google Search homepage is a popular example of effective use of negative space. For more than 25 years, Google maintained a simple design with nothing but its logo and a search bar surrounded by white space, while most of its competitors like Yahoo and Bing used cluttered designs filled with images and links.

This minimalist design helped more users navigate search engines at a time when the technology was new. And even today, it’s part of the reason why nearly 90% of people prefer Google over other search engines. Because it’s simple, clean, straight to the point, and simply gets the job done without unnecessary distractions.

Let’s explore and find out how you can use negative space in your design adventures.

UX Design / 19 Nov 2024

Color Psychology in Action: Choosing Colors That Influence User Behavior

There’s a close connection between the traffic lights and the “sale” signs you see in stores and online. Can you guess what it is?

From the early days of our childhood, we are taught to stop at traffic lights when they turn Red and to always pay close attention to them. When we grow up, we unknowingly follow the same rule whenever we see a sign or an ad using that same color.

Have you noticed how every “sale” sign is designed using a Red background? Because it instantly commands attention!

There’s a psychology behind the colors we see in the designs around us. Designers and marketers have been using this concept to create more impactful branding designs and advertising campaigns for decades.

But is color psychology a real thing? How does it work? Can you use it in your own design projects? Let’s find out.

UX Design / 2 Jan 2024

Is UX Design a Good Career? Tips & Ideas on Getting Started

Picking a good career path to pursue is a challenging task these days. Especially with the rise of AI, the future of many careers is uncertain. Rest assured, you don’t have to worry about that when following a career in UX design.

While many careers are at risk of being replaced by AI, User Experience Design (UXD) is a career path that will stay strong for a long time. Because, well, who knows better about what humans want than humans?

So to answer the question: Is UX Design a good career? Yes, it is!

If you’re thinking about getting started as a UX designer this year, you’ve made a wise decision. In this getting started guide, we’ll give you helpful tips and ideas on where and how to start your journey.

Trends / 11 May 2023

10+ Examples of Web AR Experiences Done Well

Web-based augmented reality is a growing trend in website design that allows users to interact with realistic experiences from desktops or phones in-browser with no additional app required. This technology takes a little bit of everything and often includes HTML5, Web Audio, WebGL, and WebRTC to develop.

The result can be pretty impressive and leads to a level of engagement and interaction that keeps users wanting more.

WebAR is short for Web-based Augmented Reality, and it’s a relatively new technology that does not require a mobile application to function. Users can access AR experiences directly from their smartphones using the native camera and mobile web browser. This seamless user experience is one of the main reasons WebAR is rapidly growing in popularity.

Here’s a look at some examples of websites using Web AR to inspire your projects.

UX Design / 23 Dec 2022

Microinteractions Are Growing Up: How to Design Them in 2024

Microinteractions aren’t a new concept in UX design, but they keep getting more impressive. We’ve been talking about microinteractions here at Design Shack for a while because they are so vital to the overall success of web projects.

Microinteractions are those tiny details that turn an ordinary user experience into something more memorable and engaging. The little things that surprise and delight, adding a layer of enjoyable UX to your app or website.

Here’s a look at how designers are using microinteractions in 2021 with examples of how this design technique has grown up.

Business / 22 Sep 2022

9 Tips for a Great Newsletter Signup Design

If newsletter signups are one of the desired conversions on your website, a great design is vital to achieving success. A clear, well-designed newsletter signup form will help draw attention to the element on the page, and encourage people to use it.

This form is often see as a small element in the overall website design, but it can pack a big punch. So don’t overlook it in your design process!

Here are nine tips to help you make the most of your email newsletter signup design.

UX Design / 11 Jul 2022

5 Tips to Avoid Deceptive Patterns in Website Design

There’s nothing worse than something that auto-renews unexpectedly. Or finding yourself stuck in a website pattern that just doesn’t do what you want to expect.

These are deceptive patterns – user experience tricks and methods that force users into something unintended. It can include visual elements, interactivity, audio, motion, hidden sales, and more. And although commonly used, they are a bad idea.

Here’s how to avoid using deceptive patterns in website design, and some tips on better approaches to take!

Graphics / 15 Feb 2022

Forms for the Win: 8 Types of Forms You Should Know How to Design

Form design can often be one of the most overlooked elements of a website. And it can be a fatal flaw.

Forms are the foundation for communicating with your audience, generating leads, making sales, creating great user interactions, and expanding your marketing reach.

Every designer should have a good idea of how to design these eight form types to help create the most meaningful experiences possible for your online audience.

UX Design / 6 Jan 2022

10 Tips for a Better CX (Customer Experience) Journey

The customer experience, or CX, journey can be one of the most important elements of an online store. It dictates how people interact with the site in the path to making a purchase, and even if they make a purchase at all.

The more technical definition of CX is all the cognitive, affective, sensory, and behavioral responses that a consumer has in the buying process from pre-purchase to the sale to the post-purchase process.

Let’s look at ways that you can improve the customer experience journey in website projects.

Layouts / 6 Dec 2021

How Many Wireframes Do You Need? (Guide to Effective Wireframing)

Too often new website design projects start with a little wireframe overload.

Creating dozens of wireframes to show a client at the start of the project doesn’t necessarily create better understanding; it can be downright overwhelming.

Like with many other aspects of design, wireframing is an art where, in many cases, less is more.

Here’s a look at how to wireframe more effectively and a guide to how many wireframes you actually need (plus, some ideas on which ones are the most important, and which you can probably miss!)