UX Design

Tips for creating designs that give the user a delightful, clear, and well-planned experience with a high-quality UX (user experience).

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

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.

10+ Examples of Web AR Experiences Done Well

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.

Microinteractions Are Growing Up: How to Design Them in 2024

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.

9 Tips for a Great Newsletter Signup Design

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.

5 Tips to Avoid Deceptive Patterns in Website 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!

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

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.

10 Tips for a Better CX (Customer Experience) Journey

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.

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

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!)

How to Design a Paywall That Visitors Will Pay to Pass Through

UX Design / 18 Oct 2021

How to Design a Paywall That Visitors Will Pay to Pass Through

Everything you create online has to have value for the user if you want them to engage with it. This is most important when you are asking visitors to give you something in exchange for content.

Whether your paywall asks for direct payment or just an exchange, such as pay with a tweet, the method you use in creating a paywall can be a factor in the success of subscribers or paid entries.

Here, we’ll look at different paywall options and value propositions you can use to help encourage visitors to pay to play on your website or mobile app.

7 Ways Your UX Needs to Extend Beyond Your Website (And How to Do It)

UX Design / 7 Oct 2021

7 Ways Your UX Needs to Extend Beyond Your Website (And How to Do It)

User experience is a conversation that’s part of every website or app design conversation. It’s likely one of the first things you talk about when making choices about functionality, customer journeys, and visuals.

But do you talk about UX in the greater picture of designing your entire brand?

Your website or app UX needs to extend beyond the website and to everything else you produce in order to create a more consistent and unified brand presence. Thinking about user experience for all designed elements can help users connect brand materials visually and impact how people feel about your organization.

It’s time to start thinking about UX as a visual (and functional) extension of customer experience. (The examples here provide a good UX as a starting point that can extend to other parts of the brand design that you might already know. Think about how you connect their web user experiences to other elements you know them for.)

Conceptual Design: The Tool You Need to Ideate Like a Pro

Business / 4 Oct 2021

Conceptual Design: The Tool You Need to Ideate Like a Pro

How does the design process start for you? If you want to take ideation and creation to another level, conceptual design may be the place to start.

Conceptual design can actually help you better design an idea so that when you start the process of creation, it is more developed and functional. It’s a great starting point for any project, and can help you lay a solid foundation on which to build.

Here, we’ll walk through conceptual design and how you can use it to ideate and create more effectively.

Design Trend: Voice UX – Are You Designing for It?

Trends / 27 Sep 2021

Design Trend: Voice UX – Are You Designing for It?

Voice interfaces and user experiences are a trending topic in the world of website design because user behavior is demanding it.

Just think of how often you ask Alexa, Google, or Siri for help on any given day. Think about the push for more accessibly designed websites that work more effectively with devices such as screen readers. Then think about whether these things are coming into play during the design and development process.

They should be.

It is more important than ever to integrate voice UX into your design process.