Tips for creating designs that give the user a delightful, clear, and well-planned experience with a high-quality UX (user experience).
Scrolling is a key component of any website design that extends beyond a single landing page. Anyone who thinks the scroll is dead needs to jump out of 2005!
Scroll actions move users through content vertically or horizontally and are a commonly accepted user pattern. The scroll is alive and well thanks to plenty of interesting design techniques and a shift toward accessing full websites on smaller screens. Let’s take a look!
A website header is often the first thing that a user sees. It can make or break the user experience, your branding, and much more!
To help retain users and keep them moving through the design, you need to create a website header that wows. And not just on the homepage. On every single page of the design. (Remember, a significant number of users don’t go to your homepage first.) Here’s how you do it.
The beginning of a great design starts with content. To make the most of a stellar mobile UX, the content might need to undergo a few tweaks and changes.
But where do you start? How should content be adapted to work seamlessly on mobile devices? It starts with thinking about the way users interact with smaller screens, and how that impacts what (and how much!) they’ll want to read.
Neon colors are tough to use without clashing with the rest of your design. They work great for signs and lights in real-world applications, but can present major issues in web design, unless carefully implemented.
Today, we’re going to look at ways to effectively use neon colors in your design work, with a list of do’s and don’ts to help you make the most of bold, bright color choices. You’ll be a neon ninja in no time, weaving it through your design work!
Do you ever get overwhelmed by the number of choices you have to make in a day? It’s a pretty common phenomenon. The same can happen when a user visits a website. Too many choices can fatigue the user and totally overwhelm the senses.
The solution is up to the designer – to create a design that seems to anticipate user needs and helps move people through the design with ease.
The internet is a tangled mess that’s visually overloaded. There’s so much to look at… and read… and comprehend, that it can be difficult to find focus and figure out what is important.
If your design is visually overloaded, chances are that you are overwhelming users and they are leaving your website or app. So how do you know if you are doing it? We’ve got a list of warning signs for you, plus a few ways to strip some of the weight out of the design and make it more manageable for users.
Every time a user does something with your design, an interaction is created. Some interactions, such as clicks, go almost unnoticed by the user. But other interactions include a certain bit of magic that makes the user want to play with the design even more.
There’s a fine line between an interaction that has the touch of magic and one that can be completely overwhelming. The most magical interactions are a bit unexpected, simple, create an emotional response and make the user want to use it again.
Design exists to solve problems. As you’ve likely heard before, design isn’t an act of creative self-expression but rather a process of problem solving. So why aren’t we hearing about amazing design breakthroughs that address the world’s biggest problems?
As legendary ‘I Love New York’ designer Milton Glaser once said, “Design is the process of going from an existing conditions to a preferred one.” But what existing condition does the world need our help with?
There are several respected global organizations who work towards great causes, in areas such as Food and Water Security, Economic Opportunity, Climate Change and the Environment, Social Equity and Good Governance (Healthcare, Safety, Security and Education).
You’ll notice how none of these items are addressed by selfie apps in the top ten of your local app store. So why aren’t we hearing about amazing design breakthroughs that address the world’s biggest problems?
How many users are opening emails from you on a phone or tablet? It might be a higher percentage than you think. According to Litmus, which provides email tracking software, 54 percent of all emails were opened on a mobile device in 2016.
That means that most of your emails are being seen on a phone. Are you designing an email that makes the most of it? Here are tips to make your email design more mobile-friendly.
A goldfish has a longer attention span than you do. Let that sink in for a moment. Now, what are you going to do about it?
As a designer, it is your job to create something that people will stop and interact with. It takes a design and user experience that will hook visitors and keep them clicking and tapping. Combat short attention spans with smart design.
Microinteractions are the “secret sauce” that make apps and websites shine for users. These tiny details make it easy to set an alarm, press a button or simply better understand how to work with a digital product.
The secret is that the best microinteractions are elements that the user probably doesn’t even think about. They happen in an instant – often with just one tap on a mobile screen. Despite the small nature of the interaction, hence “micro,” the value is immense to users as these engagements become more integrated with daily activity.
How do you design one-tap microinteractions that will delight users? Here are a few ideas.
A successful project is a combination of good design, killer content and a little bit of luck. Too often a design is derailed by simple UX mistakes that ruin the content and muddle the intended actions of the interface.
Users can easily lose track of why they are there, and what they are supposed to do. Thankfully, many of these design mistakes are easy to identify and correct. (As a bonus, the examples in this post are doing things right; use them as a guide!)