Any knowledgeable software company in Orlando knows that UX design is one of the most crucial components in designing software that users want to visit and return to. Without the right focus on UX, you’ll find it difficult to draw in new users and turn them into loyal, regular users.
While UX may seem simple and you may already have a rough draft sketched out, you shouldn’t just throw something together in hopes of success. There are many things to keep in mind when it comes to UX design, so it’s no wonder you’re looking for a complete checklist.
To create a software with effective UX design, we have created the ultimate checklist you should follow.
What is UX Design?
UX design is short for user experience design. Although there is no universal definition of what it is, it is essentially the concept and processes that design teams use in order to create software that is functional and pleasing to users.
UX design can include branding as well, though there is a bigger focus on usability and function.
Oftentimes, you may hear UI or user interface design used interchangeably with UX design. UI design, however, is one of the many facets of UX design and is not a process in and of itself.
Someone who specializes in UX design will have experience with UI design, but that is not always true when put in reverse.
Why is it Important?
Now that you know what UX design is, why is it so important? Without UX design, there is no easy way to fulfill a user’s needs.
UX design provides positive user experiences and with these experiences, customers become loyal converts to your brand. With UX design, you can also define which customer journeys are the most successful for your business.
Ultimate UX Design Checklist For Your Design Process
When it comes to designing a great user experience and smooth user flows, it’s not as easy as it seems. There are many aspects to keep in mind and different components to juggle in the design process.
Making sure they all work together to create a pleasing user experience can seem difficult or even near impossible.
Even for an expert UX designer, it can be easy to accidentally overlook some of the best practices. While UX design is a development process, it’s also a psychological one and it’s easy to forget that.
The UX designer needs to get inside the minds of your users in order to design a truly efficient design.
If you want your UX to run smoothly and be appealing enough to beat out the competition, start by following the steps below.
1. Software Speed
Have you ever tried to navigate a slow website or software? A slow piece of software is a reflection of poor UX design and as such, the speed should be one of the first UX design hurdles you cross.
To help your software load as quickly as possible, check to make sure your server speed is up to scratch. You should also reduce the weight of your software so the components and pages load quickly.
2. Easy Contact
Visitors want to be able to contact you easily. By providing accurate contact information, you also help build trust with users. Contact information proves that there’s a real person or company behind the software.
When it comes to putting in place a method of contact, consider providing both a contact form and an email address. Some users prefer plain emails that they can copy and paste into their inboxes over premade forms.
If you really want to make it easy to contact you, incorporate a live chat box so that visitors can get their questions answered immediately.
3. Reachable Home Page
Maybe this isn’t something you’ve thought of before, but you need to make it easy for users to get back to the home page. If a user gets lost or frustrated while searching through your pages, they’ll either close the page or go back to the home screen.
In order to prevent them from closing the page, make sure to provide a clear and easy way back home.
Most users will expect your logo to take them back to the home page, so make sure it does. If not, this could be another cause for frustration even if you have another button that clearly reads “home”.
4. Progress Bars
If your software allows for users to order something, create a progress bar. The process of ordering or checking out can seem much longer if users can’t see where they are in the process, so make sure you let them know.
Think of this like leaving behind little breadcrumbs for them to follow. If there isn’t anything to guide them, they may quit or get lost no matter how simple you think it is.
5. Remove Repetition For Better User Flows
This is especially important for any forms your users may fill out. Wherever possible, remove repetitive actions.
If a user has to enter their address twice during the check-out process, they may get annoyed and leave the page. In order to avoid cart abandonment, make sure there’s an easy way to fill in an address and that it’s not necessary to complete it more than once.
If you can, you may even want to create a system that remembers your users’ information or user data. As long as your users return time and time again, keeping the information on hand can make the ordering process smoother and quicker, giving them a much better experience.
6. Create a Bold Call to Action
Make your call to action big, bold, and clear. Let users know what to do in a clear and creative way while also explaining why they should.
Of course, everything in your call to action should be short and precise, but it’s important that users understand why they need to complete this action.
Creating your call to action with bold, bright colors can draw more attention to it. Consider using colors that contrast and stand out against the main color of your software so that visitors can find it easily.
7. Clear User Journey
User journeys can help direct users where you want them to go more efficiently. In order to make sure your user journey is clear and easy to navigate, use a visual hierarchy to direct visitors.
This may start on your blog page and lead to joining a mailing list or it may start on your product page and lead to the checkout.
Whatever your ideal user journey is, make sure it’s well defined and easy to follow.
8. Keep Expected Elements in the User Interface
While creativity is a great way to help your software stand out, don’t get overly creative with expected elements.
When it comes to a website, for example, customers expect to find product categories, descriptions, and reviews. Instead of rearranging this familiar setup, keep it as expected and get creative with the way you present the information.
Remember to keep it in the familiar order or users may get irritated when they can’t find what they’re looking for.
9. Three-Color Palette
Colors are fun, but they can also overcomplicate things and make your software look unnecessarily chaotic. Resist the urge to add a handful of main colors and instead stick to the traditional three-color palette.
You can add a few extra colors here and there, but there should be no more than three primary colors. If you use more, your users may feel overwhelmed.
When it comes to choosing your colors, make sure they correspond with your product and the emotions you want to evict. There are several studies on color psychology, so read through some of those before picking your color palette.
10. Creative Error Messages
At some point, your users might encounter an error message. Instead of just a boring error message, get creative.
Twitter has created some pretty fun error messages, so consider looking into creating something like that. You don’t have to create an entire image and artboard, but make the message fun and reassuring so your users aren’t faced with the typical error page.
11. Two Font Families
Fonts are fun to play around with, but not when you have three or four different kinds. It can get incredibly confusing if your software has Times New Roman alongside Comic Sans and Futura.
Your pages will not only be difficult to read, but it’ll look very unprofessional too.
If you’re going to use more than one font (which we highly recommend you do), make sure they are all within the same font family. You should only have two but play around with bolded characters and different sizes to help differentiate between headings and body text.
12. Limit Caps Locks
On the topic of fonts, limit how much of your text is in caps lock. Even if it’s part of the font style, not one wants to read an entire paragraph in caps lock. It’s exhausting and can be annoying for your users. Some studies have even shown that people read slower when faced with all uppercase letters.
Most people scan a page without fully reading it, so save caps lock for really important parts. Only the bits and pieces that you want to make sure everyone reads should be in caps lock.
Other than that, stick to regular lowercase letters.
13. Consistent Alert Messages
Your users are going to trigger alerts. Whether they forget to input a part of their address or they use an invalid email address, they’ll trigger an alert. While your alerts should resemble other alerts, try to make them attractive.
Your alerts should stand out against the rest of the page so users don’t have to search for them. If your user can’t figure out why their form was invalid or what’s wrong with the page, they’re going to feel irritated and confused.
By making alerts that are easy to read and stand out from the rest of the page, users are able to quickly fix their mistakes and continue.
14. Easy Navigation
One of the quickest ways to make a user leave your software is by creating a complicated navigation system.
The average user won’t be willing to stick around and figure things out. In fact, very few will stay longer than a minute or two if they can’t find what they want.
When you set up your navigation, make sure it is intuitive and easy to follow. Users need to be able to find what they’re looking for without sitting to think or ask themselves questions. Creating clearly labeled drop-down menus and headings can help with this.
15. Font Size of At Least 12px
Anything smaller than 12 pixels will be difficult to read. The smallest text on your page should be 12 pixels or users will have difficulty reading.
Of course, disclaimers or footnotes can be smaller, but any main text should be at least 12 pixels in size.
Conclusion
Even after you follow all the UX design process steps above, it’s important to go back and review your work. You’ll always need to keep checking, carrying out usability testing, gathering user feedback, and rebuilding, but this UX checklist is a great way to get started in the right direction.