It’s important that your website focus on both UX (user experience or functionality) and UI (user interface or aesthetics). Most websites favor one over the other. However, if you’re looking for your website to produce results around sales and marketing, you need it to both function well and look good.
Start by having clear goals for both. UX goals should focus primarily on your site’s feel and ease of use. Ask yourself what your users are there to do and make sure it’s easy for them to do it. You want a site that’s intuitive, efficient, engaging, and satisfying. Common UX development steps are: researching and planning, designing and creating content, and prototyping and testing. UI goals should focus on visual appeal and brand consistency. If you have official brand standards and style guides, adhere to them. If you don’t, you will want to create them now. Think about colors, typography, button styles, graphic elements, and spacing. Your site should be aesthetically appealing and the design should be consistent and cohesive.
Here are some ways to make sure you’re achieving a balance between UX and UI:
- Focus on what you want the user to do. Think about the steps you would like a user to take on your site (browsing products, signing up for mailing lists, etc.) and make sure it’s easy for them to do so. Do all the buttons and links go to where they should go? Does the navigation work, and is it intuitive? Is the design consistent and are the elements uniform enough so that everything is where users expect it to be? You don’t want there to be a huge learning curve for your site. Make sure it’s easy for people to do what you want them to do.
- Keep it simple and clear. You don’t want to overload people with information, flashing lights, a million pop up ads, or anything else that will distract them or otherwise ruin their experience. Don’t include anything that causes a slow loading speed; make sure you optimize images and minimize scripts for peak efficiency. Keep your design uncluttered with lots of white space. You want it to be easy on the eyes. Keep each page to one main idea so you can prioritize the content that matters most and maintain a clear hierarchy of information. Write concise copy with prominent Calls To Action.
- Make sure your site is available to everyone. It should be responsive and adaptive so that it displays correctly and works properly on any device and any browser. Use mobile-first design principles even if you’re using a platform that automatically generates a mobile version of your site. Make sure you preview and test your site on multiple screen sizes. Additionally, you want your site to be accessible for people with disabilities. Use proper heading structure, alt text on your images, and sufficient color contrast. Make sure your site can be understood using site readers and can be navigated with a keyboard.
Substance and Style 