What is user experience (UX) in website design and why it matters

Generally speaking, user experience (also known as UX) refers to the experience an individual has with a specific service or product.

In the sphere of website design, user experience covers every detail, from the colour of the fonts to whether buttons are intuitively placed or not. Each element present in a website can add up to a bad or good user experience.

Nowadays, most experienced web designers are aware of the importance of UX-centered web designing. But others with less experience may fall into the mistake of planning a website’s appearance, and picking and placing the elements that comprise it, with little regard for usability or user behaviour.

Therein lies the main difference between both web designing processes: a merely good-looking website will probably look fine at first glance, but in the long run it may load slowly, and come across as tiring, hard to read and unintuitive to the user. On the other hand, when decision-making is driven by user experience, these problems won’t occur – or if they do, will tend not to stick out so much.

Despite the side-by-side comparison, knowing what user experience is and using it as your guide doesn’t mean you shouldn’t care about your website’s appearance. Appearance matters too, just not more than fulfilling your users’ needs and desires as they navigate through your website.

Now you know the basics of what user experience is, you’re ready to take the first step.

If you don’t have a website or are in the process of redesigning one from a UX perspective, there are a few presets which experienced website designers keep in mind:

• The navigation should feel familiar to the target audience, even if it’s the first time they are accessing your website;
• Content has to be easy to read;
• Don’t try too hard to look creative: basic but functional designs work better than creative but overcomplicated ones;
• A website design doesn’t have to be all red just because the logo is – it’s preferable to balance things out, in order to maintain one’s visual identity without going too far
• Make sure it is easy for the person navigating to complete their goal (whether this is simply reading an article, filling in a form or concluding a purchase);
• The outcome has to be intuitive.

If you already have a website, invite people to navigate through it (preferably people who will feel they can be 100% honest) and then ask them to answer the following questions:

• Was it easy to read what’s written on the website?
• Was it easy to find the menu?
• Were you tired of navigating through it after a few minutes?
• Was it easy to read entire articles, conclude a purchase or complete other goals you may have had?
• Did your eyes hurt due to the excessive use of colours?
• Was the site loading so slowly that you wanted to leave?
• Did you feel frustrated at any point during your experience?

While simple, these questions provide good early indicators, and depending on the answers you may need to consider seeking a professional’s help.

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