Every website owner strives to get a perfect website to enhance its online existence. But what most website owners overlook these days is that they hire amateur designers or beginners who mostly use free platforms like WordPress to design a website or webpage. Though such designers agree to create at a cheap rate but with the savings in design comes a massive cost of bad user experience (UX). Website owners should hire experienced and professional designers to avoid such issues, as it is said, the work suits in the hands of the one skilled to do it.
Developing a flawless website is every designer’s dream. They do their best and work tirelessly to create an attractive and smooth website or webpage. Still, after a lot of vigor, and time, some ambiguities are commonly found in almost all websites; this leave a wrong impression on user experience (UX).
User experience (UX) has utmost importance both for designers and employers. Bad user experience can sternly affect online traffic on a website, thus jeopardizing the business.
If user experience (UX) is horrid, then all the blame goes to the designer. Such experiences put designers’ efforts into the trash and act as a great pull-down. A designer never willingly leaves such loopholes to get attacked later, but his/her unconscious mistakes put all the labors into the trash. It is up to the designer how he/she takes those bad experiences. He/she can either take it to heart, or he/she can strike back and learn from the preceding mistakes. The key is to accept fiasco as an opportunity to learn from past mistakes and beam on making a perfect design that everyone adores.
The primary reason for most common user experience (UX) issues lies in the fact that designers are competent only to do their work and play with aesthetics. They are not prepared to deal with people and understand their target audience. No matter how much professional and perfectionist they become in devising a perfect website, it will not entice the audience if they fail to grasp what their users want. In short, one should not make any compromise on users’ expectations while developing a website or webpage.
As a website designers we have curated the following mistakes designers make:
Mistake no 1: Disregarding Prototypes
Every designer wants to create a masterpiece of his own. Designers attempt to devise a unique and distinctive website to prove their creativity skills. But, what if this creativity leads to design failure? Many of you might be thinking of how creativity can lead to failure. But the logic is simple. Most of the users are habitual of finding the same kind of options at the same space. For instance, most shoppers directly move to the upper right-hand portion in a shopping mall or a supermarket to look for a shopping cart. Similarly, designers must look for industry websites and prototypes. Following prototypes and adding a touch of their own can result in a win-win situation for all.
Mistake no 2: Assuming users understand and see the website just like you do
While designing a website, designers should keep in mind their target audience. They need to realize that their knowledge, degree, aesthetic, and understandability are different than those of users. What is understandable and accessible for designers might be a hell lot complex for the users. Users don’t have similar understanding and aesthetics as that of designers. Complicated and vague logos, symbols, and icons, along with ambiguous underlying meanings, can end up annoying users. Thus, while creating a website, designers should make design according to their user and target audience. The design should be such that it is user-friendly and comprehensible by the users. If users fail to understand and find the tabs and options, they are looking for, they will get frustrated and leave your website, which is every designer’s worst nightmare. So, if you want to ensure excellent user experience, go easy and create a website that your users can get quickly acquainted with.
Mistake no 3: Lack of responsiveness
Designers usually ignore the fact that there is more than one medium of accessing and using a website or webpage. This oblivious attitude leads to a severe problem. When accessed on different platforms, the site takes the test of a user’s nerve to hold on. For example, a website created by keeping the desktop setting in mind might work perfectly fine on a desktop but screws up when accessed on a tablet or mobile phone. Such a situation leaves the user in frustration and leads to dissatisfying user experience. To avoid these unsolicited situations, designers should develop a website that is responsive to all available media or at least to the medium that is most commonly used by users. This way, the user will get a consistent experience on all mediums and will be satisfied. In the end, it’s the user’s satisfaction that we strive for, don’t we? Here is an interested read about Responsive Website Design & Layout
Mistake no 4: Do what bosses want
Designers most often get carried away and do what exactly they are told to do. Albeit it is their job to satisfy their client or superior, there is a fine line in pleasing and obeying the boss. Bosses only focus on the end product, but only a designer knows what harm such an end product can cause. As designers are more knowledgeable; that is why people hire them in the first place. So, a designer should have guts to speak up against their bosses whenever they feel that they are headed into an abyss. Speaking up does require guts, but it will help to show a clear and real picture to bosses and eliminate all anticipated flaws and bugs at the right stage.